Written evidence submitted by the Countryside Education Trust

The Impact of Covid-19 on the Charitable Sector

Call for Evidence

Context

The Countryside Education Trust (269546) is an environmental education charity, which has been operating successfully since 1975. Our core mission is to connect people with the countryside, and we are locally well loved for doing just that, enabling people of all backgrounds and ages to engage with farming, wildlife, ancient woodlands, conservation and rural life. We work from two sites in Beaulieu, in the New Forest: a small farm with a residential centre, productive garden, and orchard; and ancient woodlands where we have treehouse classrooms, a complete stream system and some exceptional ponds. As environmental educators we care sensitively for our animals, sites and habitats and pass on these skills to our volunteers and visitors.

Our work is wide ranging. We welcome around 10,000 people every year, with residential visits from schools and community groups, outdoor playgroups, 4 or 5 large scale community events, programmes aimed at young people with learning difficulties, outreach to care homes and day visits from a variety of different institutions. Volunteers support our work. Many help simply because they love the ethos of the charity, some come initially because of complex social problems, some are young people taking their first steps into volunteering, and for others we are a solution to loneliness. We train 4 interns annually to enable them to gain experience in farming, horticulture, environmental education or forestry. In everything we do we ensure fair access and opportunities for all. Our youngest visitors are new borns, and our oldest so far has been 100 years old.

We fervently believe that the work that we undertake in connecting people with the countryside and educating our communities about conservation, farming and the environment is increasingly important. People need to care for nature and the environment if we are to collectively rise to the challenges presented by climate change. Research emphatically shows the psychological, physical, resilience building and creative benefits of enabling people to spend time outdoors. Indeed, this crisis is highlighting how valued access to nature and the countryside is.

Reason for Submitting Evidence

It is important that parliament hears first-hand from all sorts of charities in order to form a full picture of the problems faced by the sector. We are a medium-sized charity with a turnover of around £500,000 annually, and we are relatively representative in terms of the challenges we are facing. We have limited reserves, especially given the last two years of uncertainty; we have had to significantly change how we work over the past ten years to a more business oriented model away from local authority funding, a change we have successfully negotiated until this crisis; we carry out a role that hitherto fell to local government; we are an important part of our local community; we are not lifesavers, but we undoubtedly contribute to the quality of people’s lives; and our existence is threatened by the Covid-19 threat.

Covid-19 Impact

With the onset of the current Covid-19 emergency, the Countryside Education Trust almost instantly lost income of more than £150,000 to the end of July from cancelled school bookings, three large scale public events, a major fundraiser, our rural skills courses, weddings and the rental income from a new self-catering property planned to support our income. Our exciting outreach work to public events and to local care homes has also been put on hold until further notice. Every single part of our work has been affected, and every single income stream; just under a third of our income has disappeared overnight.

We feel that as a charity we have stepped up to the expectations of consecutive governments that we should play our part to underpin the fabric of society, disentangle ourselves from being dependent on government funding and operate in a business-like fashion. However, we are not being supported as if we were a business.

As it stands, we will not be receiving any government funding beyond the furlough grant, though that has enabled us to avoid redundancies for the time being. Although much of our business is related to hospitality and leisure, our premises are classed as study centres and will not qualify for either of the business grant streams. Business Interruption Loans would only postpone, rather than solve, the problem. We have Business Interruption Insurance, but this virus is not covered. Business avenues are closed to us, but charity support will not apply either; we are not able to help on the front line, though we are playing our part at village level with food, and to a wider community with education online.

Our hopes

We hope that charities will be given the same level of financial underpinning as businesses, with grants available quickly and easily to avoid charities failing. We hope the value of our commitment to helping to build stronger and more resilient communities will be recognised. And we hope that charities and their staff will be supported until this crisis is over so that we can play our part in the UK’s social and economic recovery.

Jane Cooper,

Chief Executive,

Countryside Education Trust,