The Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA) has renewed calls for clarity on UK government funding, warning that almost 24,000 vulnerable people, 650 jobs and 64 organisations are at risk without it.
NICVA launched the #NICantWait campaign earlier this year to demand the UK government confirm how its new Local Growth Fund will be delivered to Northern Irish charities and voluntary sector organisations.
The Local Growth Fund is set to replace the post-Brexit UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which runs out in March 2026 after providing funding for local growth and investment to organisations with the goal of boosting local economies, and increasing life chances for people and communities.
When NICVA launched its #NICantWait in August, it initially said more than 11,000 vulnerable and marginalised people could be left without access to support without clear detail on how the scheme will be administered.
In a new statement this week, the membership body said 650 skilled jobs could be affected across 15 voluntary and community sector projects. In all 64 organisations could be forced to begin winding down services and initiating redundancy proceedings as early as this month to meet their legal responsibilities as employers, affecting almost 24,000 people, NICVA said.
Lack of clarity ‘intolerable’
Celine McStravick, chief executive of NICVA, described the situation as an “intolerable” level of brinkmanship.
McStravick added: “Behind every statistic is a real person. These programmes change lives. If they disappear, people will be left behind, families will suffer and communities will lose out.
“Northern Ireland simply cannot afford to wait any longer and it is critical that the UK government, as well as secretary of state Hillary Benn, listens to us and the NI executive, as this lack of clarity impacts all of the Stormont departments.”
The subject was debated in the NI Assembly earlier this week.
Mid Ulster MLA, Emma Sheerin, said: “We were told that when we left the EU, we would not lose out and that all of the funding that we had would be replaced.
“That has not been the case. We had a [post-Brexit] cliff edge almost three years ago, when there was an awful lot of concern because we did not know whether the programmes would be extended. We have had some replacement funding, but it has not been to the level that it was.”
‘The partnership has not materialised’
Also in the debate, John O’Dowd, Northern Ireland’s finance minister, described the lack of clarity from the UK government’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government over finance for Northern Ireland, as having created another “impending cliff edge due to the lack of certainty” for the sector.
O’Dowd added: “After the spending review in June, it was announced that we would be allocated £46m a year over three years. We were also told the [NI] executive would be a partner in delivering the Local Growth Fund.
“Unfortunately, that partnership has not materialised, nor have the Labour government honoured their manifesto commitment to restore control over structural funds to local representatives.”
Eóin Tennyson, MLA for Upper Bann, added: “I am deeply concerned about the UK Government's approach to the Shared Prosperity Fund's proposed successor, the local growth fund.
“The majority of the £46 million allocated in the spending review to that fund is capital money, which clearly will not meet the organisations' resource needs. It is shameful that, once again, promises that were made to those organisations are being broken, with uncertainty looming large.”
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has been contacted for comment.
