Homeless charity boss ‘told she won’t get Lottery funding unless she stops criticising Universal Credit’ CEO of Humanity Torbay Ellie Waugh said she was told to keep her mouth shut

The boss of a homeless charity has claimed she won’t be able to receive any Lottery funding unless she stops publicly criticising Universal Credit and the Government.

Ellie Waugh, who is CEO of Humanity Torbay, said she was visited by a Lottery official after she applied for £130,000 of funding for the charity.

But she claimed the official told her to not express any more of her opinions about Universal Credit and the Government or she won’t receive any money.

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The Big Lottery Fund is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport.

Waugh, 53, regularly posts videos online in which she talks about the impacts of the controversial new benefits system on the homeless.

Told to keep quiet

After the assessor visited, she posted a video in which she ranted about what the official had told her.

She said: “I’m speaking out because I’ve been threatened and I’ve been told to keep my mouth shut.

“I’ve been told to keep my mouth shut about universal credit. I’ve been told we won’t get any grants if we say anything.

“As the CEO of Humanity I have made the decision to speak out and say this is not right. At the end of the day people should know what’s going on.

“I don’t think people realise just how bad it is at the moment. More people are finding themselves homeless and on the street due to universal credit.”

She said she made the video “out of sheer frustration” and added: “She said if we wanted any funding we had to stop making videos and we had to stop speaking out.”

“She said ‘you’ve got to play the game’.”

Humanity Torbay is an advice charity that also offers clothes, hot showers, counselling and access to food banks and housing to people in crisis.

The official came to the charity’s Torquay base on October 15 to review the charity’s application for a grant of £130,000 over three years which would pay the rent on their building and pay two staff members.

Universal Credit problems

Trustee Shirley Holbrook said she was in the room when lottery official allegedly made the statement.

Shirley said: “She said categorically if we were to receive a big lottery grant we would be unable to speak out against Universal Credit or any other government measure that affected our clients adversely.

“We are not a political organisation. We speak out about homelessness because we deal with the results of it every day.”

She said the main problem with Universal Credit was it was paid at the end of the month, while the old system saw claimants get cash at the beginning of the month.

Shirley added that the charity has launched a crowdfunding page to make up for the money they have missed out on from the Big Lottery Fund.

The charity helps up to three hundred people per week and is run by Ellie and another full-time member of staff with a team of 17 volunteers.

Funding rules

The two full-timers are paid with a grant from the Tudor trust but Ellie said the other running costs came to £15,000 per year.

A spokesperson for Big Lottery Fund said it funded Humanity Torbay £10,000 in July 2017 which was announced as part of its publicly disclosed funding announcement.

They said it was actively working with them on their further application for £130k and no decision has been yet made on this.

The spokesperson added: “It is incorrect to suggest we would withhold funding from any organisation on the basis of what they say publicly on social issues. We fund thousands of projects that are run by organisations that, in the course of their other activities, may also campaign on a range of topics or issues.

“While we are clear – and it’s our stated policy – that our funding cannot be directly used for such activity, we do not prevent any grant holder from voicing their views on an issue that is important to them, their organisation or community.”