Trustee News

Culture secretary says civil society groups should ‘tell government when we’re getting it wrong’ Charities should criticise the government if they disagree on controversial policies areas such as immigration or the environment, the UK culture secretary has said, as she announced plans to restore civil society organisations to “the centre of our national life”. Lisa Nandy said publicly speaking out was “critical to a healthy, functioning democracy” and that charities should “tell government where we’re getting it wrong and work with us to set it right”. She indicated they should no longer be told to “stick to their knitting”, a reference to a criticism by a previous Conservative government that charities had strayed too far into politics. Continue reading…

Revitalise says challenges ‘insurmountable’ due to local authority cuts, higher running costs and fall in donations Britain’s only specialist respite holiday provider for severely disabled people and their carers is to close because of financial difficulties, in what has been called a bellwether example of the UK’s growing social care crisis. Revitalise, a charity that runs unique state-of-the-art respite stays, offering 24-hour care at two specially adapted hotels, said local authority cuts, combined with increased running costs and a fall in donations, meant it was no longer viable. Continue reading…

Exclusive: Failure to extend funding risks biggest setback to ending homelessness ‘in recent history’, Rachel Reeves told Rough sleeping will head back towards record levels unless Labour fills a looming £1bn shortfall in frontline funding when deals agreed by the last government expire in the coming months, dozens of homelessness charities have said. Amid what campaigners have called “a wall of silence” from the government about how it will tackle fast-rising homelessness, 76 charity bosses this week told the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, any failure to extend existing funding risked “the most significant setback in progress towards ending homelessness and rough sleeping in recent history”. All forms of homelessness increasing. Severely disadvantaged people being evicted from supported accommodation and forced into rough sleeping. Extra strain on emergency services. Continue reading…

Queen and Whitney Houston also feature on Marie Curie’s playlist of tracks chosen by those nearing final moments The importance and benefits of music in end-of-life care are well known. But now the first playlist curated by people nearing the end of their lives has revealed the songs that people find helpful. Frank Sinatra’s My Way and the Beatles’ Hey Jude are among the most popular songs chosen by terminally ill people to accompany them in their final moments, research has suggested. Continue reading…

Charity launches fundraising appeal to care for and document eclectic store of more than 1m artefacts Animal bones found in the ruins of a North Yorkshire monastery that could, thrillingly, be the remains of England’s last known wolf are part of the collection. As are a celebrated Vermeer masterpiece, the Duke of Wellington’s false teeth, more than 60,000 coins and almost 300 dessert plates. “It is eclectic,” said Kevin Booth, English Heritage’s head collections curator of the more than 1m objects in the charity’s care. “It is a slightly random collection and is just so intriguing. It is such a broad spectrum of material that has, in some ways, been accumulated, unlike a classic collection where there might be an element of selection.” Continue reading…