A FURTHER £20 million has been made available to help the north west charity sector during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has awarded £10 million to the Steve Morgan Foundation, which was match-funded by Steve Morgan.

This new fund will help hundreds of charities struggling with the impacts of Covid-19 to stay open.

It is completely separate to the Covid-19 Emergency Fund which the foundation launched in March 2020, with the promise of up to £1 million a week to help struggling charities across Cheshire, Merseyside, and North Wales.

The Covid-19 Emergency Fund has made more than 600 awards to charities tackling everything from food poverty, mental health, homelessness, domestic violence, bereavement and social isolation and helped 1.5 million people in the process.

Mr Morgan said the recent DCMS award was a validation of the Steve Morgan Foundation’s work in helping vulnerable people for nearly 20 years.

"We know that the north west has some of the highest levels of social deprivation in the UK so the importance of this £20m can’t be underestimated," he said.

"Part of the funding will provide support for around 100 north west-based charities and community organisations with annual income of £5 million or under.

"The remainder of the £20m will go to medium sized charities addressing national issues including cancer, type one diabetes and helping disadvantaged young people, all of whom face a disproportionate impact from Covid-19."

Under the terms of the DCMS funding, the £10 million has to be spent by March 31, 2021, at which point the Steve Morgan Foundation match-funding will kick in.