Earlier this week Directory of Social Change surveyed the thousands of charities it supports to try and understand the real impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on charities across the UK. Thank you so much for taking the time to respond – the shocking results are below. This is such important information to support the #EveryDayCounts campaign, and we’re now sharing it with journalists and politicians. The findings sadly confirm much of what we’ve been saying to government for weeks: Half of charities surveyed said they were already in financial difficulties due to the pandemic, with another 42% expecting to be soon; Over 60% of charities who responded are furloughing staff under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme; Just 7% of charities surveyed said they qualified for CBILS – the Business Interruption Loan Scheme, with just under half saying they did not qualify and over 40% saying they didn’t know; Over half of charity respondents say they will go bust within six months without additional financial help; Over 70% of charities surveyed report that they will go bust before the end of 2020 without additional financial help. Commenting on the findings, DSC’s CEO Debra Allcock Tyler said ‘The Prime Minister, the Chancellor, the Treasury and other decision-makers in government must understand the gravity of these results quickly and take action now to provide swift, substantial and simple emergency financial support for the charity sector – #EveryDayCounts’. Respondents also provided over 200 heart-breaking stories of the immediate and long term impacts on their beneficiaries. Read more here.
The Government has taken further action to support firms affected by COVID-19 by bolstering business interruption loans for small businesses and announcing a new scheme for larger companies. Extended Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) The Government has extended the CBILS so that all viable small businesses affected by COVID-19, and not just those unable to secure regular commercial financing, will now be eligible should they need finance to keep operating during this difficult time. The government is also stopping lenders from requesting personal guarantees for loans under £250,000 and making operational changes to speed up lending approvals. The government will continue to cover the first twelve months of interest and fees. Please find further details here New Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) The new CLBILS will ensure that more firms are able to benefit from government-backed support during this difficult time. It will provide a government guarantee of 80% to enable banks to make loans of up to £25 million to firms with an annual turnover of between £45 million and £500 million. Loans backed by a guarantee under CLBILS will be offered at commercial rates of interest and further details of the scheme will be announced later this month. Please find initial details here
Now that the government’s Covid-19 business support packages are live, we are gathering feedback on how they are being utilised and how best to help businesses to access the support. As such, HMRC are delivering a programme of webinars to support employers, employees and the self-employed through this period of disruption. You can watch the first recorded webinar and register for future webinars using this link: bit.ly/HMRCWebinar Details of the existing business support packages, are summarised in the key links below. Key links Business Support: https://bit.ly/BizSupportSite FAQs for business:https://bit.ly/FAQsStayHome Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: https://bit.ly/2wJrnJ9 Self-employment Income Support Scheme: ly/SelfEmployedSupport FAQs https://bit.ly/SelfEmployedFAQs Support from businesses for Covid-19 response: https://bit.ly/3bzOfcDFAQs: https://bit.ly/3aoIAWV Mental Health support: http://ly/emm-ldnse Public health advice: http://bit.ly/coronavirusnhs
The London Growth Hub have launched a new portal to support London-based businesses and employers manage and mitigate their exposure to COVID-19 (coronavirus). Supported by the Mayor of London, the portal is now freely available to all London businesses and brings together essential free resources to help them keep up to date with the latest developments, support offerings and all relevant COVID-19 information, including: Access to book a free 1-2-1 meeting with an expert business adviser (subject to availability) Checklists, factsheets and guides for businesses and employers Information on Government and sector-specific support Information about financial support, grants and schemes Access to COVID-19 webinars, virtual events and external resources The latest news and updates A feedback survey to help us, and our partners, understand the changing needs of businesses Click here
Following the Government’s announcement on Friday 20 March all libraries in the borough have closed until further notice. We have also cancelled all library events and activities and extended due dates for all borrowed items, so you will not be charged overdue fees. We look forward to welcoming you back to the library in due course but in the meantime, we have a fantastic online library to offer you – newspapers, journals, comics, books, audiobooks, language-learning platform and dictionaries, reference materials for students and much more – all available to you remotely, from home, with just your library card. Don’t have a library card? Don’t worry – you can join online and use the resources straight away with the registration number you get when you fill the form. For some of them you need to download an app, while others are available by simply entering your library membership number – just click through the links provided in this newsletter and you will be guided to whatever is of interest. If you run into difficulties, email libraries@rbkc.gov.uk and we’ll do our best to help.
The guide offers lots of helpful information such as: A practical guide for parents on how to keep teens safe online, including useful summaries of popular internet apps as well as the types of threats teens could be exposed to online. Safety tips for using apps such as Instagram, TikTok (which has gathered 1 billion users in only two years), YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter and Whatsapp. We also cover advice and safety tips for teens playing online multiplayer video games. Other online safety topics and advice such as sharing personal information, socialising online, cyberbullying, harmful content, influencers, body image and mental health for teens online. Links to additional internet safety resources for parents from well-respected sources such as the NSPCC and the UK government’s own guidelines. Click here
Sport England have launched a £195 million package to help sport and physical activity through the coronavirus outbreak. The money aims to help partners, clubs and community organisations cope with the short and long-term impact of the pandemic. £20 million of this package has been allocated towards the Community Emergency Fund, which is now open for clubs and community organisations to bid into. Grants between £300 and £10,000 are available. Who they will fund? Any organisation delivering community sport and physical activity can apply if it’s experiencing short term financial hardship or the ceasing of operations due to the impact of coronavirus. These organisations include: Local sports clubs Voluntary and community sector organisations that deliver or enable sport and/or physical activity, including organisations that are not solely or primarily sports organisations and have an important role to play in keeping people active, that may need support for other parts of their organisation to remain open Small charitable trusts that do not qualify for financial help elsewhere Regional or county level organisations or leagues that have already paid out funds for activities that are now cancelled and are not able to claim funds from elsewhere. What they will fund? The fund has been developed to help community sport and physical activity organisations meet their obligations, in particular fixed costs, which are no longer supported with revenue as a result of coronavirus. This might cover expenditure on: Rent Utility costs Insurances Facility or equipment hire Core staffing costs (including casual workers) that cannot be met elsewhere by other government funds Retrospective losses dating from 1 March, 2020. You can find out more information on the criteria and applying by clicking the Community Emergency Fund above.