We did it: National Emergencies Trust to pay grant assessors with lived experience

On 5th June it was brought to our attention that the National Emergency Trust (NET) was recruiting grant assessors with "lived experience in marginalised communities with characteristics protected under the Equality Act 2019" to spend 5+ hours per week reviewing applications from a diversity lens for free. This recruitment was not advertised widely and was seemingly shared with specific groups within the charity sector. 

While Charities and Foundations increasingly speak to the importance of lived experience, it is rarely ‘valued’ with either a seat at the decision making table or proper compensation. A grant assessor in the charity sector can earn on average £44,000 in London. Advertising for a voluntary role for those with lived experience is unacceptable. Advertising for a voluntary role in the knowledge that COVID-19 was impacting marginalised communities disproportionately was unconscionable. 

The same day we publicly called on the NET to provide a clarification on the role, and demanded that NET pay their grant assessors for their time.

NET released a statement saying that “the advertisement was issued in error, without appropriate review and sign-off”. We have seen these excuses used before, including in the wake of the Citizens Advice training scandal. While we welcomed the swift acknowledgement that this voluntary posting was not acceptable, we continued to apply pressure and asked for ongoing transparency and further action. 

Following the calls in our open letter on emergency funding for the charity sector, we have been raising the alarm on poor funding practices that reinforce inequality and sideline BAME VCS organisations in the foundation sector’s response to the crisis.

We have specifically and repeatedly raised concerns about practices of the NET and their main distribution UK Community Foundations and the sector has seen resignations from three race equality experts from their equity working group.

On 27th June the National Emergency Trust announced recruitment for Independent Grant Assessors with lived experience to be compensated up to £250 per day.

Many may think that the NET would have rectified this “accident”  by themselves. BAME people in the sector who deal with structural racism day in and day out know that accidents happen because organisations do not strategically value and invest in anti-racist and equity approaches, and so individuals are not literate enough in an anti-oppressive framework to ensure equity is centred right from the beginning and “accidents” don’t happen. Beyonce says it best, “Power is not given to you. You have to take it”. This role recruitment was rectified because we exist, because BAME staff in the sector are taking stands to call these actions out and because we are always prepared to hold power to account. 

We welcome the changes that NET has made to this role and believe it is an important step in our broader efforts as a sector to challenge racist and oppressive practices which undermine our ability to challenge injustice in our society. We will continue to work to hold the charity sector to account and call for others in the sector to take the time to reflect on their own practices, ensure they are recognising and properly compensating the value of lived expertise, and take the steps to become a truly anti-racist organisation.