About one-third of UK charities have been forced to cancel or close down services because of “poor” government funding practices, according to a survey from the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations.
The ACEVO said sub-standard contracts between funders and charities were hurting charities’ ability to deliver services to vulnerable people.
Seventy chief executives were quizzed for the survey, which found that contracts were often bureaucratic, short-term, uncertain and underpriced.
Other reasons given for ending services included funders failing to support the principle of full cost recovery, where charities are paid the full cost of work they do under contract to government, including back-office costs.
Forty-nine per cent of respondents said the government’s attitude to full cost recovery was “bad”, 48% classed it as “fair” and only 3% said it was “good”.
A spokesman for the ACEVO said: “The contracts are too short term, often you need to wind up projects as soon as they’ve started.”
Source
Housing Today
