Valuing the Third Sector

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 1 December 2020.

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Photo of Pauline McNeill Pauline McNeill Labour

The third sector in Scotland has carried out an invaluable role in dealing with Covid-19 under incredibly difficult circumstances. We all agree that we owe the third sector a debt of gratitude. I will also mention the many community groups that sprang up during the pandemic to deliver food and comfort to those who desperately needed it.

The relationship between the third sector and the public sector needs a fundamental shift. We must begin a new partnership-based style of working. The voluntary sector delivers vital services to our communities and we cannot do without it. The sector is far larger than people may think, with more than 40,000 organisations employing more than 100,000 paid staff. However, the sector is struggling to cope with decreasing budgets and funding. The SCVO says that 20 per cent of charities reported

“a critical threat to their financial viability in the next 12 months” and that the sector faces immediate risk. The SCVO also notes that the Scottish Government has reiterated its commitment

“to longer term funding for the sector”,

which the SCVO describes as

“words which we have heard before but very rarely see in practice.”

Similarly, the NSPCC in Scotland notes that local authority budgets have shrunk over a number of years, which has had a knock-on effect on the support that the third sector is able to provide.

Since the start of the pandemic, charities have had to cancel fundraising events, which has led to a loss of income-providing services. The demand for charities has been surging. Crohn’s and Colitis UK, which is a charity that I work with, is such a lifeline to many people, particularly young people.

The SCVO is at the forefront of the United Kingdom-wide #NeverMoreNeeded campaign, which emphasises that, in the face of coronavirus, charities have never been more needed for the essential support that they provide. More than a third of charities are reporting an increase in demand, with front-line services reporting an exponential increase in demand. For example, in October, citizens advice bureaux issued the highest number of pieces of advice in one month since the beginning of lockdown. The figures also reveal a continued increase in demand for advice on servicing debt. A survey by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations in March showed that more than half of charities—52 per cent—plan to reduce services, which is extremely concerning.

In its evidence to the Equalities and Human Rights Committee, the Fraser of Allander institute noted that parents and people with disabilities have been particularly impacted by the effects of the pandemic. We already knew that those families are the poorest, but it highlights the scandal of care packages being taken away due to reprioritisation. That has led to a real worsening of the standards of living. In some cases, family carers have had to try to pick up the slack. Engender notes that the reduction in social care packages

“has led to an increase of the number of unpaid carers in Scotland ... to 1.1 million, of which 61% are women.”

In general, the situation for most parents has improved with schools going back, but schools are still having to send children home, and children are often having to self-isolate with no childcare infrastructure available. That means that a lot of parents, particularly mothers, are struggling.

Women have to make trade-offs to keep their families functioning, which sometimes means that their working lives have to take a back seat. Therefore, in analysing what has happened during the pandemic, we need to make sure that we are not taking a backwards step in the achievements that we have made for women.

As other members have mentioned, there has been a steep rise in domestic abuse during the pandemic, which issue we have debated many times. Scottish Women’s Aid is calling for a new funding model to ensure adequate and effective support. Funding for domestic abuse services remains precarious, and groups are increasingly reliant on grants from organisations such as the Big Lottery Fund to supplement inadequate Government funding.

The Government needs to learn lessons from its current funding model, respond to the times that we are in, and ensure that human rights and equalities are always taken into account when disbursing funds in the future. We cannot do without the third sector—it has been so vital to us up until now, and it will be in the years ahead.