Larne social enterprise 'devastated' after Department of Health funding 'suspended'

Access Employment Limited (AEL), said it received confirmation from the Department on March 21 that the financial support for 2023/24 has been suspended with no funding awarded to applicants.

The Pound Street-based organisation, which has been providing training, work experience and sustained employment for young people and adults with additional needs, learning disabilities and physical support needs since 1998, was already facing the loss of almost £200,000 from the European Social Fund (ESF), which ends this week, before the latest blow to the sector.

Speaking to the Larne Times, Laura Steele, AEL’s CEO, said: “We were devasted to hear that this funding competition was suspended. With the impending loss of our ESF funding this week we were hopeful that this fund would have enabled us to continue delivering our services providing vocational training and support to our trainees.

"We submitted our application back in November 2022 and we just cannot understand why it took the department four months to come to this conclusion.

“The application process was complex and we put a lot of time and effort into it so to know this was all for nothing now is very disappointing. We have been made aware the fund will be released again this Autumn but unfortunately that may be too late for many organisations.”

Confirming that the Department is working with the sector to design a new scheme, a Departmental spokesperson stated: “The decision has been made to continue with the Department’s existing Core Grant Scheme for an initial three-month period, until we have greater clarity on our budget for 2023/24. This means that current funding levels will be maintained to the current 64 Core Grant Scheme recipients for the first quarter of 2023/24. Longer term certainty on this funding is, unfortunately, not possible at present.

“As explained to MLAs last week, we may receive a 2023/24 budget with no increase on the previous year, despite the fact that demand for care will increase, along with the running costs of services and workforce pay. If confirmed, this is expected to require high impact cuts on health and social care services that are already under severe pressure.

“As announced by the then Health Minister in October 2022, the Department had sought to open the Core Grant Scheme to new applicants under a new competitive process. This competition was significantly over subscribed. With a budget of £3.615m available, 256 applications were received, and the total value of the bids was in excess of £25m.

“A number of other issues arose with the competition, including the unanticipated high level of funding sought by many of the individual organisations. This is despite the fact that core grant is supposed to assist organisations to provide services rather than being critical to enable them to exist. It has been decided that a new revised scheme is required, to maximise the spread of the grant across the sector.

“It is intended to launch this revised scheme in Autumn 2023, subject to the budgetary position. It is clear that the current value of the core grant will never be able to support the number of organisations who applied this year.

“The Department has committed to working with the sector to design a new scheme, starting with a meeting with the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action.”

Chief Officers 3rd Sector (CO3), a body providing support to leaders at charities and social enterprises, community organisations and faith-based groups, has raised concerns following the development.

Valerie McConville, CO3’s chief executive, said: “CO3 members have already been navigating the enormous difficulty resulting from the loss of European Social Fund with many forced to put staff on notice of redundancy as they await the outcome of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund competition.

"This latest announcement from the Department of Health is a hammer blow to the sector with dozens of charities now in turmoil as to how they will fund operations and keep going.

"These charities are delivering essential services to many of the most vulnerable citizens in our communities who are struggling with health issues, economic challenges and social disadvantage. It is unconscionable, in 2023, that charities delivering these essential services – on behalf of the state and wider society – are now in the worst funding crisis imaginable.

"Our members been hugely let down by the fact that the competition will not proceed to outcome stage now, and the already overstretched chief executives and senior staff in charities will now have to reapply in the Autumn against a new criteria – taking even more time and resource away from vital service delivery as they scramble to get sufficient funding to continue operation.”

She added: "The year to year, hand to mouth nature of how charities are funded in Northern Ireland has placed a massive strain on organisations who are now facing cuts and redundancies. The sector is losing capacity as charities are forced to make staff redundant and today’s news has exacerbated an already dire situation.

"A mark of civilised society is how well we look after the most vulnerable in our community. As capacity shrinks, how will charities continue to deliver better quality of life, economic, health and social outcomes for our vulnerable citizens and if charities can no longer do this critical work – who will?”