Community organisations in draughty old civic buildings have said they will have to close or reduce services unless the new prime minister, Liz Truss, includes them in Thursday’s expected energy bills bailout.
Charities and community trusts, many occupying leaky Victorian, Georgian and 20th-century structures, are facing some of the sharpest rises in utility bills. More than a third fear they will have to close or significantly reduce their services in the next six months, a survey has revealed.
They include frontline charities and trusts planning “warm banks” – places where people who cannot afford heating this winter can shelter and which provide emergency food and social gatherings to beat isolation.
A snapshot assessment by Locality, a membership network for UK community organisations, found a fifth had already had to close or significantly reduce their services. It also found that 38% were likely to close or significantly reduce their services in the next six months, while 71% said their financial position had worsened since the spring.
It comes as social workers said vulnerable people would die this winter because of the cost of living crisis and domestic violence would increase. A survey by the British Association of Social Workers found three-quarters believe more children will be brought into care and 55% fear case loads will become unmanageable.
Truss is expected to freeze household energy bills on Thursday, but help for charities and businesses remains unclear.
Maxine Ennis, who runs Rotunda, a community charity in north Liverpool in a row of converted Georgian houses, fears multiplying bills threaten the viability of services such as her low-price cafe, which offers soup and a roll for £1. It also provides a community garden, nursery, education programme, counselling service and a “food shed”.
“How am I going to feed Fred over the road who doesn’t have any gas, electricity or a fridge?” she said. She fears some users will go hungry or be forced into the health and social care system. “[The government is] not thinking of the impact of not funding organisations like the Rotunda,” she said.
The complex recently had new windows installed, but clogged old radiators struggle to heat the building and “it’s dead draughty – you only have to open one door and you let all the heat out,” Ennis said.
Kate McGeevor, the manager of Stretford Public Hall, built in 1878 and saved by the community in 2015, told the Guardian that bills were expected to rise from £21,000 last year to £63,000 next year. She is planning a warm community living room in the single-glazed structure to help people who may otherwise be cold. But without an energy price cap, that may be harder, and she said community activities that often play a key role in preventive healthcare were likely to suffer.
Dave Wardell, the chair of Todmorden Learning Centre and Community Hub, which occupies a 1950s former college building that was saved from demolition, is facing a £160,000 gas and electricity bill, up from £40,000.
“If the government doesn’t help, we will probably have to close,” he said. “Twelve to 15 jobs will go. The children’s centre couldn’t stay in the building.” A total of 115 people used the food bank last week.
Tony Armstrong, the chief executive of Locality, said many of these organisations were a “last line of defence” against the cost of living crisis this winter.
“Many are already reaching breaking point amid rapidly rising costs and escalating demand for their services,” he said. “To make matters worse, many community organisations are housed in old buildings that are costly to heat and maintain. Some are already being forced to cut services, leaving people without the food, support, or warm spaces they need. Others risk closing for good. It’s clear that financially they are facing a crisis even worse than Covid.”
