The charity funding measures announced by the Chancellor are aimed at the charities who provide critical support and services to vulnerable people and communities. We do not yet have full details of the eligibility criteria, but the Chancellor announced that:

  • £360m will be provided directly by government departments to:
    • hospices (potentially up to £200m);
    • organisations like St Johns Ambulance  and the Citizen’s Advice Board;
    • charities supporting vulnerable children, victims of domestic abuse, or disabled people.
  • £370m will be allocated UK wide to small local charities that work with the vulnerable and local communities. Of that £370m, £60m has specifically been allocated to Scotland.
  • The Government will match-fund the money raised by the BBC’s Big Night In charity appeal and confirmed that a donation of at least £20m will be made to the National Emergencies Trust appeal.

The Chancellor acknowledged that the Government is not able to match all of the funding that charities have lost as a consequence of COVID-19, which is estimated to be around £4 billion, but he did emphasise that charities are eligible to participate in the Government’s job retention scheme, more details of which can be found here.

The HM Treasury announcement can be found here.