Support for organisations
- Energy Bill Relief Scheme The Energy Bill Relief Scheme provides a discount on wholesale gas and electricity prices for all non-domestic customers (including the third sector) whose current gas and electricity prices have been significantly inflated in light of global energy prices. This support will be equivalent to the Energy Price Guarantee put in place for households.
- Relief from Business Rates Registered charities which use premises for charitable purposes are generally entitled to 80% relief from business rates. If you do not receive 80% relief as a registered charity, you may still be entitled to 50% off your business rates bill if you are one of the following:
- any business focused on delivering social or civic value
- a social enterprise
- a young business of up to 3 years
NVCO have produced a range of resources supporting third sector organisations with the cost of living crisis, including managing rising energy costs and developing your reserves policy.
Voluntary Action Leeds can provide a wide range of support to third sector organisations, including help finding volunteers, safeguarding training, governance support and funding advice. Please contact info@val.org.uk for more information.
Support for staff and volunteers
- West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership have put together a package of support that is available to staff and volunteers working in the third sector.
- Locality have put together a checklist of resources to help you support your staff and tackle HR issues related to the cost-of-living crisis
- NCVO have produced a guide to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of your staff and volunteers
Support for volunteer managers
If you are a volunteer manager and would like to offer your volunteers support during the cost of living crisis you may find the following information useful:
Top tips – Supporting Volunteers During the Cost of Living Crisis
There are lots of other resources available to support people who coordinate volunteers
Signposting and guidance for communities
Led by Leeds City Council, colleagues from across the third and public sector have worked together to produce this handy resource bank of practical signposting information. This resource will continue to be updated over the coming months.
Understanding the challenge
- Runnymede Trust have released a report (written by Daniel Edmiston, University of Leeds, in collaboration with Shabna Begum and Mandeer Kataria) showing that Black and minority ethnic people are disproportionately falling faster and further below the poverty line amidst the cost of living crisis.
- Citizens Advice hold monthly online briefings, sharing our data insights on how far the government’s support package is going towards supporting people ahead of winter, with specific consideration of marginalised groups and those on lower incomes. View last month’s data (which you can filter down to a Leeds level)
- Deep Poverty: The Cost of Not Living (2022) is a recent report on research carried out with third sector organisations, listening to people’s experiences on living on a very low income across Leeds.