Why aren't these Charities Government Funded?

I think government-managed charities would be vulnerable to political interference: the Tories don't like being reminded about food bank usage so they could close them down. It might be possible to spend more tax on charities if the giving decisions could be well insulated from the politicians. The National Lottery schemes are fairly well insulated though I suspect susceptible to government pressure.

Because charities are a way of extracting more cash from the public over and above what government dares to take.

It is a mistake to think that only leisure users of mountains and the sea need the help of the RNLI or Air Ambulance.

Ptofessional fishermen, merchant seamen and others making their living from the sea benefit from the life saving services of the RNLI and Air ambulances regulalryy attend road accidents and all kinds of emergencies, from heart attacks to women in labour, where the quickest way to get the patient to hospital is by helicopter.

We had an air ambulance land on our village green a few months ago to take someone to hospital urgently. I think at the time we had gridlock on local roads and an ambulance could not get through.

Air Ambulance and RNLI are funded. Charitably.

Given government incompetence, there is no good reason for those organisations to change the funding (fundraising) approach they have already which avoids government interference.

Sazzl said Also Mountain rescue should be military, but can see that lifeboats do often need people with experience of their coastal locations.

This just wouldn’t work. Living in an area with a very active mountain rescue team, I know that the people who man it know their patch like the back of their hands, the lay of the land, the weather systems, the accessibility and so on. Often they’ve lived in the area for 30/40 years and there’s nothing they don’t know.

Asking a military team from Hampshire to rescue a mountain climber in Cairngorm would be ridiculous and likely lead to even more deaths.

Funding is intrinsically linked to the pressures on children’s (and 0ther) services. L.A’s can’t meet statutory responsibilities. The gateposts on the level of risk before intervention get wider by the week. La run family centres that used to support families closed thanks to austerity. Voluntary family support diminished because charitable donations are reducing.

Of course air ambulance should be funded. Ours landed nearby after a serious road accident

I agree that all deaths are tragic in these circumstances but I believe it’s best to carry on with certain things being charitable and others state funded. I feel any extra funding should be put towards services that are already state run.
In any case, extra funding seems to be light years away at the moment and sadly social work will continue to suffer.
It’s best to leave things as they are I think and let the the charities do their work.

Callistemon21

Yes, I agree the Air Ambulance should be properly funded as part of the NHS.

The son of a friend of ours was taken by the Air Ambulance to hospital after an accident for which they were all very thankful. Waiting for an ordinary ambulance would have proved fatal.

They do a lot of rescues, I know somebody who had a very serious accident on his tractor who they rescued too.

Yes, I agree the Air Ambulance should be properly funded as part of the NHS.

The son of a friend of ours was taken by the Air Ambulance to hospital after an accident for which they were all very thankful. Waiting for an ordinary ambulance would have proved fatal.

Callistemon21

Casdon

maddyone

It’s pretty tragic for the tiny children who are killed by their parents because social work isn’t funded properly and therefore interventions aren’t able to be put in place. We need to fund the services we’ve got properly before we take on others.

It’s also pretty tragic to die on a mountain or at the scene of a road accident because nobody can rescue you. Think it through, one life doesn’t have more value than another.

People who climb mountains, go caving or go out to sea for fun are usually adults who have a choice. Sometimes, not always, they act irresponsibly and thankfully there are wonderful, courageous volunteers prepared to rescue these people if they get into trouble.

Tiny children living in dysfunctional families who may be subject to daily terror, abuse and even death, have no choice and we, as a nation, have a duty of care towards them and should properly fund the services to enable them to receive help and, if necessary, be rescued.

Of course, I don’t disagree that social services should be funded properly, apart from anything else safeguarding is a statutory requirement so whatever else isn’t funded the statutory elements will be. A lot of the issues in children’s services at local government level aren’t about funding social workers per se though, are they, they are about failure to recruit and retain staff because the job is nigh on impossible to perform, particularly now the funding for support services in the community is so squeezed and charities are closing. There’s a disproportionate effect on young families.
Air Ambulance does a lot more than just rescue people off mountains though. They are regularly out rescuing people after industrial and road accidents for example.

Casdon

maddyone

It’s pretty tragic for the tiny children who are killed by their parents because social work isn’t funded properly and therefore interventions aren’t able to be put in place. We need to fund the services we’ve got properly before we take on others.

It’s also pretty tragic to die on a mountain or at the scene of a road accident because nobody can rescue you. Think it through, one life doesn’t have more value than another.

People who climb mountains, go caving or go out to sea for fun are usually adults who have a choice. Sometimes, not always, they act irresponsibly and thankfully there are wonderful, courageous volunteers prepared to rescue these people if they get into trouble.

