Locality’s policy lobbying in response to COVID-19 – tell us your concerns

This remains a fast moving situation. Locality and other sector partners are talking to government departments everyday to feed in evidence and concerns from our members – thank you to everyone who has been contributing to this effort.

There have been two important announcements from the Government since Friday – firstly on the Job Retention Scheme for furloughed staff, and secondly on new Local Support Systems to protect individuals most at risk from the virus. We would be grateful if you could answer these three short questions to help shape our response to government on these latest developments.

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* 1. Name

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* 2. Organisation

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* 3. Support to pay furloughed staff’s wages from government is incredibly welcome. However, we know for many members they want to be able to keep providing services at this time. Staffing costs are not the entirety of members’ outgoings and more grant support is needed to stabilise cash-flow.

Please tell us the issues you are currently facing regarding financial sustainability.

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* 4. The Local Support System announced on Sunday will be coordinated by local authorities in partnership with suppliers, local resilience and emergency partners, and voluntary groups.
We are feeding back to government that community organisations indeed have a vital role, particularly in ensuring that the 1.5 million people identified as high-risk are receiving the support they need on top of the basic provision of supplies.

Please tell us if you are involved in conversations about local support hubs with your local authority. Please feed in any barriers or concerns you are experiencing so far.

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* 5. This is a fast changing situation. Our government contacts are continually asking us for evidence from our members.

Without being an extra burden to you at this time, are you willing to be contacted again directly by Locality’s policy team with specific requests for evidence and information about how Covid-19 is impacting your organisation and your communities?

Yes

If yes, please supply your email address

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* 6. Any further comments?