29/10/2026
THE AUTUMN BUDGET 2026: BUT WHAT ABOUT THE THIRD SECTOR, SEND AND THE ORGANISATIONS HOLDING OUR COMMUNITIES TOGETHER?
Following yesterday's Autumn Budget, we've taken some time to consider what the announcements actually mean for organisations like The Glowsticks Project, the people we employ, the families we support and the wider voluntary and community sector.
And whilst there are some positive measures, we cannot help but feel disappointed by the lack of meaningful recognition and direct support for the third sector.
Because charities are not simply an optional extra. We are an essential part of our communities.
At Glowsticks, we are a neurodivergent-led registered charity operating a training café, community bakery and inclusive community hub in Middlesbrough.
We provide paid employment, supported employment opportunities, practical training, social inclusion, youth activities and a safe, understanding environment for autistic and ADHD people, including those with learning disabilities.
We are employers. We are educators. We are advocates. We are a community resource.
And, like thousands of other charities across the country, we are increasingly expected to meet growing needs with increasingly limited resources.
💚 BUSINESS RATES – A WELCOME STEP, BUT IS IT ENOUGH?
The Budget announced additional business rates support for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure premises, including increased Small Business Rates Relief thresholds from April 2027.
We welcome measures that recognise the extraordinary financial pressures facing high street businesses.
As a charity operating hospitality enterprises, we will be examining whether any of these changes can benefit our organisation.
However, eligibility and savings will depend on individual circumstances and existing reliefs.
And business rates are only one part of the picture.
Our organisations still face commercial rents, service charges, utilities, insurance, equipment costs, food inflation and the everyday expenses associated with keeping accessible community spaces open.
For charities delivering specialist support, those pressures are compounded by the additional resources required to provide meaningful inclusion.
💚 THE NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE – FAIR PAY MUST COME WITH SUSTAINABLE FUNDING
From April 2027, the National Living Wage will increase to £13.21 per hour, with corresponding increases for younger workers.
We support fair wages.
Our young people are paid employees. They contribute meaningfully to our enterprises, develop valuable skills and deserve the same dignity, respect and financial recognition as anybody else.
But increasing wages without adequately addressing how charities fund those increases creates another challenge.
We cannot simply absorb unlimited increases in expenditure.
Unlike conventional businesses, charities cannot always increase prices without affecting the accessibility of their services.
And unlike statutory providers, many community organisations have no guaranteed income to cover their ongoing delivery costs.
Fair pay and financial sustainability should never have to compete with one another.
💚 SEND – WHERE IS THE INVESTMENT IN COMMUNITY-BASED SUPPORT?
This is perhaps our greatest disappointment.
There continues to be considerable discussion about SEND reform, education funding, local authority deficits and the financial pressures within the statutory system.
But where is the equivalent recognition for the organisations delivering practical support within communities?
Where is the sustainable investment in early intervention?
In supported employment?
In opportunities for autistic young people and adults?
In social inclusion, independence, life skills and accessible community spaces?
In organisations that work alongside families before difficulties escalate into crisis?
We recognise that schools, local authorities and statutory services desperately need adequate funding.
But SEND support does not begin and end at the school gates.
Autistic and ADHD people do not stop needing understanding, opportunities or appropriate support when they turn 16, 18 or 25.
They deserve meaningful opportunities throughout their lives.
At Glowsticks, we see every day what happens when people are given the right environment, appropriate adjustments, genuine responsibility and the opportunity to succeed.
We see confidence develop, friendships form, independence grow and young people achieve things they may previously have been told were beyond them.
This is not an optional luxury. It is meaningful, preventative community provision.
Yet the Budget has not provided a clearly identifiable new national funding stream specifically for independent community SEND organisations delivering this kind of work.
That is a missed opportunity.
💚 ENERGY COSTS – CHARITIES NEED HELP TOO
We welcome measures designed to ease household energy costs.
Families are struggling, and reducing that pressure matters.
But charities and community enterprises are also facing extraordinary commercial energy costs.
We need to keep buildings warm, kitchens operating, equipment running and accessible spaces available to the people who rely on them.
For a charity operating a café and bakery, energy is not a discretionary expense.
It is fundamental to delivering our services.
Household energy support does not automatically translate into equivalent relief for organisations paying commercial tariffs.
We would like to see much greater recognition of the particular vulnerability of community organisations to rising utility costs.
💚 LOCAL AND REGIONAL INVESTMENT – AN OPPORTUNITY THAT MUST INCLUDE US
The Budget also places emphasis on regional growth, local decision-making and greater fiscal powers.
There may be opportunities within this approach, particularly here in Tees Valley.
But we would urge decision-makers to remember that economic growth is not measured solely in buildings, infrastructure or large-scale commercial investment.
It is also measured in people.
In the young autistic person entering paid employment.
In the individual developing independence for the first time.
In the family finding a community that understands them.
In someone who has previously been excluded finally feeling that they belong.
The third sector contributes to economic participation, community wellbeing and long-term social outcomes.
We should be recognised as a partner in regional growth, not an afterthought.
💚 THE BIGGER PICTURE – WHO SUPPORTS THE ORGANISATIONS DOING THE SUPPORTING?
The Charity Finance Group has already expressed disappointment at the lack of concrete support for charities within this Budget.
And we share that concern.
The third sector is increasingly expected to fill gaps in statutory provision, respond to growing demand, support vulnerable people and deliver measurable outcomes.
Yet much of our funding remains short-term, restricted, competitive and uncertain.
We spend enormous amounts of time applying for grants, demonstrating impact, securing partnerships and trying to maintain the financial stability needed to continue delivering services.
Time that could otherwise be spent developing provision, supporting people and building opportunities.
We are not asking for special treatment.
We are asking for recognition that delivering public benefit costs money.
That employing disabled people inclusively requires investment.
That preventative services have value.
And that charities cannot be expected to continually absorb rising costs whilst simultaneously responding to increasing demand.
WHAT WOULD WE LIKE TO SEE?
We would welcome:
- Sustainable, multi-year funding for community SEND and neurodivergent support organisations.
- Greater investment in supported employment and meaningful pathways into work.
- Financial recognition of the additional costs of inclusive employment and specialist support.
- Accessible energy and premises support for charities delivering essential community services.
- Genuine opportunities for smaller charities to participate in local authority commissioning and regional funding.
- Recognition of preventative community services as an investment, rather than an expense.
- Meaningful involvement of neurodivergent people and neurodivergent-led organisations in decisions about SEND and disability provision.
💚 OUR COMMITMENT
At The Glowsticks Project, we remain committed to the people who make our organisation what it is.
Our employees, our volunteers, our young people, our families and our wider community.
We are proud of what we have built, and of the incredible achievements of the people we support.
We will continue to champion paid employment, independence, dignity, accessibility and genuine inclusion.
We will continue working towards a sustainable future for Glowsticks.
And we will continue speaking up about the realities facing smaller charities, particularly those delivering specialist services that are so often overlooked.
But passion alone does not pay wages.
Good intentions do not pay electricity bills.
And the dedication of charity workers cannot indefinitely compensate for the absence of sustainable investment.
If the government is serious about inclusion, employment, prevention and stronger communities, then the organisations delivering those outcomes must be part of the financial conversation.
Because investing in the third sector is not simply investing in charities.
It is investing in people.
Neurodivergent-led. Community-focused. Committed to meaningful inclusion.
