The community’s social care charities are facing a minimum income loss of close to £6.5 million from halted routine fundraising during the coronavirus pandemic, new estimates suggest.

In a  survey of charities by the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC)  increased costs of £2.6m incurred by the responses to Covid-19 were also identified.

According to the JLC the charities have so far secured savings of nearly £3.4m and allocated reserves of more than £1.3m to continue essential services.

The umbrella body released its  estimates on Wednesday as it announced the first 20 recipient organisations of its Social Care Assistance Fund.

These  include leading charities such as Jewish Women’s Aid, Norwood, Jami, Camp Simcha, Chai Cancer Care, Kisharon and the Langdon Foundation.

Other beneficiaries include the Fed in Greater Manchester, which has delivered 9,500 hours of telephone support in April and May, the Friendship Circle, which is a social space for over 130 people with disabilities in Manchester and the social care provider Jewish Care Scotland.

Another grant recipient is the Stamford Hill-based charity Step by Step, which has delivered more than 900 meals to families and given more than 200 activity packages to children and young people with disabilities.

“Charities are facing increased costs for extra expert care, measures to enable safe continuation of counselling, physical therapy and face-to-face contact with those most at risk, and more one-to-one support for those that would usually access group activities,” said a statement from the JLC.

“Many are providing additional practical assistance including safe transport for immune compromised children to hospital, kosher food to thousands of ill or isolated people and technology to ensure access to online support and programming.

‘’ Our fund seeks to address the immediate and additional increased costs of providing care during the pandemic and these challenges are quite stark.’’