Chancellor Rishi Sunak has pledged a £750 million package to help charities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sunak announced the measure last night in an attempt to address concerns that some charities are facing collapse.

As part of the scheme, £370m will go to small local charities that are working with vulnerable people during the coronavirus crisis.

Another £360m in cash grants is available to charities, such as St John's Ambulance and the Citizens' Advice Bureau, that are providing key services.

For charities in England, this support will be provided through organisations like the National Lottery Communities Fund.

For charities in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, £60m of funding will be available through the Barnett formula.

Sunak said:

"There are nearly 170,000 charities in this country, and we will not be able to match every pound of funding they would have received this year.

"Some charities are on the frontline fighting the coronavirus, others provide critical services and support to vulnerable people and communities.

"For them, shutting up shop at this moment would be to contravene their very purpose - their entire reason to exist.

"Those charities have never been more needed than they are now, and they've never faced such a sudden fall in their funding."