A SURVEY of more than 100 Wiltshire charities has revealed two thirds of them are worried about the impact of the cost of living crisis.

What’s more, a third are uncertain about the future.

Wessex Community Action’s third State of the Sector survey was returned by more than 100 groups from across Wiltshire and Swindon.

It was carried out during May and June in collaboration with Voluntary Action Swindon to gauge how well the sector have recovered from the pandemic.

"The survey was carried out before the impact of the cost of living and fuel price crisis had been felt, and the situation is likely to be far worse now,” said partnership and engagement lead Anita Hansen

“We know that groups are facing the same cost of living challenges as the people they aim to help – with energy, food, rent and transport costs rising.”

She added: “It is also a worry that 15 per cent don’t have time to apply for funding – or can find suitable sources of funding – to support their work.”

When asked about concerns for the future, two thirds of the 114 who took part said the cost of living crisis was a worry.

Eighty per cent said they had been impacted by Covid in some way, and nearly half found themselves with lower income or losing income altogether.

More than half - 51 per cent - said they were moderately concerned about the viability of their group, while 15 per cent said they were extremely concerned.

More than a third of groups who responded said they had seen income from fundraising events fall since Covid and a similar number said money coming in from the likes of sales of goods, services or venue hire had dropped.

Just over a quarter said their donations from individuals had fallen, while 16 per cent said they had increased.

Nearly 60 per cent of groups had applied for grant funding in the last six months. Two thirds were successful, with the rest waiting to hear the outcome. But 15 per cent said they either didn’t have time to make bids or couldn’t find a suitable source of funding.

Asked about increasing demand, 45 per cent said the most common was from people with anxiety or mental health concerns, while 34 per cent said more demand was coming from people who were feeling isolated, lonely or cut off from support.

A third of charities said since Covid they either had fewer volunteers or were finding them more difficult to recruit and a quarter were concerned they will not be able to meet increasing demand for support.

Wessex Community Action supports smaller groups across the county with training and guidance to help make them more resilient, represents the voluntary sector in dealings with council and health leaders and runs forums for small groups and charities to give them a stronger voice.

Anita, who oversaw the survey, said it was part of the remit to ‘take the temperature’ of the voluntary sector to gauge training and support needs. She said: “We carried out similar surveys in May and December 2020, but this current survey aims to measure how the sector is faring as the country has emerged from the pandemic and explore the new wave of challenges facing the sector.

Read the full report at wessexcommunityaction.org.