NHS budget deficits cause Department of Health funding delays for charities
Howard Lake | 11 April 2006 | News
Hundreds of charities may not be able to deliver vital services, due to delays by the Department of Health in releasing funding, caused by NHS budget deficits.
Some of the charities, who have been waiting since January for a decision on funding applications, have had to make redundancies, as a result of the delay. Others face closing their operations.
As a result, the Compact Advocacy Programme, based at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), has mounted a campaign to force the Department of Health to advise charities on whether they will receive funding and transfer the money immediately.
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The campaign has so far had some success, with the Department of Health agreeing to abide by the Compact. This means that they will give charities three months notice before they withdraw funding. They have also agreed to release a portion of the £17.85m funding. However, charities still face huge uncertainty about the future of their services, as they have no indication if or when they will get the funding.
The Department of Health funding, known as Section 64 funding, represents the greatest single source of financial support that the Department provides to the voluntary sector.
The Compact Advocacy Programme has been campaigning for cross-party support in order to push the Department of Health to implement Section 64.
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.