Charity finance directors welcome Government's Spending Review

Howard Lake | 15 July 2002 | News

Representatives of charity finance directors have today welcomed the publication of the Government’s Spending Review which announced a £300 million boost to the voluntary and community sector.

The Treasury have announced a £188 million settlement over 3 years to the Active Community Unit in the Home Office.

Upon the launch of the Spending Review, the Treasury published a two page summary of the conclusions of the cross cutting review into the role of the voluntary sector in service delivery. The summary document highlights how charities made clear their concerns about the problem of irrecoverable VAT. The Treasury have announced the creation of a new fund worth £125 million to remove the barriers to service delivery and modernise the sector for the long term.

In response to the spending plans, CFDG Director, Shirley Scott stated: “We are delighted that the Cross Cutting Review has emphasised what a major barrier irrecoverable VAT is to the sector’s involvement in public service provision. We really need more detail about how the Government plans to spend the very welcome additional funding and we definitely expect to be involved in the consultation and design of the major new fund. We are, however, disappointed that the Treasury did not publish the Cross Cutting review in full and wait in anticipation of its publication.”

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.