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Over 2,000 charities and community groups facing cuts or cull

More than 2,000 charities (2,215) are facing budget cuts as local authorities reduce their funding - or in some cases completely withdraw it - according to new research published today (Tuesday) by the union backed anti-cuts campaign website False Economy.

The research, based on 265 Freedom of Information responses from local councils across England, shows that one year on from the launch of the Big Society, many charities and voluntary groups are facing deep funding cuts.

Birmingham City Council has cut funding to the largest number of charities (191) followed by the cross-council organisation London Councils, who have cut funding to 174 groups.

The False Economy research shows that charities face net funding reductions of more than £110 million this year, though the final figure is likely to be far higher given that some large authorities have not yet finalised where the cuts will hit.

All charities or voluntary groups receiving a funding cut of at least five per cent are listed in the research, although most of the cuts are far deeper than this and many groups have had their funding cancelled completely.

The list of charities facing funding cuts includes:

  • 112 adult care charities
  • 142 elderly-related charities
  • 382 children's and young people-related charities
  • 151 disability-related charities

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'These deep cuts to voluntary groups across the UK show that government claims that charities can replace direct services currently provided by central or local government are false. It sounds great, but in practice, the Big Society is looking more and more like a big con.'

False Economy's campaign director Clifford Singer said: 'These cuts go deep into the voluntary and community sectors. These are not just 'nice to have' groups but organisations providing vital services for older people trying to maintain independent lives, vulnerable children and abused women. And with so many of the cuts simply resulting in further pressure on the NHS or other statutory services, they are truly a false economy.

'Ministers talk up localism and say services will be better shaped locally, but the huge front-loaded cuts to councils mean that local decision-making simply gives councils the choice of which vulnerable people they should make suffer for an economic crisis they did nothing to cause.'

The details of each individual cut are posted on the False Economy website - www.falseeconomy.org.uk - a resource hub for the UK anti-cuts movement.

False Economy allows people to upload their own stories and find out about cuts in their local area, tell other people how they've been affected by cuts and learn more information about anti-cuts campaigns in their area. False Economy is backed by a wide range of online campaigns and campaigners, and largely funded by unions.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- The full list of voluntary sector cuts will be available from the False Economy website from 10am on Tuesday 2 August. Journalists wishing to see the list in advance should contact the TUC press office.

- All information in the list has been provided through Freedom of Information requests from local councils collected between March and July 2011. It is possible that some councils have revised decisions since submitting their data or that they may have supplied inaccurate data to False Economy. The figure for the number of groups funded is a net figure. A document explaining how the research was undertaken is available from the press office.

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

- Register for the TUC's press extranet: a service exclusive to journalists wanting to access pre-embargo releases and reports from the TUC. Visit www.tuc.org.uk/pressextranet

Contacts:

Media enquiries:
Rob Holdsworth T: 020 7467 1372 M: 07717 531150 E:
rholdsworth@tuc.org.uk
Elly Gibson T: 020 7467 1337 M: 07900 910624 E: egibson@tuc.org.uk

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