Community responses to the Cost-of-Living Crisis
Dear colleague,
Thank you for your support earlier this year when we were undertaking our research into community responses to the Cost-of-Living Crisis. Your help enabled us to reach almost 150 community groups and organisations across Wales. The research has now been published and shows for the first time, how to the crisis is affecting community groups.
Surveying community groups across Wales we found that:
- Nearly all of them (84%) had seen a major shift in the way they work due to the crisis
- 50% had seen demand for their work rise at the same time as their income reduced
- Over half were now doing things that used to be run by local government and had set up new services specifically to deal with the Cost-of-Living Crisis
- A staggering 80% were showing real signs of stress in terms of the pressures on their staff and volunteers.
Community groups like these have become essential to many people’s lives. Many have a small number of staff and a larger number of volunteers. Many of these organisations are themselves fragile; most raise some money themselves – but this is increasingly hard when local communities are struggling – and for most government funding is fragile and short term.
There is a real risk of organisations going under exactly when they are needed most.
The report identifies a number of key recommendations which cover funding of community groups, support for making their buildings more sustainable and the roll out of a Welsh benefits system which helps people claim all the support they are entitled to.
We will be using this evidence to lobby politicians and decision-makers for long-term change to benefit community groups and organisations and will be attending an event in the Senedd on June 18th to highlight the findings.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss the work further, please contact our Policy and Research Advisor, Eleri on eleri.williams@bct.wales
Best wishes, BCT