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Next spring, the NAO will report on the government's handling of coronavirus funding for charities. So let's rub the crystal ball and see what they might find. A thread...
April 7. After weeks of asking for emergency help - NCVO estimates the sector faces a £4bn coronavirus black hole - the Treasury announces £750m https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/chancellor-unveils-750m-coronavirus-package-for-charities.html
10 days pass in silence from the government and the lottery, which has been asked to manage a big bulk of the cash. @JKENNEDYDSC worries the process is in danger of being "bogged down in weeks of bureaucratic wrangling" https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/lottery-and-government-criticised-for-not-moving-swiftly-enough-on-coronavirus-funds.html
Another month. Some of the spending, going direct from big Whitehall departments to large charities, starts. But where is the DCMS/lottery cash for small charities in England? Even @karlwilding, the world's politest man, is starting to lose patience https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/ncvo-demands-immediate-clarity-on-small-charity-coronavirus-funding.html
One more week and the DCMS/lottery fund finally opens, six weeks after the initial Treasury announcement. Called CCSF, the fund will distribute £200m to small and medium-sized charities in England on a first-come, first-served basis. https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/200m-government-fund-for-smaller-charities-opens-today-on-first-come-first-served-basis.html
Another month. Govt & lottery say they've received "record breaking" no. applications but won't say whether any cash has reached any charities (it is supposed to be first-come first-served, remember). @Acevo: "lack of transparency is deeply concerning" https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/coronavirus-grants-for-small-charities-hit-by-dithering-and-delay.html
We are now in July, around 3 months on from Treasury promise of help. Government and lottery says around £8m has now been allocated to charities from the fund (about 5% of its disposal) https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/under-10m-paid-out-so-far-from-small-charity-coronavirus-fund.html
A h/t to the excellent @RebeccaKCooney who dug deeper and found that only 1% of the fund had actually reached charities at this point https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/1-per-cent-200m-emergency-government-funding-paid-charities/finance/article/1688568
A week later & it's revealed (SCOOP!) that DCMS/lottery had ditched at the last moment a plan to work with partners on distributing another £60m to small charities. Fingers point at minister. One dumped partner rails against "weird DCMS final approval" https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/government-criticised-after-withdrawing-from-small-charity-funding-agreements.html
It's August! Lottery admits some charities will have to wait until October to get funds pledged by HMT in April. Please remember: these are emergency funds.
Guardian finds that PwC is getting £1m+ to vet lottery decisions which doesn't say much for trust https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/some-small-charities-will-not-get-emergency-government-help-until-october.html
Guardian finds that PwC is getting £1m+ to vet lottery decisions which doesn't say much for trust https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/some-small-charities-will-not-get-emergency-government-help-until-october.html
Still August and another SCOOP. DCMS has now announced it will be match-funding £85m to get non-CCSF cash to small charities. Presumably it evaluated CCSF before doing making that call, as promised back in April? Er. No. https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/no-record-of-government-s-promised-review-into-emergency-small-charity-funding.html
What about that £1.4m PwC contract? An FOI tells us what we could have guessed - that the main purpose is to stop the government from looking silly.
Meantime, the match-fund scheme has been closed for a month. Silence on where that £85m is going https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/dcms-asked-public-trust.html
Meantime, the match-fund scheme has been closed for a month. Silence on where that £85m is going https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/dcms-asked-public-trust.html
Some insight into the state of sector/govt relations when the NCVO boss tells a conference in September that officials saw charities as "an irrelevance" when pandemic started https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/government-have-seen-charities-as-an-irrelevance-during-pandemic-says-karl-wilding.html
It's now the end of September. M'colleague @KirstyWeakley runs the rule over the match-funding cash, which has now been announced. The £85m scheme has given out under £85m to big funders, who will only now start giving it to small charities. https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/dcms-had-applications-worth-130m-to-85m-charity-fund.html
All of which brings us to last week (nearly there...) DCMS/lottery announced 8,500 small charities had benefitted from CCSF.
Great! Can you confirm that all £200m is now in charity bank accounts, I asked. They could not. https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/over-8-000-government-grants-now-allocated-from-emergency-coronavirus-fund.html
Great! Can you confirm that all £200m is now in charity bank accounts, I asked. They could not. https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/over-8-000-government-grants-now-allocated-from-emergency-coronavirus-fund.html
The grants made through match-funding have to be spent by 31st March 2021. At which point, the last pennies from the emergency funding pot will have been spent almost exactly one year after it was announced.
All yours, @NAOorguk
All yours, @NAOorguk
