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The chief executive of the Children’s Society has defended the charity’s decision to withdraw from Wales and scale down its work in England, writes Clare Jerrom.

Ian Sparks said the meeting last week in Wales, where he told staff the charity would finish working there in July 2002, was "very emotional" and there was "naturally a feeling of shock and anger".

But he made it clear the financial situation facing his organisation meant stark choices had to be faced. Sparks and the trustees had looked into every alternative, but did not want to balance the books in the short term then have to make further cuts in years to come. The charity aims to break even by March 2003.

The charity estimates that it will finish this financial year with a deficit of £4 million, which follows deficits of £24 million in total over the last four years.

Sparks, who retires in March 2002, said it was imperative that achievable fundraising targets were set and essential cuts made now, to ensure his successor had a clean slate to take the charity forward from next Easter.

In addition to the £1.3 million savings made in Wales, the society is making cuts totalling £5.1 million in England in its projects, fundraising and corporate services. The charity plans to change its focus to becoming a "social justice organisation" to campaign to persuade the government to adopt their recommendations, and include them in their policies.

"It is vital that we retain our independence if we are to challenge injustice, which is why voluntary income is so important to us," Sparks said.

"We want to challenge the injustices children face by taking their experiences forward to influence policy makers," he added.

The society will campaign to end the imprisonment of under-18s and will continue to lobby on young people’s issues. Some of the charity’s existing programmes, including Safe on the Streets and Housing and Social Exclusions/Homelessness will be transferred to beacon status with a reduced practice base.

Speaking to Community Care, Sparks said the charity could have taken the easier option of dropping the difficult campaigning issues, but that they "didn’t want to settle for a middle of the road, safe situation".

"These decisions mark a turning point for The Children’s Society both in setting finances straight and in moving towards our vision for the future of the society," he said.

In Wales, the society is currently in discussions with local authorities, major voluntary organisations, ministers and the assembly about how the projects are to be taken over. In England it will look to pass funding of projects to other organisations or initiatives, such as Sure Start.