Charities face staffing crisis as inflation starts to bite

Voluntary and charitable organisations will continue to lose staff to the State sector unless pay and conditions are significantly improved, it has been claimed. The sector has asked for an additional €150 million in funding in this budget because of costs associated with inflation, Covid and the Ukraine war.

The request amounts to a 10 per cent increase in direct State funding for such organisations so they can give staff an equivalent pay rise. The sector claims it needs help with the recruitment and retention of staff who are currently paid less than those working for the State.

The Wheel, an umbrella group which represents the charitable sector, described public funding as “inadequate”, and it claims many voluntary and charitable organisations have not recovered from the funding cuts during the last recession.

In its pre-budget submission the Wheel warned the charitable sector was experiencing an “escalating crisis in staffing”.

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“The situation has deteriorated to the extent that service delivery and continuance is being jeopardised due to challenges related to staff recruitment, retention and delivery.”

The Wheel director of public policy, Ivan Cooper, said he had made clear his views about the funding crisis in the sector to Taoiseach Micheál Martin at the National Economic Dialogue in August, and also to the Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe and the Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath separately.

“It is the result of historical deficit in budgets. Many budgets for services have not been increased since the 2008 crisis and, also given the fact that we have this extraordinary inflation crisis coming, the recruitment and retention crisis in the sector is getting worse,” he said. “Organisations are finding it extremely difficult to recruit and retain staff. In the context of the inflationary crisis, staff are going to look for better paid work elsewhere.”

Polio Survivors Ireland chief executive Fran Brennan said they had to wait 18 months to be able to fill the position of voluntary officer – a post which helps recruit and train volunteers for the charity. He accused the Government of taking the sector for granted knowing that organisations such as his would not abandon the people they look after. He said Polio Survivors Ireland received €64,000 less in funding than it did in 2008. “We have survived too long with inadequate funding. We shouldn’t be taken for granted.”

Barnardos’ chief executive Suzanne Connolly said the institutional memory of the layoffs that many charities had to do around the time of the last recession was still very much prevalent. She anticipated that when the economy recovered the charitable sector would have seen its funding restored, but it has not happened. She said it was “completely unacceptable” and “indefensible” given the importance of the services it provides.

The Wheel is looking for a €100 million increase in funding for HSE Section 39 organisations such as those working in physical and mental healthcare, disability and mental health services. This would be an increase of 10 per cent on the €1 billion spent by the HSE on Section 39 organisations at present.

An additional €18 million is being sought for children’s charities that are funded by Tusla and €8 million for those working in homeless services. The rest of the funding request is made up of a call for a €20 million extension to the VAT compensation scheme, €2.8 million to help charities comply with regulations and a €5 million training fund.

The Wheel has also called for multiannual funding so organisations can plan for their long-term future.