Ulster Unionist MLA Robin Swann has warned that the mounting funding crisis across the community and voluntary sector has the potential to undo years of work and progress on supporting vulnerable or hard to reach communities. On Monday he will be leading a debate in the Assembly and will warn that several hundred more jobs in the sector will be lost unless Executive Departments start working in a more coordinated manner.

Robin Swann, who is also Chairman of Stormont’s Employment and Learning Committee, said;

“Within weeks there will likely be hundreds more posts across the community and voluntary sector wiped out. These will come from organisations involved in the delivery services such as early year’s education, tackling youth unemployment, supporting women and breaking cycles of deprivation. Jobs and services that, if lost, will have a multiplier effect on the communities they support right across Northern Ireland.  

“Essentially there are two major problems facing the community and voluntary sector right now. The first is the shambles around the European Social Fund (ESF).  The new 2014-2020 ESF is intended to reduce economic inactivity and increase workforce skills, yet despite now being in a new financial year the money has still not been distributed.

“The application process was administered shambolically by the Department of Employment and Learning, with countless experienced and able groups being ruled ineligible. Even now as some other organisations have been told their applications have been successful, they are yet to receive formal confirmation of the amount that they will be awarded and are awaiting a Letter of Offer from the Department. Whilst on paper that is a flaw in the process, on the ground it is much worse as it means community and voluntary organisations who rely on ESF support have already had to lay off dozens of staff and slash services.

“The other issue facing the sector right now is the manner of how several Executive Departments are making savings in light of the wider budget situation. Many have decided to prioritise funding for statutory organisations ahead of those in the community and voluntary sector, regardless of outcomes or previous achievements. Quite simply the public sector is protecting the public sector.

“In addition some of the recent decisions by Executive Departments would be laughable if they were not so serious. For example, environmental organisations now depend on people continuing to buy plastic bags in order to receive funding. Is there a more ridiculous argument than asking people to buy polluting plastic bags in order to protect the environment?

“Many of the Executive Departments are simply either not aware of, or are ignoring, the cumulative impact of the decisions that they are currently making. One Department cutting money from one group may go on to cause another Executive Department far greater work in the long-term. Obvious examples would be organisations that deliver key early years support and intervention. By removing these we are only causing greater work for the Departments of Education and Health later down the line. 

“The crisis across the sector is deepening, and it’s being exacerbated by the approach of many of the Executive Departments. Yet, as a testament to the sheer dedication of some of the organisations I am aware of some staff, months after being made redundant, continuing to work unpaid. It will be to everyone’s loss if the bulk of Northern Ireland’s community and voluntary sector is forced to effectively disappear.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Wording of the Ulster Unionist motion to be debated in the Assembly on 18 May 2015:

Motion: Funding Cuts to the Community and Voluntary Sector

Proposed:
That this Assembly notes the important role of the community and voluntary sector across Northern Ireland in providing effective, efficient and value for money frontline services; accepts that, as a consequence of the 2015-16 Budget, decisions are being made by individual Executive Departments with no consideration of the impact on these services or the effect that they will have on the vulnerable in society; further notes that the ambiguity surrounding the European Social Fund has also forced many organisations to reduce their staff and their operations; and calls on the Executive to act in a coordinated manner to ensure that the sector and its organisations receive the required level of support and funding allocations. 

Mr R Swann
Mr R Beggs
Mrs S Overend