VAT increase hits poorest

Many of the poorest people and children within Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland may suffer as a result of the VAT increase today on items such as cookers, beds and fridges.

The most vulnerable within our region rely on the services of Leicester Charity Link to provide these basic essentials. These items can help families in an emergency or when a crisis hits and also to help those who have experienced homelessness set up a new home.

Jim Munton, Director of Operations at Leicester Charity Link has warned that the VAT increase will impact significantly on the number of items that the charity will be able to provide and therefore the number of people they will be able to help.

Jim Munton – “The increase in VAT means that we will need to raise an additional £7,000 funds this year to ensure that we can continue to support the thousands of people who come to us for help. These are costs that we can’t recover as grant making charities cannot register for VAT. Charities are currently being hit from all sides, increased VAT, reduced income due to poor return on investments, reductions in government funding and increasing demand for our services”.