Ivan Lewis pledges £25m for voluntary sector health and social care projects

Nearly £25 million will be shared among 700 voluntary and community sector organisations in England, care services minister Ivan Lewis announced today.

Under the Department of Health’s Section 64 scheme, 132 new grants averaging £44,000 each and 256 continuing grants will be handed out to support projects that provide high quality health and social care services.

An additional £6.7 million will be allocated for the Department of Health’s Opportunities for Volunteering Scheme to encourage volunteers in the social care sector.

Lewis said: “Increasingly, the voluntary sector has a key role to play in developing and delivering health and social care services which are innovative and focused on the individual needs of those patients, service users and carers.”

The minister added that new areas had been included in the Section 64 funding to support employment-related opportunities for people with learning difficulties.