Hospices may close doors as charities suffer

Treasury expected to issue £100m bail-out, but it ‘won’t even scratch surface’ of shortfalls, it is claimed

Anna Mikhailova, Jessica Carpani

Harry Yorke

HOSPICES have warned they are on the brink of closure and the country will lose their services without emergency funding.

Sue Ryder, the palliative care charity, has said that without funds, it will be forced to close its hospices and stop caring for people in their own homes within months.

The Treasury is expected to announce a £100million bail-out to the charity sector imminently.

Sue Ryder anticipates a £12million funding gap over the next three months, with fundraising events cancelled and its shops closed during the coronavirus lockdown measures.

The charity had originally asked the Government for support and now, out of “desperation”, is turning to the public for help with an emergency appeal.

Heidi Travis, Sue Ryder chief executive, said: “We have been calling on the Government to support us but no funding has materialised. The country will lose its hospices at a time when they are needed most. We are a critical frontline support service in the fight against coronavirus yet we are on the brink of closure.”

Before the Covid-19 outbreak, two thirds of the charity’s end-of-life care costs were from fundraising and income from its 450 charity shops.

This year’s sales of commemorative poppies from the Royal British Legion could also be affected by the crisis, The Daily Telegraph has learnt.

Writing in The Telegraph, Baroness Stowell, chairman of the Charity Commission, warned of the “devastating consequences” of the public not being able to support charities as part of their “normal routine”.

The Government’s emergency funding is expected to be announced next week after the Chancellor spent last week considering proposals to support the voluntary sector.

Relaxing rules for charities when it comes to the furlough scheme is thought to be one of their considerations. The additional support would be on top of £300million redirected from the National Lottery, sources close to discussions with the Treasury have said.

However, ministers have been criticised for “dragging their feet” over the announcement, which has left some charities struggling to survive.

The £100million in state aid “won’t even scratch the surface”, a source said last night, adding: “They are massively dragging their feet. It’s crackers because charities are going bust by the day, including those in health and social care.”

St John Ambulance Association said it could go bust in August unless it receives state aid, while John Bird founder of The Big Issue, said that if they don’t receive “£60,000 through subscriptions for the magazine or digital issues” within two months, the magazine’s future was “at risk”.

Last week, it was announced that The Big Issue would be sold in supermarkets for the first time after sales were paused to protect its vendors.

Meanwhile, Karl Wilding, chief executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, said that charities would lose an estimated £4billion in the next financial quarter.

He told the digital, culture, media and sport committee that only a quarter of charities had reserves for the next three months. Kevin Brennan, the former charities minister, said organisations working on the “front line of the fight of our lives” must get additional emergency funding.

Writing on the Telegraph website, Mr Brennan, said: “Too often charities are an afterthought when they are in fact central to resilience and recovery,” and that Rishi Sunak “needs to act fast”.

It came as 26 MPS from every political party in Parliament last night wrote to the Prime Minister demanding an urgent bail-out for the charity sector.