Voluntary groups worried about access to children`s fund

Voluntary groups have raised serious concerns about the way they
will access money from the children’s fund.

Delegates at this week’s National Association for Councils of
Voluntary Services conference said they feared the government’s
decision to approach council chief executives to apply for money
could mean that they would be left out of partnerships or that
their involvement would be tokenistic.

But
Jerry Lynch, senior programme and support manager at the
government’s children and young people’s unit, said: “If a local
authority came back to us with only one voluntary sector
organisation and 12 statutory organisations we would investigate
that bid.”

He went
on to assure delegates that the children and young person’s unit
“was not failing in its duties to the voluntary sector”.

Speaking
to Community Care Lynch said: ” We have to contact chief
executives of councils because, and rightly so, there is no one
point of contact for the voluntary sector.”