Disability charity Mencap cut staff numbers by 222 and spent more than £1m on redundancies, according to its latest set of accounts.
The annual report and accounts for the year to March 2016, filed last month, shows that Mencap cut full-time equivalent staff to 5,532 from 5,754, and spent £1.03m on redundancies, up from £776,000 the previous year.
Mencap had an income of £191.3m in the year to March 2016 – roughly the same as the previous year – but warned that it was likely to face a tough operating environment due to changes in social care.
The total wage bill was £141.3m, down from £142.2m the previous year.
"It’s a hugely challenging time for anyone involved in social care," said Jan Tregelles, chief executive of the charity, in the opening pages of the annual report. “Cuts to budgets are a big concern for us – many councils simply don’t have the money to pay for the kind of care that people with a learning disability deserve.”
'Don’t let charity become a dirty word'
Derek Lewis, chair of Mencap, used the introduction to the annual report to criticise bigger fundraising charities, which he said had rightly been challenged in the last year over “too aggressive” fundraising.
Lewis also warned that charity risks becoming a “dirty word” unless the sector clearly communicates the value of the work it does.
“Some of the fundraising tactics used by bigger charities had become too aggressive, and it was right that they were challenged on it,” he said. “I want to reassure you that we have taken those lessons extremely seriously. Our donors are our lifeblood, and we would never risk losing their trust.
“Thanks to our generous donors we can support thousands of people every year. We need to be proud of that work and clearly communicate the difference we make. We don’t want ‘charity’ to become a dirty word for the public - we are determined to keep that trust and show why we have been at the heart of people’s lives for 70 years.”
Mencap’s fundraising income was £14.3m - just 7 per cent of its overall income – of which more than half was legacy income.
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