More than half of charities are at full capacity for their services and one in eight say they have been forced to turn people away, according to new research.
A survey of more than 600 charities, carried out by the Charities Aid Foundation, shows two-fifths said they could not help any more people.
The findings point to financial pressures as a key barrier to charity operations, with nearly one-third of charities saying they have been unable to get support to help with their utilities costs amid cost-of-living increases.
One in seven said they were locked into an unfavourable energy tariff, with 32 per cent saying they planned to invest in improving their long-term energy efficiency.
Alongside rising costs, the findings also indicated that charities are facing increased demand for services.
Six in 10 of the charities surveyed said that demand had risen compared with last year, with one-third saying this had “substantially” increased.
A youth-services charity, based in north-west England, said: “We have ever-increasing waiting lists and demand on our service. It feels like we are constantly firefighting.”
Neil Heslop, chief executive of CAF, said: “The relentless financial pressure on charities is continuing. Tens of thousands of charities are at full capacity, and sadly this means many are having to turn people away – people who desperately need their support.
“We can’t afford to have charities facing such uncertainty. The Chancellor recognised their critical work in the March Budget, but now a longer-term plan is required to build the fantastic, hardworking charity sector back up.”
The survey, carried out last month (September) as part of CAF’s Charity Resilience Index research, received responses from a range of voluntary sector organisations.
The majority of these were faith-based charities, with the second-biggest group consulted being community organisations such as youth or sports clubs.
CAF also surveyed charities working in the following sectors: arts, culture and heritage; education and training; healthcare; overseas development; poverty relief; support and care services; environmental conservation and wildlife.
Of the 607 charities consulted, 110 had an annual income of less than £9,999, 229 earned between £10,000 and £99,999 and 180 earned between £100,000 and £499,999.
There were 67 with an annual income of between £500,000 and £4.9m and seven with an annual income of more than £5m.
The remaining 14 respondents said they did not know their organisation’s most recent annual income.