Lincolnshire charity cuts services and staff in wake of coronavirus crisis

A Lincolnshire charity supporting older people for almost three decades is cutting services and staff as it responds to a financial crisis in the wake of COVID-19.

With little or no income coming into the charity since the coronavirus restrictions were implemented in March, Age UK Lindsey has had to make some ‘difficult and extremely regrettable’ decisions, or risk going under altogether.

The charity is, therefore, closing two of its key services and making more than half of its 126 staff redundant.

The news comes after national research carried out by Pro Bono Economics predicts how one in 10 UK charities are facing bankruptcy by the end of the year.

Age UK Lindsey says that making these decisions now means it can carry on and its remaining team will continue to provide excellent services for the older and more vulnerable people within the community.

Announcing the cutbacks, Chief Executive Officer Andy Storer said the decisions left ‘deep sadness in the hearts’ of all involved with the organisation and were a stark example of how hard some independent charities were being hit.

He said: “Since the end of March, our income has dropped to virtually nil and the charity simply did not have the reserves required to fund the restart of the services in the hope that clients would return.

“All but a handful of Age UK Lindsey’s employees had been furloughed since March and those remaining have taken pay cuts on reduced hours to keep the remaining vital services running.”

With immediate effect, the charity will stop its Independence at Home Service (domestic cleaning and gardening) that ran across both East Lindsey and West Lindsey, and its Community Transport Service, which has operated in North Lincolnshire for many years.

The charity will also close its ‘loss making’ charity shop in Gainsborough.

None of these services have been operating during the pandemic.

The decision has affected 78 paid staff, (26 FTE) the majority of whom worked part-time on varying hours.

A small number of volunteers who assisted with the transport service have also been informed the service will no longer be running.

The Home Support Service offered paid-for gardening, cleaning and associated services to almost 400 older people, many of them living alone in East and West Lindsey.

Its transport service offered low-cost bus transport across North Lincolnshire to almost 100 clients, completing more than 10,000 journeys per year.

Since the end of March, Age UK Lindsey’s 10 shops and paid for services, such as the Home Support and Transport services, have lost more than £250,000 of income; it has received only minor financial aid from Age UK nationally and has no on-going local government support.

Whilst some of its shops had now re-opened, the charity also factored in whether all its outlets could open safely given their locations and size and if customers would come back at the same level.

Highlighting the scale of the financial hardship, Andy said that ‘had the decisions not been made, there was a significant risk that Age UK Lindsey would have gone altogether’.

He continued: “It is with a very, very heavy heart that these decisions have been made and we understand the impact they may well have on some older people right across our area.

“However, they are a reflection of the stark choices we are faced with as our funding streams have been severely impacted upon.

“As hard as we have tried, we have been unable to secure enough funding to cover these financial losses and I must stress that we have tried every avenue that was possibly open to us.

“Now as a charity we must take stock and move forward with our ethos of doing all we can to help older people being at the very fore.”

Andy said the charity was aware a number of older people who had used its Home Support Service prior to lockdown had already made other arrangements and Age UK Lindsey would work with other clients to signpost them in the direction of alternative services.

The charity continues to run its flagship Information and Advice Service, supporting older people through its telephone helpline with benefits advice and other information.

The charity’s Befriending Service is also running, offering a lifeline to lonely older people through this difficult time and the Keep Connected Team is maintaining contact with all Age UK Lindsey’s clients to make sure that they are receiving the support and help that they need through this crisis.

For more information visit www.ageuk.org.uk/lindsey or call 01507 524242.