Charities face closure as cost of living crisis continues to bite

  • Watch Sarah Cooper's report

A charity that supports children with disabilities has said they are struggling to keep their doors open as their costs rise and demand increases.

The Little Miracles charity supports 15,000 children every year across 14 centres in the East of England.

Up to 700 children come into the Peterborough branch every day - about 8,000 children a year in the Peterborough branch alone.

Bosses there said that they have just had their busiest ever summer holiday and are supporting more children than ever before.

But as their costs rise too, they are worried about how they will be able to keep going.

Michelle King from the Peterborough branch of Little Miracles said: "We’re seeing that families are needing more and more support with things like basics like food.

"They’re coming here instead which means we’re then feeding them three meals a day and the knock-on effects for us are that our bills and our costs then go up.

"We have to provide more for families but it’s at a time when we’re struggling to fundraise, because people have less to give as well so it’s a kind of cruel circle."

Jess Fenner told ITV Anglia that Little Miracles had become a lifeline for her and her four-year-old son, Fergus.

Jess and her son, Fergus Credit: ITV Anglia

Despite Fergus's father working, and Jess being a full-time carer, they are already struggling to pay their bills.

Ms Fenner said: "It’s terrifying with the rise in electric and everything going up. There's just a fear inside me all the time.

"Fergus has a suction machine, a oxygen machine, a SATS machine, a feeding pump machine so we need all those on because he could just stop breathing during the night.

"If that happened and his machines were off, I'd just never be able to forgive myself. If he died and I'd switched something off to save money. I couldn't live with that.

"I wouldn't be without Little Miracles. They are a lifeline. They really, really, are."

Other charities said that they're feeling the pressure too, and many have called for more support from the government to keep going.

The government said in a statement that it had "stood right behind charities in recent years - providing the sector with £750 million as part of a package of Covid support and continues to help social enterprises through things like reduced rates on energy used for non-business purposes".

But the charities here that are being forced to consider closing, this has not been enough.


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