Community Investment Priorities in Post-Pandemic Britain

As I write this article (April 2020), my family and I, like many across the world, are in ‘lockdown’ due to the novel Coronavirus COVID-19 which has swept the globe and already claimed tens of thousands of lives.

We’ve watched the pandemic evolve over the past few months, quickly going from a distant problem in the Far East to one that has, in one way or another, affected every single one of us in profound ways. The virulence of COVID-19 and the ease and speed with which it has spread has left societies scrambling.

Tribulations are, by their nature, polarising and we have witnessed selfishness and selflessness (and everything in-between) from individuals, companies/organisations and even Governments. Unsurprisingly, charitable individuals and organisations have come to the fore, doing what they can, with whatever little they have, to provide support to those most in need.

Much mention has been made of the ‘unprecedented times’ we are in and the ‘wartime effort’ that is required - and I don’t think many of us would consider those sentiments to be untrue. We are undoubtedly in ‘unprecedented times’ and this has led to organisations having to adapt and do things they have not typically done before, whether that’s car manufacturers making ventilators or a cycling social enterprise teaming up with local charities, housing associations and GPs to get food and medication to vulnerable citizens (the latter is a shameless plug for an initiative I know of personally!).

Whilst this type of flexibility is expected at times like these, what is interesting to note is how a medical emergency has given non-medical community-focused organisations pause for thought and left them wondering whether their aims may no longer be relevant in a post-pandemic world.

The sheer scale and urgency of the current situation have created a sense of uncertainty about what the future may hold, and that results in further unsurety about what charitable organisations’ foci will need to be going forward. However, there are probably some relatively ‘safe’ assumptions that we can make about the future:

• This pandemic will pass

Although the frequency of global outbreaks seems to be on the increase (SARS, MERS and COVID-19 have all happened in the past couple of decades), history tells us that this pandemic will pass and we will, hopefully, find a vaccine that helps to protect some of the more medically vulnerable. If that is the case, and the NHS, the Government and care sector are better prepared for any future waves of the virus, then charities that don’t typically work in this sector won’t have to step in, as they currently have, to creatively fill the void.

• People living in poverty or economic disadvantage will still be poor

Although some people might be wealthier following the current crisis (“the rich get richer”, as the saying goes), it’s pretty unlikely that people without the means will be able to make the same financial investments and gains! In fact, given what we already knew about the increasing rates of in-work poverty and the inevitable redundancies that have, despite the Government’s efforts, taken place recently, it’s likely that those who were already struggling to make ends meet before the pandemic will be in an even more dire situation once it ends.

•  There may be even more people than before who will struggle financially

There are some pretty gloomy predictions about the future of the global economy, some of which are pretty depressing. Even in slightly more optimistic predictions, we still face significant job losses due to an economic downturn, driving many more people towards poverty and financial turmoil.

It’s human nature for us all to pull together and celebrate good news stories to keep each other buoyed when faced with difficult times, but the reality is that the future is looking pretty bleak.

Whilst the mainstream media focuses on death rates and toilet-roll shortages, those of us in the community sector are acutely aware of the devastating impact of the pandemic on those who are economically vulnerable.

For example, we have areas in Britain where more than half the children live in poverty - millions more survive just above that statistical threshold; what impact will this pandemic have had on families who were already struggling to put food on the table and have suddenly faced weeks of school closures with no access to free school meals? Some schools have taken the initiative and tried to do what they can, but throw job losses and a potential recession into the mix and we have a greater crisis looming.

The sad truth is that this social crisis existed in the UK long before COVID-19 – it just never garnered the media attention that it deserved nor entered the collective consciousness of the masses - and, if the economists’ predictions are to be believed, things are about to get a whole lot worse.

And it’s not just about money; we know that poverty leads to inequalities in, for example, health, employment outcomes, education and housing. Essentially, the more economic polarisation that exists in a society, the more unjust that society is.

Charitable organisations exist to address injustice. So, what should they focus on in a post-pandemic Britain? I would argue that organisations that already had a strong and well-defined social purpose should continue to focus on that which they were focused on before the pandemic.

It’s not their mission or core aims that should change – organisations that sought to address poverty and the inequalities that result from it will be needed more than ever before. The “why” isn’t what needs to change, but the sector does need to think about the “how”. I believe that there are three things that social-purpose organisations will need to focus on going forward:

• Creativity

The operating environment is going to change; there will be more people that need the support of charitable organisations, but there’s likely to be less money available to do it. Organisations will have to get creative to find ways of meeting a greater need with fewer resources.

• Collaboration

Issues of poverty and injustice were always too big for any one organisation to solve alone and that’s not about to change. Silo-working, unnecessary duplication and, dare I say it, egos, all need to be unceremoniously binned. Genuine and concerted cross-sector efforts to share knowledge, ideas and resources will be needed if we’re to have any chance of making a meaningful impact.

• Campaigning

Much of the sector’s work focuses on dealing with the symptoms of poverty, e.g. debt, unemployment or poor health. Addressing the root causes of poverty will require systemic change – and that needs policy change at the national level which won’t happen without a shift in public opinion. We’ll need organisations to band together to campaign and demand changes that result in a fairer distribution of wealth in British society.

When the pandemic no longer carries the same sense of urgency, the (justified) recriminations will inevitably begin: Why weren’t we better prepared? Who is to blame for the persistent underfunding of the NHS and the wider care system that led to the unnecessary loss of so many lives?

Those are important questions, but we also need to ask why we have a system that is so broken that it couldn’t even support our most vulnerable members of society in their time of greatest need?

The very premise of civilisation is the collaboration of human beings for common good. Yet we live in a ‘civilised’ society where greed has led to stark levels of deprivation and human suffering for many, and unfathomable levels of wealth for a few.

Many people are wondering when things will return to normal. I believe a return to “normal” would be an unconscionable tragedy.

We need to change the norm and create a society that is fundamentally more just – and civil society organisations should use this time to prepare themselves to take the lead.