A third of charities believe they will need to make redundancies over the next year but the figure could be far higher, new research indicates.
Research carried out by the charity leaders body Acevo and the Centre for Mental Health shows 33 per cent of the 85 charities surveyed said they expected to have to make job cuts in the next 12 months.
But a further 36 per cent of respondents said they were unsure if they would have to make redundancies, meaning at worst almost seven in 10 charities could be cutting jobs over the next year.
The results come from polling that the two organisations have been carrying out each month with 85 charities in England and Wales since the coronavirus pandemic began to affect the voluntary sector.
Charities were asked about potential redundancies for the first time in the latest poll.
Kristiana Wrixon, head of policy at Acevo, said: “It appears that the huge number of redundancy announcements we have seen over the last few weeks are just the tip of the iceberg.
“The Chancellor has said he wants to protect as many jobs as possible, but with only three in 10 respondents saying they do not think they will make redundancies over the next 12 months, it is clear a lot more support is required to protect jobs so that charities can be there for all of us as we feel the impact of what is predicted to be the biggest global economic crisis for almost 100 years.”
The data was collected between 28 July and 3 August.