Member's statement: Shared Prosperity Fund: Replacement Funding
Member's statement by Mr John Stewart on .
- MLA
- Mr John Stewart
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 3 February 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Shared Prosperity Fund: Replacement Funding
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5362302
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I will address an issue that goes to the heart of fairness, social cohesion and economic common sense in Northern Ireland. As many Members know — they have already spoken about it — from April of this year, Northern Ireland faces a funding cliff edge that is avoidable and totally unjustifiable. The funding to address economic inactivity will fall by 64%, from £25 million to just £9·2 million, as the UK's Shared Prosperity Fund ends and is replaced by the new local growth fund. Let me be clear that that is not because need has been reduced: far from it. It will be devastating for our community and voluntary sector and our charities, which already punch far above their weight. Northern Ireland has the highest rate of economic inactivity in the United Kingdom at 26·5% and the lowest employment rate for disabled people, yet we are being forced into a capital-heavy, 70:30 funding model that simply does not work for a region where the challenges are fundamentally people-based, not infrastructure-based. The consequences will be stark. It will put dozens of charities and organisations in the community and voluntary sector out of work, place hundreds of highly skilled front-line jobs in jeopardy, remove vital routes into work and take away specialised support for thousands of people each year across Northern Ireland. Those are not abstract statistics; they are real people — disabled people, carers, women and young people not in education or employment — many of whom are already on the margins of our economy and society. Sadly, no alternative services are waiting in the wings. If those community-based programmes collapse in 2026-27, the infrastructure, the organisations and the people will be gone, and no amount of future codesign will resurrect them. The situation is compounded by the injustice of the way in which it has been handled. There was no consultation or published impact assessment, and organisations were informed days before Christmas and then forced into a rushed, closed competition with a January deadline. It is hard to imagine any other sector being forced into that situation. I thank organisations such as the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action, the YouthStart consortium and the many hundreds of charities and organisations that have campaigned to highlight the injustice. They came to Stormont last week, and I know that they have engaged with many Members across the House. It is not just about protecting those organisations but about protecting people, services and the future. Thankfully, through my colleague Robin Swann, we have secured a meeting at Westminster tomorrow. I will attend along with representatives from charities and the community and voluntary sector and meet the Minister for Devolution, Faith and Communities, who has overall control of the budget and who made the decision. We will not be found wanting in making the case for Northern Ireland to secure the necessary funding. I ask that the Executive Office do all that it can to work with His Majesty's Government to secure the funding to keep those vital organisations and front-line services being delivered.
510 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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