The National Children’s Bureau (NCB) income has fallen by 58 per cent as funding streams from government departments came to an end, and the resulting staff restructure has seen 35 members of staff made redundant.

For the financial year ended March 2011 the charity had an income of £21.4m and for 2012 this had fallen to £8.9m. NCB’s expenditure was £20.4m and £11.5m respectively.

The £12.5m drop was expected by the trustees, with the end of major funding streams from the Departments for Education, Health and Work and Pensions, and a decrease in the funding awarded for C4EO (the Centre for Excellence and Outcomes in Children and Young People’s Services) accounting for 95 per cent of the income reduction.

Taking this into account, “trustees had approved a charity-wide staff restructuring that was implemented during 2011/2012 and, in respect of which, trustees had approved a deficit budget of £750,000”, reveals the charity’s annual accounts.

With income falling back to 2006 levels, the report suggests that: “In many respects the income generated in 2011/12 marks a return to normality after a period of significant and time-limited investment from central government.”

The trustees concluded: “Whilst the future remains challenging, trustees believe that the past year has demonstrated NCB’s ability to react to both anticipated and unforeseen events, which they believe stand it in good stead to respond to the challenges and opportunities of the future.”

Headcount reduction

NCB has almost halved its staff costs from £10.1m in 2011 to £5.9m in 2012.

The average number of full-time equivalent staff fell from 202 in 2011 to 139 in 2012 with 35 members of staff having accepted redundancy. A further five members of staff are at risk of redundancy over the next year.

The number of staff earning more than £60,000 has also fallen from 11 in 2011 to nine in 2012.

Pension scheme

The accounts reveal that trustees have decided to close the charity’s defined benefit pension scheme to new members next year and will introduce a defined contribution scheme.

Trustees explained that they have “concluded that the volatility of the deficit make continuing the scheme in its current form unsustainable” but that it is not practical to stop further contributions from current members to the scheme.

NCB is part of the South Yorkshire Pension Fund, which is a local government defined pension scheme.