It is grimly ironic that today is April Fools’ Day- because the fallout from our political leaders’ failure to secure a workable solution to this devastating funding gap is anything but a joke.
For months, our sector has been united in its message to government.
Through the #NICantWait Campaign organisations have pursued every avenue of advocacy with Ministers and officials in both Westminster and Stormont.
Together, we have provided evidence, demonstrated the scale of impact, and urged both governments to work with us on a solution in the interests of the most marginalised in our communities.
Yet, as these cuts take effect, political leaders at Westminster and Stormont have failed to act. No resolution has been secured.
We have reached this point because of political finger‑pointing and repeated assertions that responsibility to act lies elsewhere.
Our political representatives have publicly acknowledged that these services are essential and that the consequences of withdrawing support would be severe. But their words have not been matched by action nor by leadership.
There is no comfort to be taken in knowing that the people most affected by this cut will now miss out on vital support and opportunities - becoming more isolated, more vulnerable, and more dependent on already overstretched public services. Our health, social care, justice, and welfare systems will inevitably feel this pressure.
The needs of the people these services support do not end on 1 April. They do not simply disappear because funding has been withdrawn.
We acknowledge the fiscal pressures facing government. However, this short‑sighted decision will ultimately cost far more to the public purse than the investment required to plug this gap - never mind the human cost to the thousands who rely on these services every day.
While the UK Government’s flawed funding model created this crisis, these are local services delivering local impact. There remains a clear responsibility to find a local solution to the huge gap we now face.
The services being dismantled are those delivering on what should be core priorities for our Executive: tackling poverty, reducing economic exclusion, supporting mental health, strengthening community wellbeing, and providing opportunities for young people, women, and those facing the most challenging circumstances.
This failure to redress or mitigate this unfair funding model threatens to roll back decades of hard won progress on social and economic inclusion.
For months, organisations warned that without intervention, the Local Growth Fund model would lead us here.
Now, as organisations absorb the consequences for their staff, their services, and the people they support, we cannot allow this moment to pass unchallenged
We will not quietly accept the loss of hundreds of skilled staff from an already overstretched sector, nor the dismantling of vital community infrastructure that has long demonstrated its value in supporting those at the very edges of the labour market - people whose needs have consistently gone unmet by mainstream public services.
These services are a critical part of our wider public service system, delivering essential support and, crucially, inclusion, opportunity, and hope to thousands of the most marginalised people across Northern Ireland. It is unconscionable that political leaders have not felt compelled to secure them.
Words simply do not feel enough today.
As a sector, we are utterly dismayed, profoundly disappointed, and deeply concerned at the complete lack of action from those with a clear political responsibility to act in the best interests of thousands of vulnerable people- and to work with us to avert this crisis.
We will continue to advocate, to challenge, and to push for the political leadership and solutions that have been so starkly absent.
We call on our political leaders to finally step up, take responsibility, and work with us to rebuild the support, stability, and hope that these cuts have placed so acutely at risk.
