Christian Aid will close its regional offices in England, which is expected to affect 25 full-time equivalent roles.
The charity has announced its plans to close regional offices in Birmingham, Newcastle, Leeds, Loughborough, Norwich, St Albans, Oxford, Southampton and Bristol.
Christian Aid has previously announced plans to cut programmes in 12 countries, putting up to 200 staff at risk, as part of a new global strategy to “streamline” its work. This will involve reducing Christian Aid’s unrestricted spend of £47m down to £40m over the next 12 months.
Regional changes
Christian Aid is moving to home-based regional support for church groups and a central supporter engagement team based in Warrington. All other England regional offices will close, but not until June 2020.
The charity is also developing a larger, national church relationships team “to enable it to work more closely with its sponsoring churches and enable easier co-creation of work together ”.
A transition plan is being implemented, to ensure that churches and volunteers receive support from Christian Aid.
The charity said it has union recognition, adding: “The unions have been actively involved in the consultation process, and continue to offer support for staff. The union that Christian Aid recognises is Unite.
“Christian Aid also has a people team, which is ensuring that both counselling and practical support for helping to find alternative work is being provided.”
'Embracing our ambition, mandate and destiny'
Christian Aid previously announced that it is withdrawing from Angola, Brazil, Egypt, Ghana, Philippines, South Africa, Zambia, Mali, Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nepal. It will exit some in March 2020 and others over the following 12 months.
Amanda Khozi Mukwashi, chief executive of Christian Aid, said: “We are embracing our ambition, mandate and destiny – to help stop the scourge of poverty, dismantle power structures that perpetuate extreme poverty, injustice and inequality and use our voice and agency to break the silence.
“Going deeper rather than wider; being more impactful and ensuring that we get maximum value out of every pound we raise and spend - is what we want to achieve. We know we can do this by standing together with supporters and churches around the UK and with partners and communities.”
Christain Aid's most recent accounts showed its total income has increased to £120.4m, but donations from individuals fell by 9 per cent, according to the accounts for the year to 31 March 2019.
Income from donations from individuals was down 9 per cent, from £54.7m to £49.7m. Meanwhile institutional grants increased by 7 per cent, from £58m to £62m. The report suggests that the decrease in individual giving is reflective of “a challenging fundraising environment, together with a lower number of high-profile appeals”.
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