Our charities should be supporting people, not worrying about rising costs

Charities, community groups, and volunteers are a huge part of life across Newbury and West Berkshire. They support people through difficult times, bring communities together, and provide services and activities that many local residents rely on.

But running a charity isn’t free. Rising costs mean that organisations are having to find more money simply to keep doing what they are already doing.

That’s why one figure from a recent survey by our local volunteer centre really stood out to me: local charities need to raise an additional £300,000 a year just to stand still.

For charities, finding that extra money means more fundraising, more grant applications, and more time spent worrying about budgets. That is time their staff and volunteers would much rather be spending supporting people in our community.

I raised this in Parliament, asking whether charities should be able to focus on serving our constituents rather than having to fundraise simply to cover the additional costs caused by Labour’s tax rises.

Stuart Andrew MP agreed, drawing on his own experience of charity fundraising and warning that organisations faced with sudden additional costs can ultimately be forced to dip into their reserves.

We are incredibly lucky to have so many brilliant charities and voluntary organisations locally. They step up every day for people across our communities, often when they are at their most vulnerable. We should be doing everything we can to help them continue that work, not making it harder for them to keep the doors open.

I’ll continue speaking up for our local voluntary sector and pressing the Government to recognise the very real impact its decisions are having on the organisations we all rely on.