Family Fund has suspended grants to people in Northern Ireland having exhausted its annual grant from the Northern Ireland Assembly, with 1,100 eligible people expected to miss out on support.

The charity made a similar statement in November 2012 after spending all of its 2012/13 allocation. The Northern Ireland Assembly cut the charity’s annual grant by 10 per cent in 2010/11. Last year’s grant was £1.56m which it used to support almost 3,000.

It predicts it will be unable to provide a grant to 1,100 eligible families for the financial year 2013/14, up by 800 from the previous year.

Cheryl Ward, chief executive of the Family Fund, said: “We are extremely concerned that yet again, even after all our efforts, we will be unable to help families until we receive further funding from the Northern Ireland Assembly.”

Since the funding cut she said the charity had taken measures to reduce its costs, but added: “In reality, the level of need increases every day, the funding remains static, so the challenge is an even greater one.”

Applications for England, Scotland and Wales remain open and a spokeswoman told civilsociety.co.uk that the funding gap was specific to Northern Ireland.

Family Fund provides grants to families of children with a disability or serious illness to pay for essential items such as kitchen appliances, bedding and clothing. Across the UK it received £33m in funding last year and gave out 64,000 grants.