AROUND 60 per cent of community groups in Bury may close by the end of the year, a COVID-19 impact survey of the voluntary sector has found.

Half of the voluntary, community and faith organisations surveyed across the borough said they only have enough reserves to keep them going for less than six months and of these, eight have less than three months of reserves left.

Bury Voluntary, Community and Faith Alliance (VCFA), which carried out the survey, has also reported that groups are struggling to recruit volunteers as over-65s continue to self-isolate and those on furlough return to work.

Independent chair Sajid Hashmi MBE explained the findings of the umbrella organisation to Bury Council’s health and wellbeing board on Tuesday.

He said:  “We carried out a survey of all voluntary and community organisations and 60 per cent of local community groups have less than three months operating costs and will close by the end of the year.

“These are not your larger organisations, this is your Zumba classes or your train modellers club, your railway club or knitting clubs – all those small community organisations that rely on subscriptions.

“And because the subscriptions haven’t been coming through, they haven’t got any money.

“They’re looking at up to five or six hundred pounds a year. That’s all they need to survive.”

Bury VCFA has been helping organisations access funding during the pandemic which has brought in £501,224 to the borough’s economy.

A total of 53 Bury-based organisations have secured £387,990 from the government’s COVID support fund through the lottery, 35 community groups have secured £133,234 in COVID-related support grants through Forever Manchester and 32 groups shared £29,296 from Bury Council’s emergency COVID grants.

Groups who rely on volunteering are also struggling to recruit at the moment.

Mr Hashmi explained that traditionally, the VCFA has recruited volunteers from the over-65s, many of whom are self-isolating, and he highlighted that younger people who are not working and are in receipt of benefits have been sanctioned for volunteering because it meant they were not available to work.

He said: “Our main cohort of volunteers – the retired, fit and health – most of them are self-isolating. The problem is they are not available for volunteering.

“We have a whole host of volunteers who, because they’re furloughed, came on board and were available and they did a lot of work with the community hubs, but as they are going back to work, we’re losing that cohort.

“So what we’re looking at now is a survey of everybody who has volunteered with us in the last three years. We’ve got in touch with every single on of them and we’re drawing up a database of who’s available and when.

“Even if you can do an hour a week, we’ll take that our and we’ll allocate jobs accordingly.”

He added: “It’s a huge task. We’re trying our best. And we have been, through both of the new MPs who have written to the Department for Work and Pensions, asking for confirmation that people will not be sanctioned if they volunteer on certain days or at certain times, but that has not been forthcoming as of yet.”

For more information about volunteering in Bury, visit Bury VCFA’s website at www.buryvcfa.org.uk, email admin@buryvcfa.org.uk or call 0161 518 5550.