Survey paints bleak picture of the sector's short-term survival

A third of charities believe they will need to make redundancies over the next year, new research by Acevo shows.

The body for charity leaders carried out a survey in which 33% of the 85 charities surveyed said they expected to make job cuts in the next 12 months.

However the situation could be even worse as a further 36% of respondents said they were unsure if they would have to make redundancies.

Charities were asked about potential redundancies for the first time in the latest poll.

Kristiana Wrixon, head of policy at Acevo, said: “It appears that the huge number of redundancy announcements we have seen over the last few weeks are just the tip of the iceberg.

“The chancellor has said he wants to protect as many jobs as possible, but with only three in 10 respondents saying they do not think they will make redundancies over the next 12 months, it is clear a lot more support is required to protect jobs so that charities can be there for all of us as we feel the impact of what is predicted to be the biggest global economic crisis for almost 100 years.”

The survey also revealed that marginally more charities plan to cut the number of full time roles.

Elsewhere, a third of charities (33%) said new income and donations are worse this month, compared to 28% who said more money was coming in.

Protecting frontline service delivery is emerging as a priority for most charities, although a fifth are considering cuts in this area.

While 21% said they were cutting spending on frontline services, 26% said they were spending more, while around half (53%) said spending levels would remain the same.

It comes as the country’s biggest charities announce cuts. Oxfam, Cancer Research, the National Trust and the RSPCA – all major employers in the sector – have already announced significant job losses while many more leading organisations are expected to follow over the coming year.