Children to lose out after NI charity becomes 'victim of Stormont collapse'

By Naomi Holland

A leading charity said today vulnerable children have become the first victims of the Stormont stalemate.

Extern announced today its Belfast Intensive Family Support Service would no longer be able to operate because of a lack of money.

CEO Charlie Mack said: “It’s shameful, it’s shocking – it’s unbelievable,” he said.

“Only 11 days ago all of the senior politicians of all shades of party were saying and pledging their support for this service to continue.”

Extern works with more than 235 families a year and is funded by a number of

Stormont departments.

The charity says the service will stop at the end of this month and will also result in 47

staff being made redundant.

But Mr Mack's appealing for help from the MLAs who were coming to Stormont

this afternoon.

He said: “We are asking our 90 MLAs who we have written to this morning to sign our letter of dishonour – they’re signing a letter of honour as they take up their post today.

“We think it is a dishonourable decision that has been taken to let the most vulnerable in our society be the first casualties of the collapse of the NI Assembly.”

Extern says the service, which works with more than 235 families a year, is jointly funded by the Departments of Health, Justice, Communities, Education and Economy.

A spokesman said that every Department contributes £360k a year, with the result that the service currently costs them each, 83p per child or family member, per day.

A spokesperson from the Health and Social Care Board said:

“The Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) procured the Belfast Intensive Support Service on behalf of five government departments, Health, Communities, Education, Economy and Justice on a pilot basis for 3 years in 2014. The contract expires on 31 March 2017. The HSCB has, at no time given any notice of extension of the contract, and has been actively engaged with Extern (the service provider) since January 2017 discussing the conclusion of the pilot.

“The service was comprehensively evaluated to ensure the learning identified can be applied to existing and future services.

“Families involved in the pilot have been engaged with and supported by Social Services throughout the pilot and this will continue. We are working with the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust to ensure minimum disruption and impact to these families as the pilot comes to an end.”