Jobs at risk at Cannock charity Newlife
Jobs are at risk in a "huge blow" for a Staffordshire charity which helps disabled and terminally ill children across the UK.
Cannock-based Newlife, which has stores across the Midlands, had been left facing an almost £3 million funding shortfall due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It has led to the charity suffering as they continued to run their services – despite no income coming in from stores or events.
And now they have confirmed a "number of contracts" have ended – with consultations starting for people who have roles at risk.
Mrs Sheila Brown OBE, co-founder and CEO of Newlife, said it wasn't a decision "taken lightly" but added it was "necessary" to ensure the charity's future.
She said: "The Covid-19 national lockdown resulted in a three-month closure of all of our stores and fundraising events around the country were cancelled. As a result, we have lost between £2.5m and £3m in income and the effect of this is that we have regrettably had to end some contracts and put a number of jobs at risk of redundancy.
"This is not a decision we have taken lightly but it is necessary to secure our future in continuing to support families with disabled and terminally ill children around the UK.
"We have taken part in the government’s furlough scheme and have been able to bring many staff back to work. The exercise to look at how we can re-craft operations has looked at all areas and levels of the business and almost all teams will be affected in some way."
Mrs Brown said they will continue to "evaluate the impact" of the virus on the charity as it looks to continue to run its services.
It is currently not known how many jobs have been lost or which have been put at risk by the charity, with a spokesman adding: "We can confirm a number of contracts have ended but consultations with people whose roles are at risk are ongoing and while that is in progress we're not able to comment beyond the statement at this stage."
