Home-Start Shropshire: Charity which helped vulnerable families goes into liquidation

From its base in Ludlow, Home-Start Shropshire helped single parents, struggling families and new families who needed support, guidance and advice.

But the charity has announced it has shut its doors with immediate effect and instructed liquidators to wind down its operation.

The charity closed its office in Shrewsbury in March, blaming the loss of £100,000 of funding. A number of staff were made redundant.

Home-Start Telford & Wrekin is unaffected by this week's news as are other branches of the charity.

Run by a board of trustees and a small team of staff, Home-Start Shropshire relied on volunteers to visit families across the county, with at least one child under the age of five, who were struggling with various aspects of life.

The volunteers provided practical help with parenting skills, offered emotional support, provided information about support from other organisations or help in accessing health, education or local authority services. They also helped families to become more involved in the local community and offered practical help with budgeting and finances. In some areas of Shropshire, the charity also ran family groups and held social events.

In a post on Facebook, the charity said: "It is with regret to inform you that we are shutting our doors with immediate effect and so will be unable to help families further.

"Regrettably despite every effort of trustees and staff to raise sufficient money liquidation proceedings must begin while we do our utmost to protect and support the families we currently help. The situation has come about as over time we have had to eat into reserves to provide core services and it’s this loss of reserves, together with a substantial pension deficit, as well as a significant reduction in grant funding, that has brought about not only a large gap in funding but also a growing and immediate cash flow problem.

"As trustees we must act in the best interests of families who needed help and support yet the services we ran were insufficiently funded. It is a very difficult time for the charity sector and has been for a number of years. It is sad that organisations such as Home Start Shropshire suffer in this way and more importantly, for the families who will no longer receive our support."

Vivien Waterfield, deputy chief executive of Home-Start UK said she was saddened to hear of the closure and added that Home-Start Shropshire had been trying to secure funding for some time, adding: "It has been very difficult for them to find funding and they have had to take this very sad decision to close." She said the trustees and staff were working hard to ensure continued support for the families they help could be found elsewhere.

Home-Start Shropshire was part of Home-Start UK which has more than 200 local, independent bases across the country. The service started in 1973 in Leicester, spread across the UK and is now a movement around the world. There are now 22 countries on five continents that have Home-Starts providing support for families.