Troubled charity in talks with ministers

Young child playing with plastic building blocks

Jersey ministers say they will support a financially troubled charity until another source of funding is available.

Centrepoint offers a safe place for separated families to meet, but says it cannot continue the service beyond February after the government withdrew the short-term funding at the end of 2024.

Chief executive, Jane Moy, said she was in talks with ministers but "time is quickly running out" to secure the future of the service.

Deputy Malcolm Ferry, Assistant Minister for Children and Families, said: "I have got an officer deployed to help them find the right source of funding."

Deputy Malcolm Ferry, Assistant Minister for Children and Families, said the "organisation does need to stand on its own two feet at some time"

The charity said it aimed to provide "seamless handovers" of children between parents, as well as supported contact for families, in the hope that parents would eventually complete handovers without the centre.

Ms Moy said: "We have a small pot of money put aside to enable the service to continue until the end of February, but unfortunately we cannot afford to sustain it after that."

Ferry said: "It may be that in the short-term we have to offer some match funding, or it might be that we have to fund the whole thing for another year.

"But this organisation does need to stand on its own two feet at some time.

"The government has just injected large sums of money into the Jersey Community Foundation, so they can give out this money where it is most needed.

"So we are supporting charities in that way," he added.