The cost of living crisis is having an even more devastating impact on lifeline community organisations in the North East than the Covid pandemic did, new research has claimed.
A report commissioned by Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Kim McGuinness warns that frontline services across the region are struggling to stay afloat amid rising bills. The PCC has now called for the Government to step in and offer the same kind of emergency support grants that it provided during lockdown to help charities and neighbourhood groups that are being forced to slash their services by cutting staff and cancelling sessions.
A survey by the PCC’s office found that 63% of the 84 community organisations who responded had been forced to cut their spending in the last year, while 71% said that demand had increased in the last 12 months. After meeting volunteers at the Hedworthfield Community Association in Jarrow on Wednesday, Ms McGuinness told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that a failure to protect centres like it would mean rising crime and poverty rates.
