NAO: Charity funding 'fragmented'
Largest charities delivery of public services undermined by funding plans
A new report by the National Audit
Office has found that charities’ delivery of public services could be
undermined and limited by the complexity of their public funding arrangements.
The report, based on evidence from 12 of the largest national charities,
found that charities’ funding relationships with public bodies, including
central government departments, local authorities and health trusts can often be
highly fragmented, with many public bodies providing several streams of small
amounts of funding to a single charity.
The charities in question received a total £742m in public funding from a
range of public bodies including central government departments, agencies, local
authorities and NHS primary care trusts.
Joe Cavanagh, director of Business Development at the NAO, said: ‘Large
charities are important providers of some public services, but public bodies’
funding arrangements are often unnecessarily complex and costly. Public bodies
need to work together to bring coherence and consistency to their funding
practices, to ensure that charities’ valuable work is not hampered by
bureaucracy.’
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