EACH charity facing £2m deficit to close Milton and Ipswich offices

EACH patron, the Duchess of Cambridge opened The Nook hospice near Norwich in 2019

A charity supported by the Duchess of Cambridge says it is facing a £2m cash shortfall and will need to close offices to save money.

East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH) will not renew leases for its head office in Milton, Cambridgeshire, or its regional base in Ipswich.

EACH's three hospices "would remain open and continue to provide care", chief executive Phil Gormley said.

The 40 staff affected would work remotely or from hospice offices.

The charity, like many others, has suffered a loss in income due to a reduction in fundraising activities and the closure of non-essential shops to comply with Covid-19 restrictions.

It runs hospices in Milton, The Nook near Norwich and The Treehouse in Ipswich, and offers care and support for children with life-threatening conditions across East Anglia, and their families.

Mr Gormley said: "This third lockdown, closing our shops, has meant putting over 120 members of staff back on furlough and standing down our 1,700 volunteers.

"While our fundraisers worked hard over the festive period, our latest forecasting shows an operational deficit of £2m over the next 12 months."

Mr Gormley called for charities like EACH to be "underpinned by proper statutory funding".

The Duchess of Cambridge has been patron of East Anglia's Children's Hospices since 2012

EACH said it received 16% of its income from such sources but relied on £6m from elsewhere, including large donors.

It said a further £5m was raised through its retail activities, but it lost £100,000 income a week when the shops were closed.

Last year, the charity raised nearly £150,000 by selling more than 200 items donated by celebrities including Ed Sheeran, who is an ambassador, Cate Blanchett and Tracey Emin.

Celebrities including Ricky Gervais (shoes), Emma Thompson (Mary Poppins umbrella) and Hugh Bonneville (framed art) donated items for the fundraiser

The charity said the pandemic had lead to a surge in requests for support from families shielding and becoming exhausted from providing care alone.