GamCare Chief Calls for Levy RET Ringfencing – Not a Moment Too Soon!

It was with great interest that we read Margot Daly Chief of GamCare ’s piece in PoliticsHome yesterday, discussing the levy that the white paper is set to introduce. The piece raises important points about the current provision of support for gambling addiction, highlighting that a substantial proportion of the workload is currently shouldered by the organisations on the Gambling Commission 's RET list. And acknowledging that nothing to date has offered any surety in terms of continuance of service in the migration from the current RET system to the new levy for the organisations delivering that support.

This is a drum that I’ve been beating for many months now. While the levy proposes to double the funding available to support those impacted by gambling harm, it has created huge uncertainty for the organisations currently delivering that support. Both in terms of whether funding will be accessible in the future and in what happens in the interim as we transition from one system to the other.

For the most part the organisations on the RET list are charities. Even the biggest names on the list, GamCare, being one of them, are unlikely to be running with huge excesses of cash. By their very nature, charities tend to have to ‘run lean’ relying on hoped-for donations to ensure the future.

Uncertainty around funding, as has been created by the manner in which the RET to levy transition is being managed, is a cancer at the heart of any charity. It prevents future planning, stops us responding to immediate needs as we try to hold back funding to ensure that we can keep the service operational in the worst-case scenarios, and puts us at risk of having to downsize our efforts in ways that are not easily undone if funding turns up later. No business would ever choose to operate this way, but as the 3rd sector, we’re simply expected to.

It is a paradigm shift to see GamCare come out and voice their concerns on this matter. Small voices like BetBlocker are easy to ignore when the bigger charities are keeping quiet. We wholeheartedly agree with and support GamCare’s position on this matter. But the real question should be why has it got to the point where charities that have been holding up the 3rd sector are having to expend energy engaging this fight?

Yes, we’ve seen the launch of the System Stabilisation Fund (SSF), via the Gambling Commission and GambleAware , and speaking for BetBlocker only, this has been a huge pressure release. But before this fund was launched, we saw multiple RET organisation fold due to funding uncertainty. This was avoidable. And the SSF, while manifestly critical in the immediate term, doesn’t assure any funding once the levy comes into force.

This situation is understandable. The big machine doesn’t see or take account of the needs of the cogs. But if action isn’t taken, we risk losing more of these frontline services that are critical to supporting vulnerable people in the UK and that’s a very dangerous possibility. GamCare is just the latest, and loudest, voice to raise this concern. It’s time that voice was heard and factored into this discussion. The long-term security of the RET organisations is critical if we’re going to protect those that rely on our services.