1,000 out of school places in jeopardy

PlayBoard, an organisation that supports voluntary out-of-school clubs, has warned that even more could close if the Government fails to answer its pleas for core funding by the end of August to make provision sustainable.

Regional officer Jacqueline O'Loughlin said that of the 237 out-of-school clubs in Northern Ireland who receive Big Lottery funding, 90 were also dependent on money from the European Union's Peace and Reconciliation Fund which has now run out.

She said the clubs felt short-changed, as they do not receive the support their counterparts get in the rest of the UK. She added, 'The strategy has always been underpinned by short-term funding streams and now they are drying up, and there is no core funding to consolidate the work. We have been inundated with calls from parents, staff and management committees, all of them very worried about the future.'

The clubs are largely sited in areas of deprivation. While one after-school session costs 4.50, the equivalent period in private full-day care costs 21, well outside the scope of many families.

Ms O'Loughlin said, 'It will have an effect on the regeneration of areas, because parents say they will have to give up work. Some parents have told us they will have to just give their children a housekey. Others may resort to the black market of unregulated provision.'

She accused the Government of being short-sighted. 'When you develop an infrastructure in the way we have with after-school care and then clubs are closed, it could take five years to turn things around again, because the workforce moves on to other professions.'

She added, 'The Labour Government claims that tackling child poverty is one of its chief priorities and it sees the provision of affordable childcare as one of the key ways of achieving this. Well, Northern Ireland has a higher rate of child poverty than other parts of the UK. So why doesn't the Government provide money for affordable out-of-school care, just like it does elsewhere?'

Just Kids at Rathenraw on the outskirts of Antrim is one of the clubs facing closure, although manager Alison O'Neill said she is desperately seeking some extra funds to keep it open longer. 'This club has enabled many parents to return to work and, as a result, to lift their families out of poverty. But most of them can't afford privately provided childcare, and many may well have to leave their jobs if this club closes,' she warned.

Ms O'Neill pointed out that the club had received money from the Peace and Reconciliation Fund and had fulfilled a valuable cross-community social function. 'We're able to organise trips all over Northern Ireland to places that most of these kids would never see if they didn't come here. And we take children from all the local schools, which means Catholic and Protestant children get to socialise together,' she added.

In a briefing paper on the funding crisis, PlayBoard said it wanted the Government to 'act immediately to ensure that the future of all existing voluntary out-of-school places in Northern Ireland is secured'. But it added that 'while a crisis management approach to the out-of school sector here may solve the short-term problem, it is vital that the Government adopts a long-term strategic approach'.