Debate contribution: Local Growth Fund

Debate contribution by Ms Sian Mulholland on 21 October 2025.

MLA

Ms Sian Mulholland

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

21 October 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Local Growth Fund

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5197400

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Wow. For decades, voluntary and community sector organisations have been at the heart of our society, forming that crucial backbone and stepping in where the state has faltered. They have consistently delivered vital services, especially during turbulent times, including Executive collapses caused by parties around the Chamber, and amid chronic underfunding from the UK Government. Their value cannot be overstated, and I echo the welcome to them to Parliament Buildings today. My perspective in the debate is shaped by my experience as an MLA more recently and by my previous life as a youth worker and a worker in the voluntary and community sector. I have seen at first hand the lifeline that those organisations provide. We have heard today how they face a funding crisis that is not of their making but arises from ongoing delays and, crucially, uncertainty from the UK Government. Despite their resilience and dedication, those organisations now operate under constant threat of financial instability, forced to survive on short-term contracts and unable to make meaningful long-term plans. That goes for the staff, who are unable to get mortgages because of their lack of full-time and permanent contracts, and the organisations. The sector has felt like it has been in continual free fall since the removal of EU funding. The NICVA economic inclusion paper makes clear the scale of the problem that the sector faces. With reduced funding, increased reliance on short-term arrangements and a climate of ongoing uncertainty, it does not look good for those organisations.

There is still no confirmed delivery plan or timeline. That is no way to treat a sector, especially one that has given so much to our society. Without decisive action, the sector stands at yet another funding cliff edge. According to NICVA's NI Can't Wait campaign, many of the thousands of recipients of those programmes — whether they are individuals with disabilities, carers, women who are returning to work, young people with criminal records, older people or rural people who are without access to sustainable employment — have already been failed by the system. We have heard already that we have some of the highest rates of economic inactivity — as much as I do not like that term — in the UK and the lowest employment rate amongst disabled people. If you strip away voluntary and community sector support, there is no alternative to absorb the impact. Vulnerable groups will be further marginalised; pressures on our health and social care system will increase; the justice system will come under greater strain; employers who are already struggling to find workers will face further challenges; and, ultimately, inequality will deepen and opportunity will shrink. Those are the consequences. Another element is that, if the funding cliff edge is not addressed, not only will the thousands of people whom we have discussed lose support every year, but around 650 skilled staff will be at risk. That expertise and dedication cannot be quickly or easily replaced; it is institutional knowledge that we simply will not get back. We have seen that before when funding has been removed en masse from the community and voluntary sector. Right now, the sector's call is clear: clarity and contingency agreements and arrangements are urgently needed. NICVA and its partners are seeking a bridging arrangement and an extension of the current funding in order to avoid being plunged off a funding cliff. Furthermore, the Government have to confirm that the local growth fund will be delivered through a regional programme that is tailored specifically to Northern Ireland, with community and voluntary organisations at its core. There has to be a genuine co-design process, which draws on evidence and local knowledge and expertise, to shape the fund's operation. Crucially, as the previous contributor mentioned, the proposed ratio of capital allocation has to be revised. Northern Ireland needs stronger revenue funding to sustain people-focused programmes, not just investment in infrastructure. We have consistently raised those concerns at Westminster. The Alliance MP, Sorcha Eastwood, has persistently lobbied that a local growth fund that is tailored specifically to Northern Ireland and co-designed with the sector has to be on the table. The sector is calling for the swift creation of a task-driven, time-bound co-design group, involving the Department for the Economy, local councils, Invest NI, Enterprise NI and local enterprise agencies. That group should deliver, by the end of November, a fully costed and improved enterprise support model that will be ready for implementation in April 2026. The UK Government have to end their piecemeal communications and provide the certainty that the sector so desperately requires. The people of Northern Ireland, especially those who are furthest from work and opportunity, deserve nothing less.

782 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:32 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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