Equality charity to cut staff as EU funding dries up
WALES’ leading charity for women in the workplace has confirmed it is having to make significant staff cuts because of the loss of EU funding following Brexit.
Liz Wilson, interim chief executive of Chwarae Teg, said: “Due to the loss of European funding, Chwarae Teg is no longer able to run the large Agile Nation 2 project and has been forced into the unfortunate position of having to make a significant reduction in staff numbers.
“As a result of this, Chwarae Teg is currently undergoing a restructure which is designed to enable the charity to continue delivering on its vision of a fairer Wales where all women can achieve and prosper.
“As Wales’ leading gender equality charity, Chwarae Teg delivers projects which support women of all ages to reach their potential within the Welsh economy. Its experts also lead vital research to identify the intersectional barriers that women face and develop solutions to help tackle them.”
Chwarae Teg, which means “fair play” in Welsh, was founded in 1992 by a group of women concerned about the need for gender equality in the workplace.
One of its early directors was Jane Hutt, the current Minister for Social Justice in the Welsh Government.
Every year the organisation publishes a “state of the nation” report on the state of gender equality in Wales.
Earlier this week it produced a fiveyear review which paints a picture of little or no progress in improving pay, rights to work and safety in society.
Despite a slight pay increase for women since the original 2019 report, it says Wales’ gender pay gap remains 11.3% and says that at the current rate of progress it would take decades to achieve equality.
In recent years Chwarae Teg has used European funds to run projects aimed at providing women with skills they need to improve their earnings potential in the workplace.
Its Agile Nation 2 project, funded by the European Social Fund through the Welsh Government, is designed to help small and medium-sized businesses grow with improved business practices aimed at increasing profitability as well as staff engagement and retention.
Businesses have to be based in Wales, have between 10 and 250 employees and with a maximum turnover of £35m.
The trustees’ report for the year ended March 2022 stated in relation to Chwarae Teg’s career development programme for women: “In this financial year the project has enrolled 317 women participants across both east and west Wales and the Valleys projects, against a target of 472 (equating to 67% of the overall target being achieved this year).
“Engaging with women to take part in the programme throughout the financial year has remained steady, although we have seen the time taken from initial interest shown to programme start taking longer, mostly due to the need for women to deal with changing home and work circumstances throughout the different stages of the pandemic and lockdowns.”
Chwarae Teg’s report and accounts for the year ended March 2022 had a sense of foreboding.
It said: “We need a smooth transition from end of Agile Nation 2 funding (May 2023) through to 2025 and beyond – securing our existing funders and pursuing a growth strategy through Fairplay Trading, fundraising and continuous innovation
“The organisation will need to look – and be – different in the future to meet our growth ambitions. We need a clearer purpose, to be proactive, not reactive, and to embrace innovation. We will foster a ‘start-up’ entrepreneurial culture where staff are agile and authentic in embracing change.
“We will create and lead the markets with high-quality, high-impact products and services that make a real difference to women. To ensure we are cutting edge and ahead of the game we need to monitor the quality and impact of our work in consistent ways. We will change the emphasis in Chwarae Teg towards much more commercial.”
The organisation said it was unable to say how many of its employees would be made redundant as a consultation process was under way.
The most recent accounts show that Chwarae Teg had an average of 74 employees in 2021-22.
Total employment costs amounted to £2.56m. The accounts showed that of the organisation’s £3.03m income, as much as £2.24m came from the European Commission.