Grassroot charities are the backbone of our communities, the Government must do more to support and learn from them

For too long, the Government has underestimated the power of small grassroots charities in addressing some of the most pressing national issues facing our country.

Over twenty years ago, I visited the Easterhouse estate in Glasgow, one of the most deprived communities in the UK. There, people no longer looked to the Government as their safety net from poverty. Instead, it was local charities who stepped forward – people at the grassroots, present every day, patiently helping people into work and out of debt and addiction.

That visit stayed with me. In the years that followed, I travelled across the country meeting social innovators solving national problems at a local level. It was evident to me that politicians had much to learn from their solutions.

For that reason, I founded the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) in 2004, to create a bridge between those local poverty-fighters and policymakers here in Westminster. The CSJ describes it as connecting the backstreets of Britain to the corridors of power. Its work is informed by an alliance of more than 1,000 grassroots charities.

We harnessed the ongoing experiences of our charities to establish five distinct pathways to poverty that still hold true today: worklessness and welfare dependency, addiction, educational failure, debt, and family breakdown. What I learnt about the impact of worklessness in those Glasgow estates, the lack of purpose and worth it fostered, drove me to establish the Universal Credit system that brought the number of workless households to a record low before the pandemic.

Every year since 2004, the CSJ Awards have recognised outstanding small charities working quietly but effectively across the country.

The organisation that stood out most this year was R;pple, a suicide prevention charity based in Portsmouth. After the tragic suicide of her brother Josh, Alice Hendy dedicated herself to preventing harmful online internet searches from leading others to the same fate.

From her bedroom in Portsmouth, she created a browser extension that intercepts crisis searches, offering a calming breathing exercise before signposting people to accessible, local services. What began as a response to personal tragedy has become a life-saving tool for more than two million lives. With the right Government engagement, tools like R;pple could be available in schools, hospitals and job centres across the country.

Today’s debate sheds light on concerns that the Government takes grassroots charities for granted and fails to listen to organisations delivering effective support on the ground.

Around 88 per cent of charitable income currently goes to just 5 per cent of registered charities – the largest organisations in the sector. Smaller charities, which make up the overwhelming majority of the voluntary sector, receive only a small fraction of overall funding, including from Government sources. We must ensure that small charities receive a fairer distribution of funding, alongside an increase in overall support for the sector.

The Centre for Social Justice, in its Supercharging Philanthropy report, has proposed a series of measures that include expanding match-funding schemes to incentivise philanthropy, drawing closer to the American model of charitable giving.

However, funding is not the only concern. There is active debate about how effectively government departments engage with grassroots charities when shaping policy. While larger charities often have dedicated public affairs teams to respond to government consultations and maintain regular contact with Ministers, small charities simply do not have the capacity, despite often having deeper practical insights.

I remain proud of what the Centre for Social Justice has achieved in bringing grassroots voices into the national debate. Through the CSJ Foundation, more than £25 million has been directed to small charities making a real difference in their communities. However, if the Government adopted a more systemic approach to supporting and learning from grassroots organisations, such independent intervention would be far less necessary.

Grassroot charities are the backbone of our communities, supporting people where it matters most. It’s time for the Government to proactively engage with grassroots organisations working on the frontline and ensure their insights directly inform national policy.