Mid Ulster charity STEP needs additional £70,000 to sustain vital service

A CHARITY that supports vulnerable residents in Mid Ulster will not be able to continue beyond May 2027 unless the local authority provides an additional £70,000 in funding to meet essential costs.

South Tyrone Empowerment Programme (STEP) provides advice, support, advocacy, community development, social enterprise and strategic engagement services.

The registered charity operates offices in Dungannon, Cookstown and Magherafelt and has successfully secured £1.4 million in additional benefits for residents in desperate need of support over the past six months alone.

Addressing Mid Ulster District Council’s Development Committee, the chief executive of STEP Advice Services, Fintan McAliskey, explained that the budget allocated to the charity had remained virtually unchanged since 2019.

“In April 2019 generalist advice was contracted to us at £226,377,” he said.

“The contract that we entered into in April 2026 is a combined contract and the generalist advice base element of the combined contract is £226,657.

“Basically, in seven years there’s been a £280 increase in the value of that contract, or a quarter of 1 per cent.

“It’s not that you’re asking us to do like-for-like work for that amount of money, to be clear. The specification has been diluted on each of those three tenders.”

He explained that the outreach requirement, which previously covered Magherafelt, Coalisland and Clogher Valley, was removed following the first three years because the budget could not accommodate it.

Under the latest contract, staffing requirements have also been reduced. Previously, STEP was required to have two qualified advisers in each of its three offices, alongside a receptionist, and see people within seven days.

This has now been reduced to one adviser per office, with the waiting time extended to 21 days.

Mr McAliskey said the full cost of employing an adviser, including pension and management costs, had increased from approximately £23,500 in 2019 to £34,500.

“The cost of an adviser has gone up by 47 per cent, while the cost of this contract has gone up by 0.12 per cent. And inflation in that time is up 32 per cent. So the running costs of our offices are up almost a third. We are essentially being asked to do significantly more with a lot less.”

He warned that the organisation could not continue delivering the service beyond the current contract, which runs until May 2027, without additional funding or a change to the specification.

“Ideally, we would prefer additional funding here. I don’t think you can cut this contract any further and still call it general advice for Mid Ulster. We’re at a skeleton at this stage. We’re down to those three offices, and we can’t have less than one adviser in them.

“We will deliver the service that Council asks us to deliver if the resources are available to do it. If you ask me to put a number on this, as an absolute minimum, it’s in and around £70,000.”

Highlighting the financial benefits of the service, he said almost £1.4 million in additional benefits had been secured for residents over six months.

“So, on a financial basis alone, I think it makes sense, but the social side of this is probably more important. The difference it makes to people’s lives.

“The people who come to our door are coming in desperation and they’re leaving with financial gain. Those that are entitled are getting their entitlement, and it’s making a significant difference to their lives.”

Mr McAliskey said STEP would honour its current commitment but would have to give three months’ notice, potentially in January, if no changes were agreed.

Committee chairperson, Councillor Córa Corry (Sinn Féin, Carntogher DEA), acknowledged the importance of the service, commenting: “That’s some very stark figures there. I work in advice and do the same kind of thing as yourself, so I understand how important that is and what it means to people.”

Strategic Development Manager for Communities and Place, Martina Totten, said the request would be considered as part of the council’s annual review of the advice contract.

“We’ll make sure that this review takes into consideration the cost of the service currently being delivered in the district, and what it needs to function moving forward.”

Mr McAliskey further warned that the reduced staffing levels had left the service without sufficient resilience to cover sickness absences. Recent absences had resulted in the Magherafelt office closing, while an adviser in Dungannon had been on sick leave for two months during the summer.

“We have never reneged on a contract we’ve entered into, and we’ve entered into a one-year contract here to hit 20,000 [contacts]. If it costs me £400,000 to do that, we’ll deliver it.

“But I know that in order to get there, we’re likely going to be putting charitable reserves to the number that’s provided to make sure that we can walk away from this with our heads up. The problem is that I couldn’t enter a second year on that basis.”

Strategic Director of Communities and Place, Kieran Gordon, reassured members that an independent consultant would review the contract in the coming weeks.

He said the information provided by STEP would form part of that process, adding that members would subsequently be in a better position to consider the next steps.