Daycare Trust and Family and Parenting Institute to merge

Further details of the deal will not be available until later in the year, but the boards of both organisations believe the combined experience of the charities will prove beneficial to families.

A spokewoman for both organisation said:  “Charities in all sectors are considering how best to serve their beneficiaries in economically challenging times. For us, coming together means we can better promote the needs of families and children, campaign for a family-friendly UK and improve childcare at a time when families need a strong voice more than ever.

“The Family and Parenting Institute and the Daycare Trust are a natural fit. There is a particular strength in adding together the Daycare Trust's focus on achieving high-quality, affordable childcare with the Family and Parenting Institute's work to create a more family-friendly UK.”

However, Maggie Jones, chief executive of children’s charity membership organisation Children England, warned that more mergers could result in the loss of dedicated voices focused on niche issues.

“We are seeing lots more collaborative relationship; sometimes closer partnerships; sometimes charities joining consortia; and at the far end, full-blown mergers,” Jones said.

“I am absolutely sure the Daycare Trust and Family and Parenting Institute will be stronger because they are both individually very effective charities. But the Daycare Trust in particular has quite a unique role within charities. There is not another charity campaigning and involving parents and changing policy specifically around daycare.”

Jones said that losing a dedicated voice championing daycare is a major concern at a time when families and parents are facing some tough decisions and the government’s childcare commission has launched.

“I am sure those issues will be on the agenda for the merged charities, but that unique focus of having an individual charity whose sole job is to campaign around daycare will no longer be there,” Jones added.

“We want mergers to go well and support them through training and advice, but there will be some down sides.

“Some really important charities at local and national level will merge or close in the next few years. But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have been there in the first place. It means that the economies of our sector are such that we can’t sustain some of these important organisations in the way we used to do.”

Jones said that the government must play a bigger role in monitoring the economic picture for children’s charities.

“We look to the government to take a national overarching position on what is happening to children’s charities. We would like to see, particularly the Department for Education, taking this more seriously. The importance of children’s charities to the lives of vulnerable children and families cannot be underestimated, particularly at the moment.”