Almost 24,000 vulnerable people, 650 jobs and 64 organisations are at risk without further clarity on how an upcoming fund will be delivered, the membership body for charities in Northern Ireland has warned.

The Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action is calling for the UK government to confirm arrangements for the delivery of the Local Growth Fund in Northern Ireland.

The Local Growth Fund is replacing the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which ended earlier this year after providing funding for local growth and investment to organisations with the goal of boosting local economies and increasing life chances for people and communities.

Nicva launched its ‘NI Can’t Wait’ campaign in August and initially said more than 11,000 vulnerable and marginalised people could be left without access to tailored support without more clarity.

But the membership body said this week that 650 skilled jobs would be affected across 15 voluntary and community sector projects, and 64 organisations were facing major future operational worries, affecting almost 24,000 people. 

Without immediate clarity, organisations would be forced to begin winding down services and initiating redundancy proceedings as early as this month to meet their legal responsibilities as employers, Nicva warned.

Celine McStravick, chief executive of Nicva, said this level of brinkmanship was “intolerable”.

She said: “Behind every statistic is a real person. These programmes change lives. If they disappear, people will be left behind, families will suffer and communities will lose out.

“Northern Ireland simply cannot afford to wait any longer and it is critical that the UK government, as well as secretary of state Hillary Benn, listens to us and the NI executive, as this lack of clarity impacts all of the Stormont departments.

“Vital services in our communities are on the brink of collapse. Local representatives quite rightly agree that our communities deserve better and a Local Growth Fund that meets our needs.”

John O’Dowd, minister of finance for Northern Ireland, debated the Local Growth Fund in the NI Assembly this week.

O’Dowd said the lack of clarity from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on the Local Growth Fund was creating “deep uncertainty” particularly for the community and voluntary sector.

“After the spending review in June, it was announced that we would be allocated £46m a year over three years,” O’Dowd said.

“We were also told that the executive would be a partner in delivering the Local Growth Fund.

“Unfortunately, that partnership has not materialised, nor have the Labour government honoured their manifesto commitment to restore control over structural funds to local representatives.”

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has been contacted for comment.