Coronavirus (COVID-19) Special Brief – 8 April 2020

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, today announced a £750million funding package for charities. While this is a welcome first step, we know that the voluntary sector providers play a key role in supporting the 13.3million disabled people living in the country and now more than ever, the government needs to invest in the sector. We responded to the Chancellor's announcement. Read our statement here.

Tomorrow (Thursday) the VODG member follow up call on the Job Retention Scheme takes place with our colleagues from Trowers & Hamlins. We look forward to welcoming many of you on that call. Please note that our next Keeping in touch call for members will take place on 15 April. Registration details are below. In the meantime, the COVID-19 Response Hubs continue to be a helpful resource for members to share insights and discuss issues. As a reminder, please email [email protected] if you wish to join one of the Hubs. A full list of Hubs available can be accessed here:

• Would anyone be willing to have a conversation with NHSE/I modellers who want to explore demand side (please see paragraph below)? Please email me directly at [email protected] if you are able to help. "Some colleagues are developing a model to estimate potential demand for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) across health and social care settings. They need some help with the assumptions which would underpin different components of the model, in particular residential care settings. ... Clearly it is important we get this right, otherwise there won’t be enough PPE in the system to meet everyone’s requirements. As you can imagine, they are working to a very tight timeframe, so I’d be hugely grateful if you could get back to me today with some suggestions. Sorry it’s such a short notice."
• All feedback, please email [email protected]