Communities need support now more than ever - Paul Carberry

With a recent survey showing charities deserved more recognition, the support we deliver is needed now more than ever, especially the longer that lockdown restrictions remain in place.

Many familes were already living on the cusp of a crisis, but their situation became worse when the pandemic struck

Action for Children deliver 87 services across Scotland working with more than 20,000 children, young people, and families every year. Many of these services work in some of the most disadvantaged communities, supporting the country’s most vulnerable.

Before lockdown, unfortunately, life was already tough for them. Many were living on the cusp of a crisis, but when the pandemic struck, it saw their situation become worse. It has also dragged families, who would have previously considered themselves as just coping, into crisis and seen them accessing support from a charity for the first time.

A recent survey by the National Lottery Community Fund showed an appreciation from Scots of the importance of this work within communities. The poll revealed almost seven in ten said local community groups and projects, volunteers and charities deserve more recognition. Respondents also stated what changes they wanted to see for their community, with their answers including wanting people to be more caring and looking out for each other (57 per cent). There was also a focus on supporting each other and to be good neighbours (47 per cent), and for parents to spend quality time with their children (46 per cent).

Paul Carberry is the Action for Children director for Scotland.

Our services support many of these aims and the ethos behind them. Pre-Covid, we commissioned research into our family support services, which showed its success in keeping families together. Staff continued that life-changing support during the pandemic, providing much-needed help to families who were struggling and facing extra pressures, whether financial, physical or with mental wellbeing.

For more than a decade we have delivered employability services in Scotland. These services annually support around 1,000 young Scots into employment, training or to re-engage with education. Recently, we welcomed the £1m of funding from the Scottish Government to help vulnerable teenagers find employment – part of the wider Young Person’s Guarantee. This will make a significant difference to the most disadvantaged in society, the type of young people our projects work with daily and who have been hit hardest by the pandemic. It is a step in the right direction aimed at preventing a generation being economically lost due to Covid-19.

During lockdown we rolled out our Serious Organised Crime Early Intervention Service, which is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, to Edinburgh as well as other sites across the UK. Coronavirus hasn’t stopped organised crime groups targeting the most vulnerable in society, nor has lockdown prevented our projects providing vital support to young people at risk of being dragged into this life.

There is a recognition within government that one of the biggest consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, and these subsequent lockdowns, will be in relation to the nation’s collective mental health. Over the past few years, our ‘Blues Programme’ has been working in schools supporting young people with their emotional wellbeing. Recently, we have begun delivering an emotional wellbeing programme to every school in Inverclyde and we are extremely proud to now extend this provision in the coming months to Orkney. This takes us to a milestone, in so doing we will now deliver services in 30 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities. This is only possible due to the breadth and depth of the services we deliver across the country.

Across Scotland there are countless charities providing a wide range of much needed support all year round. The pandemic brought much of this work into the gaze of the public eye, turning what we already called ‘key workers’ into publicly recognised key workers. This type of work is crucial going forward once we begin to move on from coronavirus and its fallout.

Paul Carberry is Action for Children's Director for Scotland