Is the sector being pushed to breaking point?

I can’t remember when the term “third sector” first came into being – probably long ago.  Even before we used this label, it did of course exist. Charities and the concept of charitable giving have existed for many hundreds of years.

For this reason, it’s very difficult to imagine what society would look like in the UK if charities simply did not exist. Would the responsibility of looking after the needs of 60 million people in our country fall solely on government? Taxation would be unimaginably higher for corporations and individuals, and the government machine would need to be substantially larger to take on the incredible range and depth of responsibilities the third sector currently carries.

In reality, it is unimaginable to think about this country without the invaluable work of charities. Sadly, the breadth and extent of the work of the charity sector seems to be getting greater and greater. It seems clear that the sector is taking on more and more of those responsibilities which we might reasonably expect as taxpayers that the government would be funding.

One of those responsibilities is the care of the UK’s older people, a section of society that is growing all the time. Many local authorities have disassociated themselves from being directly involved in the care of older people by selling off and closing down their own care homes. Sadly, I have witnessed a change in the relationship between local authority commissioners of care and providers of care. Gone are the days of calm discussion and negotiation. Today we live in the age of unilateral cuts by local authorities where the local authority is dominant and the provider must succumb. It seems expected that the void must be filled by the charitable sector.

We are all very aware of the pressures on local authorities as a consequence of the current financial situation. Yet is the situation really as bad as we are made to believe? It may be the case that some local authorities are taking advantage of the current economic climate to try to squeeze charitable providers even further.

Our sector has been pushed and pushed. Sometimes one almost wonders whether we are being tested to see just how far we can be pushed before breaking. Put simply, there’s a limit to what government can expect charities to do. The amount of charitable giving which we as charities can rely on from the incredibly generous British public is finite, particularly at a time of such financial austerity. The government must recognise this because if they don’t, not only will the private sector be in trouble but the charitable sector will be as well. One dreads to think of the implications of that.

Leon Smith is chief executive of Nightingale, a care home in London for older Jewish people