Bobath Centre staff agree to pay cut to save services

Finance | Niki May Young | 28 May 2012

Staff at a charity supporting people with cerebral palsy have agreed to a 5 to 10 per cent pay cut in order to save its services.

The agreed salary reduction will cut spending at the Bobath Centre by £100,000, helping to overcome cuts of £200,000 felt by the charity this year.

Earlier this year the Centre announced it was suffering financial difficulties brought on by a "two-pronged attack of economic downturn and drawn-out NHS reform". It says that lack of clarity over health service reforms and the loss of NHS commissioning staff means funding for children's treatment has dried up in many parts of the country.

As well as striving to find new income streams and make efficiencies elsewhere, the charity hopes to raise £220,000 in fundraising this year. But the salary cuts were necessary said Jayne Pearce, director of administrative services:

"Staff understand the problem is out of our control, but the fact remains that we suffered a deficit of £280,000 in the last financial year and urgently need to make budget cuts of £200,000 this year. Unfortunately the only way we can achieve this is by reducing the salary bill by £100,000."

Speaking with civilsociety.co.uk in April, the Centre's fundraising manager Kevin Gillespie said that redundancies were not an option: "When we come out the other side we will need qualified and experienced staff, because they are what makes this service," he said.

The charity has been working with local politicians and has sent a letter to the Prime Minister to highlight its situation.

"We will review our position in six months and hopefully by then it will be clearer what is happening in the NHS," said Pearce. "However the staff are determined to keep the Centre open and continue to improve the quality of life of children with cerebral palsy."

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