Over the last two weeks AMRC has been working hard to support our members through the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Tuesday 7 April, AMRC published a briefing providing evidence of the significant challenges the sector is facing and outlining our asks of government to ensure the continuity of charity funded research now and in the future. The briefing was circulated to members, key stakeholders and the media.

Later that week, the Chancellor’s announcement of a £750 million support package for frontline charities. The following day, we held a virtual meeting with over 30 member CEOs to update them about our COVID-19 activities, asks and next steps. We were reassured to hear that our asks are in line with the concerns our member CEOs raised during the meeting.

Following this meeting, we sent a letter to the Chancellor to highlight the unintended consequences of the £750 million charity support package for the UK’s medical research charity sector and their critical contributions to the national effort to overcome COVID-19. This letter included our call for targeted and emergency funding to be made available to AMRC member charities.

Over the last three months, we’ve prepared to carry out our Peer Review Audit from April 2020: developing an FAQ webpage, drafting the Audit survey, and establishing an Audit Committee. However, to avoid increasing the burden on our members during this challenging time, we’ve deferred the Audit to September 2020.

Back to e-newsletter