Irish children’s charity Barnardos has announced it will close for a week in August 2013 to cut costs – just as it did this year.

The charity shut down for the week beginning Monday 13 August 2012, in response to “greater financial pressure caused by public spending cuts and a decline in voluntary donations”.

And it now plans to do the same thing from an as yet unspecified Monday in August 2013 – this month chosen again for posing “the least amount of disruption possible”, according to a Barnardos Ireland spokeswoman.

The decision for this August’s closure was taken late in the year prior, so this latest announcement mirrors that timeline.

The 2012 week-long sabbatical of its 400 staff across the country saved the charity approximately €400,000, which, spokeswoman Irene Lawlor told civilsociety.co.uk at the time, would be enough to keep one centre, serving 30 children, open for a year.

Attempts to mitigate falling income

Barnardos Ireland has made a series of cuts in an attempt to tackle its financial problems. In 2009 and 2010 it froze and cut remuneration, and made redundancies in 2011.

Last year, Barnardos Ireland’s income was €24m, but expenditure topped €25.5m. The charity had also recorded a €300,000 deficit the previous year.

Barnardos in Ireland is not connected to Barnardo’s in the UK.