Tiny children living in dysfunctional families who may be subject to daily terror, abuse and even death, have no choice and we, as a nation, have a duty of care towards them and should properly fund the services to enable them to receive help and, if necessary, be rescued.

maddyone

It’s pretty tragic for the tiny children who are killed by their parents because social work isn’t funded properly and therefore interventions aren’t able to be put in place. We need to fund the services we’ve got properly before we take on others.

It’s also pretty tragic to die on a mountain or at the scene of a road accident because nobody can rescue you. Think it through, one life doesn’t have more value than another.

It’s pretty tragic for the tiny children who are killed by their parents because social work isn’t funded properly and therefore interventions aren’t able to be put in place. We need to fund the services we’ve got properly before we take on others.

Baggs

Given that Government doesn't seem to be running well what it already has responsibility for, I find it odd that people want to give more power to politicians.

Is funding Air Ambulance centrally giving the government more power? I’d be very happy if Welsh Air Ambulance was run by Welsh Government.
For hospices, I’d just like to see a lot more public money allocated to support them so they can stay afloat. If charitable donations in the UK continue to decline as they are doing we will see hospices go bankrupt and close, which would be tragic for the people who need them.

Here the things the government has control of are subject to ever increasing bureaucracy such that people don’t have time to do their jobs- they are too busy reporting and entering irrelevant data . If they fail to do that they get their funding cut. I know this first hand

I agree with Iam64. If more taxes were to be raised, and it’s a big if because I think we’re taxed highly enough already, but if more taxes were raised I would rather it went into the public services that are already so short of money, social work, NHS, schools and education.

Given that Government doesn't seem to be running well what it already has responsibility for, I find it odd that people want to give more power to politicians.

I’m with Casdon in being happy to have taxis increased according to our ability to pay. I’d rather the funds raised were put into repairing the unholy mess our public services are in because of the actions of the Conservative governments in 12 years

Given restraints, I’d be ok with maintaining charitable status for the agencies mentioned here, including hospice.

Government can’t pay for everything. We are already more highly taxed than ever before and some of you want to pay more tax, most people don’t. If these charities were to be government funded there would have to be cuts elsewhere because I don’t think that most of the population can afford, or want to pay more taxes. Where would the cuts come? Benefits? Migrants? Pensions? NHS? The usual bleat is the rich should pay more. But there simply aren’t enough rich to make the difference. The money only goes so far. We are a rich nation but not rich enough to pay for everything that is demanded. Only 41% of tax payers are net payers, all the rest take out of the system. Let the charities carry on doing their marvellous work. They do it well, probably better than if it was government funded.

Accordding to an online source

The RNLI have repeatedly turned down government funding when offered, as it would copromise their independence and leave them open to things like funding cuts, interference in procurement (they currently design and build their own boats and make money sellig them for export, the government would sell off that capability like a shot) and being told to act as police and not just life savers.

or as someone put it more colloquially
if they were government funded they would soon be down to four rowing boats, one in each corner of the UK privately owned by G4S at a cost of £12 million a year each on a PFI deal.

Thanks for all the comments. I still think the Air Ambulances should be government funded and linked to the NHS, operated by paid staff. Also Mountain rescue should be military, but can see that lifeboats do often need people with experience of their coastal locations. Government should at least contribute to these essential services imo.
To me charity should be for animal rescues, assisting poor people, helping older people maintain their homes or providing little extras. I really don't think lifesaving services should be donation funded and a charity. But then we can't all agree on everything can we.

On another charity related note, I also think hospices should receive government support

Hospices do receive some Government funding but it falls far short of what we should be paying imo.
They do need to work hard on fundraising.

Georgesgran Not all Air Ambulance and RNLI call outs are to people pursuing leisure pursuits. Air Ambulance aattend all kinds of medical emergencies from road accidents, work related accidents and people at home having heart attacks, where they are best reached by air ambulance.

The same with the RNLI, they attend all sea casualties, including professional seamen of all kinds. They also do a lot of inshore rescues. Although I do not think the recent tragedy at Bournemouth had a the inshore lifeboats out. Rip tides do quite often end up in the inshore lifeboat deploying, so should every person who goes to the beach with their children to play take out insurance. In which case it would probably have to be universal, like National Insurance.

Germanshepherdsmum

I don’t bury my head in the sand but see no unholy mess.
I’m pleased if you’re sufficiently wealthy to accept a tax rise. I’m pretty well off but unwilling to pay any more tax than I already do.

I don’t brag about it, I’d rather my husband hadn’t died. I am willing to pay more tax, and I expect to. In the meantime I contribute to the things that I consider important - like Air Ambulance.

Georgesgran I agree that people should take out insurance, but for small charities that would cause an administrative burden too, so it’s not without issues.

lixy

Please don't get the Government involved. These charities do an amazing job and HMGov would just mess it up.
I'd rather keep my direct debits going than pay more tax which will end up somewhere else altogether.

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