Services struggle to fill vital roles

With many funding streams for public and voluntary bodies running out in March 2011, attracting high-calibre staff on short-term contracts is becoming a problem, senior figures have said.

Bill Badham, co-founder of Practical Participation, an organisation promoting youth participation, has described the situation as a "perfect storm", as historic issues around funding streams ending combine with a new government and economic uncertainty. "There has always been an issue around short-term programmes coming to an end but it is particularly acute now," he said.

Lorna Hadley, chair of the Association of Youth Offending Team Managers (AYM), said the issue has been raised by its members. The AYM is set to get feedback on the problem as part of a project to assess priorities for youth offending teams (YOTs).

Mike Rees, YOT manager for North Somerset, said recruitment in his sector will prove problematic in the coming months. "As vacancies start to appear in YOTs there is the issue of being able to find the right calibre of staff who will commit to a short-term contract," he said.

Lizzie Chambers, chief executive of charity Act, said there are concerns that £30m of additional funding for children's palliative care, promised under Labour in April for this financial year, is now subject to review. "If the funding does come through it gives us even less time to spend it," she said.

"It is impossible to recruit people if you are talking about eight months or less."

Andrew Simmons, chair of the National Connexions Network, said services had previously relied on the expectation that funding would continue "in line with the focus of the work", but admitted this could change in the current economic climate.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Education said: "We understand there may be some concerns across the sector around future spending, but discussions are ongoing and decisions will be made in the autumn spending review."