A Northern Ireland council is to "urgently" request the Department for the Economy's (DfE) permanent secretary protects "vital funding for vulnerable people" as an EU cash flow is "terminated".
Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council's (LCCC) development committee has supported the proposal in an attempt to save 50 jobs at the Newtonbreda based learning disability charity Mencap.
The call comes this week as Mencap put its staff on protective notice with a view to ending its services come the end of this month as it is "no longer sustainable".
Read more: Mencap staff 'placed on protective notice' due to ending of ESF funding.
Castlereagh South Alliance councillor Fiona Cole said: "The termination of the EU Social Funding (ESF) in my constituency has led to Mencap putting 50 of its staff on protective notice.
"They should not have to be isolating staff.
"This ESF is vital funding for some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
"I have been enraged by the failure to replace this funding.
"There will be 17k vulnerable people no longer receiving help accessing employment or education across Northern Ireland and 1,700 staff at risk.
"If this was an industry or factory workers interventions would have happened already.
"We need to be asking the permanent secretary what he is going to do about it?
"We should be doing our best on LCCC to help as Mencap in Castlereagh can only do so much in isolation, we urgently need a refunding solution."
The ESF is due to end on March 31, 2023 and replaced with the UK government’s new UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
However, Mencap says that this new funding falls significantly short of the ESF funding pot by at least 50%.
Mencap NI director, Grainne Close said: “The Mencap NI Executive team have looked at all options and tried to find alternative solutions however with the current situation and lack of clarity from government departments this has proved exceedingly difficult.
"The ending of these vital services will have a direct impact on people with a learning disability into employment and will also have a direct impact on their social and emotional wellbeing.
"With no local government in place, vital support organisations are being left in a precarious position, and are being forced to remove access to services, which enrich the lives of some of the most vulnerable in our society.
“We need local government officials to do the right thing by providing resource and support to allow these services to continue."
Despite the proposal to write to the permanent secretary going forward in LCCC, there was some pessimism in the chamber, with UUP Alderman Jim Dillon stating, "what is it going to achieve?"
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