'Anxiety and upset' over funding cliff-edge this week
BBCThere is widespread "anxiety and upset" among voluntary and community sector staff who face losing their jobs when a funding cliff-edge comes into effect this week, the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (Nicva) has said.
Some 64 organisations are facing the prospect of job losses when the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is replaced by the Local Growth Fund on 1 April.
The UKSPF replaced EU funding which ceased due to Brexit. The Local Growth Fund will see day-to-day funding available to groups in NI drop from £25m per year to just over £9m.
Nicva said that the change will lead to a "dismantling of community-level expertise" across Northern Ireland that will not be rebuilt.
What is changing?
The Local Growth Fund is being introduced by Westminster.
The scheme is being overseen by the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government and brings a crucial change to how the funding is designated.
The Shared Prosperity Fund was three quarters resource funding, but the Local Growth Fund is one third resource funding with the bulk going towards capital instead, having a direct impact on jobs.
Celine McStravick, chief executive of Nicva, said the proposed shift would take a "sledgehammer" to services supported by the funding in Northern Ireland, such as training and employability schemes.
She said there would be up to 400 redundancies as a result of the plans.
"We were promised there would be a bespoke programme to respond to local needs, but there has been nothing of the sort," she added.
McStravick said some staff, due to the lack of certainty, had already been given their redundancy notices and would work their last day on Tuesday, 31 March.
She added that she feared the sector was being used as "collateral" in a wider row over funding between London and Stormont.
What has the government said?
It has been facing pressure from the Stormont Executive as well as the voluntary and community sector to revert the funding model away from the new 70:30 split.
The government has said it cannot do this but has acknowledged the impact the changes will have on projects in Northern Ireland.
Last week, Secretary of State Hilary Benn repeated his view that the executive should ringfence some of the additional funding it has received from the Treasury for the next financial year to help.
Plugging the gap would require about £15.8m for 2026/27.
On Wednesday, Benn told the Commons: "With the considerable additional resources that have been made available to the Northern Ireland Executive, it is open to them to make a contribution so that the economic inactivity programmes which we all value can continue."
Could the executive step in?
It is no secret that the executive's finances are in dire straits and this added pressure comes at a time when ministers are still struggling to agree a multi-year budget.
The parties have criticised the government for putting a problem that was not of their making back onto the executive to solve.
Finance Minister John O'Dowd met the government about the issue last October, and has insisted since then that Westminster needs to fulfil promises it made about ensuring post-Brexit funding streams are maintained.
A Stormont source said the executive could "not afford to bail out the government" at a time when it is already under-resourced.
What's the view of charities and groups who are affected?
Include Youth is an organisation that helps young people who are in or have been in care homes get help with employment.
Its chief executive Diane Hill said that the group was "often the last resort for our young people and we are horrified that we may have to turn our backs on them at a time in their lives that it is needed the most".
"These funding cuts really do demonstrate the lack of value of young people within society," she added.
Other groups including Action Mental Health have said while they recognise the executive did not create the crisis, it needs to "step up" and resolve the issue in the absence of an 11th hour intervention from Westminster.
The Equality Commission said Northern Ireland simply could "not afford cuts to the very limited budgets that currently exist for important and often life changing work", which helps disabled people who rely on specialist employment support.