Surprise £14.6m fund for children's projects

Peter Hain has made a surprise announcement of a £14.6m fund to support voluntary and community groups who work with disadvantaged children.

The news came one day before the official launch of the £61m fund for Children and Young People which was promised in last year's budget.

Mr Hain made the announcement during a visit to Corpus Christi College, Belfast, "In addition to this (the £61m fund), there are a number of worthwhile projects already up and running, for which funding was due to end shortly. However, I want to ensure that children continue to benefit from them. Therefore I am delighted to announce that additional funding of £14.6m will be given to extend such projects for another two years.

"These have a valuable role to play and will complement the range of activities I will be announcing tomorrow under the new Children and Young People Funding Package."

WHO CAN APPLY?
So far NICVA has been unable to find out much information about who can apply for the fund and what the priorities will be. However, one NICVA member who has been receiving support from the Children's Fund contacted us to say the DHSSPSNI had contacted them to offer them continuation funding using the £14.6m fund. As soon as we know more details we will publish them here.