One year on from Labour’s election, charities are finding influence

July 4th marked the first anniversary of Labour’s General Election win. In terms of the ability of charities and civil society organisations to influence the new government’s policy and delivery priorities, the last year has been a mixed bag, but there are encouraging signs. 

Shortly after the General Election I remarked that much of the cabinet had real charity sector experience, along with so many of the new MPs who had experience of working with or volunteering for charities. I had hoped that this would make gaining access and influence easier for charities, but the jury’s still out. 

Civil society organisations clearly also have a role to play across many of the government’s ‘missions’ and its programme of ‘national renewal’ which the Prime Minister himself has repeatedly acknowledged.  

So far, the reality of how charities can formally input to the Whitehall decision-making machinery on a par with other stakeholders has proved to be much more elusive than the rhetoric. However, I think this has more to do with the inherent difficulty of changing central government and the lack of consistency and clarity about how this government wants to reorganise internal structures and decision-making, than any lack of effort from civil society organisations. 

‘National renewal’ is impossible without civil society 

Regardless, we need to keep pointing out to ministers, MPs, and civil servants that concepts such as ‘national renewal’ and ‘preventative approaches’ across a whole host of policy areas just aren’t possible without involving civil society at all levels.  

For example, the new NHS 10-year plan calls for ‘moving care into the community’ and ‘preventative approaches’, which will be welcomed by many charities working on health-related issues. It says in the future the health service will partner with ‘a wider network of technology, life sciences, local government, civil society and third sector organisations’. But does the Health Secretary really understand just how integral the services and expertise of charities and voluntary organisations will need to be to achieve the government’s vision? 

Despite these challenges, I also think that for many campaigning charities the past year hasn’t been wasted. They’ve been using it to assess the nature of who they’re dealing with in government, to build networks, design strategies and execute plans, and now we’re starting to see their campaigning efforts delivering results in many areas.  

Here are just a few salient examples: 

Benefits and welfare  

The government’s proposed changes to certain benefits have been high profile in the media and have generated serious political heat. Whether you agree with the objectives or not, charities have often been at the centre of these debates and campaigns to get the government to change course, increasingly by influencing Labour backbenchers. 

Two examples are the early decision to means-test winter fuel payments and the more recent welfare reform proposals. Shortly after taking office, the Chancellor announced that the Winter Fuel Payment would go from being a universal benefit for all pensioners to being means-tested. Age UK mobilised a campaign which included a 650,000-signature petition which kept the issue in the news, and worked with other pensioner rights organisations. As a result the government recently adjusted its policy so now pensioners earning less than £35,000 a year will receive the benefit. 

Similarly, the government’s plans to cut spending on benefits for disabled and unemployed people have provoked a massive opposition campaign led by disability organisations and anti-poverty charities like the Trussell Trust. The government has a huge majority in Parliament, yet it faced the real prospect of a damaging defeat by its own MPs, and as a result, it had to make genuine concessions on these reforms.  

The government got into this mess by not properly examining root causes and truly preventative approaches. The justification started from the point of reducing spending, not from understanding the needs of disabled people or the actual drivers for poverty, ill-health, or unemployment in the context of a pandemic and cost-of-living crisis. Charity campaigners built momentum by speaking out and mobilising pressure on MPs, paired with strong evidence and input from those with lived experience. 

Criminal justice reform 

Reform of the criminal justice system is a complex area where many charities and voluntary organisations have been working for years to change government policy, to create more humane and effective approaches. One of the notable moves made by the Labour government was to appoint James Timpson, the CEO of Timpson Group, to be Minister of State for Prisons Parole and Probation. Timpson’s is well known for its policy of hiring people with criminal records and the now Lord Timpson is well versed in the issues. 

This has created opportunities to influence present and future policy, such as reforms to the probation service and the independent sentencing review, whose recommendations and evidence have been heavily evidenced by many different charities working in this area. More work remains to get the government to adopt these recommendations, but it’s a positive development nonetheless. 

Green policy 

There have already been some notable charity victories on green policy too. The Minister for Energy and Net Zero, Ed Miliband, is not only a former Labour party leader but a former Minister for the Third Sector, and his name often comes up in conversations about where charities are getting traction with this government. 

The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) has claimed a win on the government adopting its so-called ‘Sunshine Bill’, which will see solar panels installed as standard on all new suitable homes. They are also pushing for solar to be deployed on the roofs of car parks and warehouses, as a win-win solution both for the government’s net-zero commitments and preserving the countryside and green spaces.  

In another, perhaps less glamorous example, the Green Alliance has called for a ‘Methane Action Plan’ to more rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Ed Miliband recently agreed that the UK will publish its first such plan and become an official champion of the Global Methane Pledge at the next COP30 talks. These examples show that when political and charity leadership are aligned, progress and policy innovation can happen. 

Spending Review 2025 – Charity Commission budget 

One final example that will have gone under radar for many, but is no less significant for charities, involves the spending settlement for future years for our regulators. Good regulation is vital for our sector and the foundation of how charities are accountable to and trusted by the public. But the Charity Commission for England and Wales, along with the other regulators in the UK, have been under budgetary pressure for years.  

There was a real risk that in the Spending Review announced last month their budgets could have been frozen or even cut, as the big government departments competed for funding from the Treasury. This could have meant less support for trustees, slower response times, few funds for innovation or development, and even a decline in the quality of information available on the charity registers. 

DSC, along with our colleagues in the Civil Society Group, campaigned tirelessly for more resources for the Commission, so that it can provide a better service for charities and more accessible help for trustees. We pushed for this in our formal submissions to the Treasury in the Autumn and the Spring, and our concerns were listened to! The Spending Review announced a substantial boost to the Charity Commission’s budget over the period to 2029/30, giving it the opportunity to improve and modernise its services. 

It’s still early days 

We often hear about the many challenges facing our sector and how it’s a ‘perfect storm’ in terms of financial and other difficulties. There’s no question recent years have been tough, but I think the past few months especially have shown that charities can have a real impact on this government’s decisions and on achieving systemic change in society across a host of issues. 

I expect that in the months and years to come the relationships many charities have forged with MPs are going to continue to deliver results. There are likely four more years left of this parliament, which is an eternity in political terms. We need to keep building those relationships, keep using our ingenuity, creativity and passion, and always remember that ‘persistence overcomes resistance’ eventually!