More than 50 charities and community groups face cuts

A staggering 54 charities and community groups in Rochdale face substantive budget cuts, as the council reduces - or in some cases completely withdraws - their funding, new figures have revealed.

Research published today (2 August) by False Economy also shows that two charities in Rochdale are facing minor cuts and just four charities are receiving increased funding.

Nationally it is estimated that more than 2,000 charities and community groups face budget cuts.

Charities and community groups in Rochdale whose funding has been reduced include the Rochdale Connections Trust. The Trust provides education, training and employment opportunities for disadvantaged youths in the borough.

In 2010/11 the Trust received £90,000. The funding for 2011/12 has been cut by £64,000.

St Edmunds Charity for homelessness and housing, which supports an accommodation facility for men and women whose lives have been impaired by alcohol misuse and who have an identified need for longer term support received £133,810 in 2010/11; this has been cut by £78,056 in 2011/12.

Another charity whose funds from the council have been cut is Victim Support. In 2010 the charity received £57, 593. The funding for 2011/12 has been cut by £31,943.

Kathy Thomas, Chief Executive of the Rochdale Connections Trust said that whilst there are opportunities to explore other avenues for funding she is concerned that national organisations will come into the borough and access funding smaller organisations can’t.

She said: “My huge concern is that larger national organisations could come into the borough and say they are providing services and access funding that we can’t.

“We heard yesterday that Link4Life and Rochdale Boroughwide Housing are applying for a grant to support voluntary and community sector infrastructure. They are offshoots of the council and in effect they are competing with a local charity voluntary organisation.

“I think we all need to reconsider what we are good at and what we can do and not try to do everything and not step on each others toes and have some integrity.

“I am keen on keeping local services for local people.”

The Trust’s funding from the council for Target Youth Support within schools has stopped so Ms Thomas has applied for a Lottery bid to replace that funding. The Trust is currently awaiting the outcome.

Some charities in Rochdale have had their funding completely withdrawn. This includes the Moorland Children’s Home, in 2010/11 the charity received £4,786 in 2011/12 they will receive nothing.

The same applies for Littleborough Old People’s Welfare in 2010/11 the group, which runs luncheon clubs and other services for the elderly received £6,000, their funding for 2011/12 has been completely withdrawn.

Jane Barker from the Rochdale Children’s Moorland Home committee described the funding cut as “grossly unfair.”

She said: “It is affecting us because it is about 18 per cent of our running costs. Over the holiday period we probably take around 50 kids from Rochdale on trips and probably equal from Rossendale.

“The cut of £4,800 is an awful lot to us; we are having to apply to other organisations such as Tesco’s and the Duchy of Lancaster fund.

“The cutbacks mean we have to look at the expenditure of our trips, from where we take the children to how much we spend.

“We are doing lots of fundraising.

“We are trying really hard to make that £4,800.”

Just four charities have seen their funding increase. RADPAC (Rochdale and District Play Action Council) has seen a £25,000 rise; Gateway Leisure will received £49,173 new funding; Addiction Dependency Solutions has seen a rise of £340,904 and CRI a rise of £166,352 rise.

Kathy Shaw, from CVS Rochdale, said organisations in the voluntary sector are having to downsize in terms of staff numbers and, or relocate to cheaper accommodation.

She said: “We are helping people to go through those processes. We are encouraging people to collaborate and work together such as sharing backroom stuff. We are also helping those organisations that have been grant reliant to see if they have the ability to income generate and how they can dot that.

“It is not easy, there isn’t a magic wand and there are no easy answers, but there are opportunities.”

Andy Zuntz, Executive Director at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “All services have inevitably been affected by the cuts at the Council. The percentage of cuts to the voluntary sector is no more than that imposed on statutory services.

"We have tried to minimise reductions where possible, for example community centres were given a 12 month deferred period.

"Additional support for organisations affected by a reduction in funding is being provided by Rochdale CVS and an External Funding Officer within the Council.”

The research, containing the full list of Rochdale community groups and charities, can be viewed here:

http://falseeconomy.org.uk/files/vol-cuts.xls