A wave of redundancies has taken place among NCVO staff supporting small charities, as the infrastructure body warns it “is not immune to challenges” facing the sector.

In a statement the NCVO has confirmed that is has “taken the difficult but necessary steps to ensure we are ready for the challenges and opportunities of the future. As a result, we have made a small number of changes to the structure of our existing workforce and created critical new vacancies”.

Its statement said: “While it is never easy to have to say goodbye to brilliant people, we believe these changes will ensure more efficient and effective delivery of our vital services, which we know are so valued by the sector.”

The NCVO added that “this is a difficult time for charities” and that boards are having to make tough decisions about the services they deliver, how they deliver them and what the right size of their workforce should be”.

It continued: “But at the same time, as a charity ourselves, NCVO is not immune to challenges. It is inevitable that as the sector contracts, infrastructure does too.”

Among those to be made redundant are members of the NCVO practical support team, which supports small charities, provides training, runs conferences, manages online resources and offers telephone support.

The team’s lead Josie Hinton has confirmed on LinkedIN that after six years at the body she has been made redundant “along with most of my brilliant team”.

“Sadly, redundancies are not uncommon in our sector,” she said and praised the work of her team in supporting small charities and forming partnerships in the sector.

“I’m proud of what we built and so grateful to everyone that supported us along the way,” she added.

Fair Collective founder Vic Hancock, who worked with the NCVO on the Power of Small project to support small charities, said that redundancies at the body are “a devastating blow for those hardworking, dedicated and knowledgeable folks and what a huge loss for small charities at a time when they need all the help they can get”.

“I’m very curious to see where NCVO takes things now for small charities,” she added, noting that the body is recruiting for a ‘support advisor’.

Three years ago, the NCVO took over support run by defunct small charities infrastructure body Foundation for Social Improvement (FSI).

Earlier that year the NCVO and FSI had jointly taken over the running of support services from the Small Charities Coalition, another infrastructure body that closed.

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