Family charities fear for future of funding

A handful of local family charities are still waiting in “limbo” to see if they will continue receiving council funding amid a costcutting programme.

Councillors in Fife have approved an extra £1 million for thirdsector organisations to take them through to April.

The council, however, said it is continuing discussions with a small number of organisations to guarantee them longterm funding, so long as they can agree to teaming up to fulfil the council’s ambitions of supporting young families and children affected by substance use.

However, this may come at the expense of their wider family support services.

Council bosses have asked Kirkcaldy’s Cottage Family Centre, Fife Gingerbread and six branches of national family support charity HomeStart to discuss working together, potentially receiving nearly £1.1m a year from next year.

Children’s charity Barnardo’s and youth drug support group Clued Up may be asked to pool their resources in a similar fashion, receiving £756,595 from next year if they can agree a deal.

But the charities have expressed misgivings about the process.

In an email sent to councillors ahead of last week’s meeting, HomeStart said: “This process has been lengthy, timeconsuming and expensive, and has lacked transparency and consistency.”

Fife Council’s “recommissioning” of third-sector partners that support children and their wider families has seen hundreds of thousands of pounds of funding withdrawn from voluntary groups that provide services complementing the council’s own.