A Perth charity - forced to cancel a fundraising ball over fears supporters couldn’t afford the £60 tickets - has turned its focus to helping local people through the cost-of-living crisis.
The 50th anniversary event, planned for next month, had been expected to bring in between £5000-£10,000 for PKAVS which has seen income shrink and costs increase as more demands are put on its services.
In the past two years the importance of Scotland’s voluntary sector has been underlined throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, with the co-ordination of food and grocery support, alleviating mental health and wellbeing issues, such as befriending, and digital inclusion work to reduce isolation all carried out by the sector.
But as rising energy costs and inflation see more local people forced to cut back, vital charities are suffering from declining donations.
Despite this, PKAVS is bracing itself to support a range of people as winter approaches and the news turns negative.
“For many of our beneficiaries, budgeting and managing money is an enormous worry and can be detrimental to their wellbeing, said Graham Illsley, corporate policy offer with PKAVS.
“While promoting our charity ball, talking to those we support, and listening to people throughout Perthshire, it became clear that the cost-of-living crisis is the biggest challenge that they have faced in decades.”
“It is a small disappointment for us that our celebration will not go ahead, but a much greater concern that so many are suffering, and that even more will struggle in the coming months.
“We are a charity that strives to help those in their times of greatest need, we will be here to support everyone who needs our help in the future and will always work to improve the lives of the people of Perth and Kinross.
“Our Carers Hub fully anticipates having to support a great many young carers’ families over the Festive Season, much more so than in previous years.
“For many young carers’ families, Christmas is already difficult, as over 50 per cent of the young carers registered with PKAVS come from single-parent families.
“For those who have both parents at home, either one or both can’t work due to the cared-for person’s diagnosis. This means finances across a large percentage of Young Carer families can be very tight.
“Being able to afford gifts for their children this year will be a bigger struggle than ever before, so we will do all we can to make sure young carer’s Christmases this year are as good as they can possibly be.”
Graham said unpaid carers are particularly at risk of falling into fuel poverty because of the amount of time sat home.
He added: “A significant number of unpaid carers have no choice but to spend a large amount of their time indoors, mainly because of the cared-for person’s diagnosis, for example, they may have dementia or experience mental health or mobility issues.
“For many, this will mean they face the prospect of being at home, but with no heating on, as they won’t be able to afford the soaring costs.
“The alternative for others will be to cut back on their weekly grocery bill. Some will have to do both.
“A Full Fact article found that around 25,260 excess deaths occurred in Great Britain over the winter of 2018/19, and most were in people of pension age. Cold weather was a major contributor to these deaths. We are yet to see the severity of the situation in 2022/23.
“At the start of 2022, our Carers Hub delivered the Winter Recovery Fund. We do all that we can to help those during difficult times, but without additional funding from other sources, the support we are able to provide is limited by financial constraints.
“Our Minority Communities Hub in Perth is already seeing a stark increase in support required for financial issues, including debt and rising household bills.
“Like many services, we are considering how we can bring in additional capacity to support communities through what will undoubtedly be a difficult winter.
“We continue to provide one-to-one casework and signposting to our wide range of partners with specific areas of expertise.
“We will continue to explore additional and creative ways to support individuals to face financial difficulties with confidence and attempt to secure the funding we need to implement these approaches.’’
“If you would like to find out more about how we can support you during the months ahead, visit www.pkavs.org.uk, call us on 01738-567-076, or email admin@pkavs.org.uk
