Charities will be hit hard by Brexit
Reporter MORE problems and less money – that’s the impact Brexit is likely to have on charities in the North East, a report has revealed.
Uncertainty surrounds the sector, especially for the long term, Sally Young, chief executive of the Newcastle Council for Voluntary Service (NCVS) has told the city council.
An estimated £400m of funding from the EU could be lost once the UK has left the EU, a report to the voluntary sector liaison group said.
Ms Young said the region will be disproportionately affected by the loss of EU charitable funds as the area has benefitted from schemes.
She said: “Several tens of millions of pounds of that money will have been spent in the North East.
“A lot of money was spent in the region, especially in relation to worklessness and jobs and training and that will be lost.”
And it is difficult for charities to plan for the future as they struggle to understand how the economy will be impacted, Ms Young claims.
Ms Young says in the report: “Given the high levels of feeling and political divisions, it is hard to get an objective analysis.”
She described the leaked Government Brexit analysis which revealed the North East’s economy would shrink by 11% with a trade deal or 16% without as “depressing”.
And charities across the region will be impacted in a similar way to many small and medium businesses, the report predicts.
It may be more difficult to employ EU staff, it is feared, and the impact on EU nationals who want to volunteer hasn’t even been considered yet.
All the while many charities will be dealing with more work.
A recession caused by a hard Brexit could lead to job losses and more people looking for charity support as they face economic crisis.
And many charities are increasing the work they do to target hate crime and community divisions after a spike in the number of hate crimes reported since the Brexit vote.
Ms Young said: “The spike in hate crime, following the Brexit vote, was noticeable to many of Newcastle’s communities and local organisations.