It has emerged from the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister's Draft Priorities and Budget document for 2005-08 that 30m of unallocated funding will now be piled into mainstream budgets rather than separately allocated.
Pip Jaffa, chair of voluntary sector umbrella group Children in Northern Ireland and chief executive of charity Parents Advice Centre, said: "What this means is that there are now no guarantees of funding. There is a real fear that these projects will lose out."
She said Parents Advice Centre's parental training programme might be discontinued if no further Children's Fund financing was guaranteed.
"It's difficult to make the extrapolation that the Government is determined to help children and at the same time take away the services that support them," added Jaffa.
Register Now to Continue Reading
Thank you for visiting Children & Young People Now and making use of our archive of more than 60,000 expert features, topics hubs, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:
What's Included
-
Free access to 4 subscriber-only articles per month
-
Email newsletter providing advice and guidance across the sector
Already have an account? Sign in here
