Community and Voluntary Sector

Baroness Gohir Excerpts

Thursday 31st October 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gohir (CB)]

I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Porter, on her maiden speech and thank the noble Baroness, Lady Morgan of Drefelin, for securing this debate and for her excellent introduction. I declare an interest: I am the CEO of a women’s charity and a trustee of another, so I will focus my comments on the women’s charities sector, which is underfunded and undervalued.

A study commissioned by the Rosa fund for women and girls, the National Lottery and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation found that women and girls’ charities get less than 2% of grants and that these are often micro grants. The study showed that 50% of the grants are for £10,000 and less, so the grant value going to women and girls’ organisations is far less compared to other organisations, and the situation is far worse for minoritised women’s groups.

Some of the factors contributing to this include the fact that the sector is undervalued. It is expected to do the work for little or no money. Also, the previous Government made it very hard for small organisations to access funding to address violence against women and girls. They changed a very simple grant process to a complicated tender process and raised the income threshold so that only large charities could access that funding. Smaller organisations had to form coalitions so their collective income could meet the threshold, but managing coalitions is very difficult and resource-intensive.

Other barriers include local councils having their budget slashed, which means less or no money going to local women’s groups. Also, several charitable foundations and trusts, which are very good at giving money to women’s groups, have paused their allocation of grants temporarily for more than a year while they refresh their strategy—something highlighted by the noble Baroness, Lady Fraser. I wish they had consulted and spoken to each other and staggered that process, because they have made life very difficult for charities such as mine.

Now I turn my attention to the Budget. I welcomed some announcements which are helping to put more money into the pockets of women. However, some announcements are going to hit the charity sector very hard. As mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Fraser, the rise in employer national insurance contributions is going to significantly increase the wage bill. If you take that in combination with the rise in the national living wage, plus pay rises that charities would like to give their workers in line with national inflation, even with the employer allowance it is going to be a significant increase. Last night I was number-crunching what the salary bill for my charity is going to be next year and thinking about how I am going to raise that money in a very precarious, unstable funding environment.

Women’s organisations, with that rise in demand that has already been highlighted, are having to do a lot more for a lot less money. Staff are getting burnt out and they are leaving the sector. On top of that the charity sector will probably have no choice but to scale back services, close down some of them and make staff redundant, and unfortunately many charities will end up closing.

This is deeply concerning because the women’s charity sector is an essential source of support. It is also a source of employment, as highlighted by the noble Baroness, Lady Morgan, and an essential source of volunteering. I started my second career, after caring for my children, by getting back into volunteering and that has led me to your Lordships’ House. Pro Bono Economics has estimated that women in the charity sector contribute £19 billion to the economy, £9.9 billion through volunteering and £9.2 billion through employment. How are the Government going to support the charity sector? Will they increase funding to it and make that funding accessible, including through the dormant assets highlighted by the noble Lord, Lord Bassam?