Volunteering places are lower in July than they were in June – which, itself was only at 60% of prepandemic rate. Some areas are reporting a reduction in the number of volunteers whereas others are reporting a reduction in placements available as operations are struggling to “get up to speed”. NfP synergy have published an interesting report, exploring volunteer trends (and other matters). It can be found here Ten facts from our new report on the impact of Covid on charities and their work | nfpSynergy
Meanwhile food bank usage remains high and constant. During the past month an interactive food insecurity map has been produced by the University of Sheffield. It can be found here UK local food insecurity of Adults Jan 2021 (arcgis.com) and it is this information that caused an article to appear on Conservative Home – authored by the MP for High Wycombe who was shocked to discover the issue in his constituency. If such articles help get the government’s ear then it is all to the good. The comments, relating to the article, are perhaps less positive.
Citizen’s Advice report a consistent workload. Pressures remain and they are working at capacity. We breath a sigh of relief that employment levels remain higher than anticipated. There does seem to be a downward trend in numbers of people seeking advice relating to Universal Credit. This may show that, once people can get into the system at the right level of support it works reasonably well. The removal of the temporary supplement may well reverse the trend.
