Staying Alive: The Impact of Austerity Cuts on the LGBT Voluntary and Community Sector in England and Wales is the first major investigation into the impact of spending cuts on the sector, which relies on central and local government sources for around half its funding.
The research found that the direct effects of austerity include the running down of financial reserves, reductions in services and to service levels, staff cuts, casualisation of the workforce and a greater reliance on volunteers. This has led to reduced employee morale, high staff turnover, loss of expertise and difficulties finding alterative funding sources.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “LGBT services were already coping on a shoestring, receiving just 4p in every £100 of voluntary sector income. Some LGBT service providers now say they’re barely ‘staying alive’ and only a minority are optimistic that their future situation will improve.
“We are on the brink of a crisis with the financial reserves of many services running down and government plans for further rounds of austerity in danger of pushing them over the edge." ...
TUC release.
Patrick Strudwick writes about the report in today's Guardian, 'LGBT voluntary and community organisations suffer disproportionately from coalition cuts, TUC report shows'.
Well, sort of...
The ramifications of these austerity cuts is particularly pronounced for the voluntary and charity sector given that public/statutory funding provides such a large and important proportion of overall income. Given the historical reliance of LGBT VCS bodies’ reliance on this form of funding they and their already more than averagely impacted service users are particularly vulnerable.
Strudwick doesn't ask what is being cut by certain LGBT organisations; frontline services over executive salaries?
Nor if some organisations have been overfunded; Brighton LGBT Switchboard gets £70,000 a year from the council and takes 2.5 calls a day.
Is this a good allocation of resources?
Update: A more informed and politicised comment in Pink News by Peter Purton, TUC policy officer for disability and LGBT rights.
Exacerbating the austerity impact on LGBT VCS organisations is the austerity impact on the economic well being of their service users. Austerity in Britain is hitting everyone apart from the already rich, so even LGBT people in professional positions may find themselves hit by public sector pay freezes and higher inflation. And if someone loses their job, perhaps as a result of funding cuts, they’ll struggle to survive the unprecedented scale of benefit cuts and the dismantling of social security protection under the veil of ‘welfare reform’.
Those most hit are those with the least voice at work: people with a precarious job, perhaps a zero-hours contract, agency work, self-employed or unable to find work at all. Young LGBT people without a secure income may find themselves without a roof because they’ve been thrown out of the parental home and can’t afford to rent.
Nor if some organisations have been overfunded; Brighton LGBT Switchboard gets £70,000 a year from the council and takes 2.5 calls a day.
Is this a good allocation of resources?
Update: A more informed and politicised comment in Pink News by Peter Purton, TUC policy officer for disability and LGBT rights.
Exacerbating the austerity impact on LGBT VCS organisations is the austerity impact on the economic well being of their service users. Austerity in Britain is hitting everyone apart from the already rich, so even LGBT people in professional positions may find themselves hit by public sector pay freezes and higher inflation. And if someone loses their job, perhaps as a result of funding cuts, they’ll struggle to survive the unprecedented scale of benefit cuts and the dismantling of social security protection under the veil of ‘welfare reform’.
Those most hit are those with the least voice at work: people with a precarious job, perhaps a zero-hours contract, agency work, self-employed or unable to find work at all. Young LGBT people without a secure income may find themselves without a roof because they’ve been thrown out of the parental home and can’t afford to rent.
It is no wonder then that a disproportionate number of young LGBT people are being treated for mental health problems...
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