Action for Blind People made around 10 per cent of its workforce redundant last year as its total income fell by 14 per cent.

The disability charity, which became part of the RNIB Group four years ago but kept its own brand, saw its income from statutory and other grants dip from £18.2m in 2011/12 to £16m in 2012/13. Its total income was £21.5m, down from £24.5m in 2012.

The charity finished the financial year with a deficit of £248,000, compared with a surplus of £1.6m the previous year.

In response to the tightening fiscal position, Action for Blind People reduced its headcount from 378 full-timers to 333, and from 247 part-time staff to 234 – a cut of 58 people overall, or 41 full-time equivalents. Redundancy costs totalled £426,000, up from £161,000 the year before, but the salary bill was reduced from £12.7m to £11.7m.  Four staff earned between £60,000 and £100,000, the same as in 2012.

The charity’s annual report showed that visually impaired people used its services on 27,619 occasions during the year – less than the 29,508 in 2012, but achieved against a reduction in resources.

It helped people to claim benefits worth £5.4m that would otherwise have gone unclaimed, an increase from £4.9m the previous year.

And it achieved 1,016 positive housing outcomes for clients, a drop from last year’s total of 1,158.

The report admits that the last four years have been a period of great change at the charity, partly the consequence of become part of RNIB Group and partly as a result of the economic environment, which has impacted voluntary income and is now affecting statutory contracts.

However, it added: “Action now feels that it has established a viable basis from which to move forward.”

RNIB assumed responsibility for Action’s fundraising operations at the time of the merger and “continues to fundraise actively and successfully in Action’s name”, according to the report. In accordance with the provisions of the agreement, Action receives a block fundraising grant from RNIB, which remained stable at £8.4m in 2012/13.

Investment income recovered, totalling £265,000, more than double the £114,000 of 2012, and during the year the charity sold its investments in tobacco stocks, due to the established link between smoking and sight loss.