OXFAM, the disgraced charity, has said that it will not bid for government funding until it has cleaned up its act – as if this is a favour it is doing to the general public before it resumes business as normal spending taxpayers’ money without our consent on sex perks we never approved of.

Most people are not aware but many charities are funded by the state, with more than 50 per cent of the statutory income (around £15 billion) from local government and around 45 per cent from central government and the NHS. The balance is paid by European and international sources.

The word charity invokes in all of us a sense of compassion and an urge to help those less fortunate, and there are almost 200,000 registered charities in Britain. But despite their “good works”, the causes they have sought to remedy still exist. No matter how generous the flow of human kindness, poor nations have remained poor and the future is unlikely to be much different.

In reality, the average spend on declared causes by charities is less than 50 per cent. One cancer charity spent three per cent of its donations on its actual cause. While raking in billions in donations and taxpayer pounds, charities spend obscene amounts on salaries, publicity and overheads.

Some charities are totally funded by the government. This, many believe, inhibits them from criticising flawed policies and helps the government evade their social responsibilities. They don’t bite the hand that feeds them.

Governments should do the job they are elected to do and provide proper social welfare for all citizens. If the state is doing its work competently, then why should there be a need for charities? Charity is a temporary measure but people need more permanent solutions. You can’t tell a hungry child that you gave him food yesterday. Every man, woman and child needs security and the state needs to do its moral duty. Around 30 per cent of children in the UK live in poverty – is that moral?

Statistics are just numbers, but what real impact does poverty have on real people? Poverty is not just about not being able to eat a decent meal and have a nice warm bed in the dead of winter. It has a domino effect on all other aspects of life too. Poor people become ill more often, their education suffers and family relationships can be brittle. The psychological effects suppress freedom of self-expression, leading to helplessness and an inability to get out of the trap of poverty.

North Lanarkshire Council plans to offer free school meals all year round to tackle what they call “holiday hunger” (School meals plan ‘15 years overdue’, The National, February 17). This proposal comes as teachers report seeing more malnourished pupils. If children are not being fed on days that they are not at school, what kind of choices are being faced by some Scottish parents? There are also around 28,000 homeless people in Scotland – a heart-rending figure. Many of them will die well before the average life expectancy of the rest of the population.

Whether it’s child abuse by charity employees, child poverty, homelessness or another equally dire face of modern society, there need to be permanent solutions.

People can more effectively use their tax pounds by not giving to charities and instead demanding that the government of the day do the job they are voted in to do. Social welfare should be central to government responsibility and not any other body, be it a charity or another organisation.

A society that continually sees poverty and death all around and does nothing to alleviate the causes, is at odds with its claim to be carrying out its social responsibility with any sincerity.

Paigham Mustafa
Address supplied