Dame Suzi Leather, the Charity Commission chair, has condemned the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition Government’s decision to cut funding to charitable organisations providing vital public services as “short sighted” and said it would undermine the Prime Minister’s much-vaunted Big Society project.
Many of the 160,000 charities the commission oversees provide key services to councils and rely on local authorities for part of their funding. Dame Suzi fears that £3 billion to £5 billion could be cut from charities and prevent them solving serious problems in communities.
She said it was illogical to cut cash to children’s services because it will mean “more young people from deprived backgrounds ending up in police stations and the criminal justice system, presenting the taxpayer with an even bigger bill.”
