Charities just expressed increase lack of confidence in the government’s Brexit plans

A group helping British charities stay afloat analysed Theresa May's final Brexit plan. And there's much to be concerned about.

According to a new report by the Charity Finance Group (CFG), the government’s Brexit plans will not deliver for British civil society. 

The group, which supports other charities’ leaderships and management, worked on a cost and benefit analysis of the final Brexit plan’s impact on charitable organisations. The results were not comforting.

Of the five areas previously highlighted by the CFG as important to the charity sector during the EU divorce process, only two have been given some assurance by the Chequers Plan.

The areas include:

  • Tax reform
  • Funding
  • Procurement
  • State aid
  • Workforce.

Only funding and procurement were briefly tackled by the government’s white paper. But even for those, the CFG did not express full satisfaction.

Commenting on the paper’s proposals for funding after Brexit, the CFG report reads:

“Government has not begun work on a successor to the European Social Fund. It has provided some clarity on the funding of humanitarian aid in event of no deal. But charities need more information so that they can more effectively plan ahead.”

For procurement too, the group was less than impressed, suggesting that promises to beef up the Social Value Act are welcomed, but that little further detail was given by Theresa May’s Cabinet on it.

As far as changes to charities’ VAT costs, improvement of state aid rules, or guarantees for EU workers in the charity sector, the CFG was left with no assurances.

Commenting on the state of affairs the CFG noted:

“It is hard to see how a good Brexit deal can be negotiated if we do not know what kind of society we want to see built after we have left the EU. The lack of information about what the UK government would like to do post-Brexit means that we are concerned government will promise away powers or fail to negotiate a flexible arrangement with the EU, only later realising that it may need these powers to bring about the post-Brexit society that it envisions. This is particularly important as we advance in the talks and get closer towards the deadline, where there may be little time to consider the impact of any agreement on the work of UK charities.”

It remains a mystery who will actually benefit from Brexit, but it certainly won’t be the tens of thousands supported by the work of British charities.

Joana Ramiro is a reporter for Left Foot Forward. You can follow her on Twitter for all sorts of rants here.

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