Dear Parents, Carers and all connected to PARC,

​

We have urgent news that we need to share with you as it will affect yourselves and has put PARC in a vulnerable position financially.

 

Many of you might be aware of the announcement of the ‘4Children’ charity going into administration. PARC had a contract with 4Children to provide Short Breaks services on behalf of Essex County Council. Their closure has left PARC with a £71,000 loss. We are not the only charity in this position – a number of others are threatened as a result of this closure.

​

PARC is only a very small charity and therefore having a loss of £71,000 means that we have had to use all of our reserves to cover our overheads. Even taking this action means that PARC’s financial position remains vulnerable. One of the actions we feel we must take is to increase our fees which we have not previously increased for a few years.

The following increases and actions will take place from 3rd October 2016 onwards:

​

Afterschool Clubs fees to increase from £13.00 to £15.00
Holiday Respite: Full Days from £30.00 to £35.00
Holiday Respite: Half Days from £13.00 to £15.00
Stay and Play from £4.00 to £5.00
Coffee Morning from £4.00 to £5.00

​

We also need to look at the services we provide and take action to close those with low numbers and are loss making. So, the Tuesday Afterschool Club and The Colchester Club will cease from 3rd October. We have tried running the Colchester service for 2 years but we are no longer able to support this. We will encourage those parents who use it to come to the PARC Centre as this is a much safer environment and will be more cost effective.

​

Our Fundraising Team will be putting together emergency fundraising events to help with the costs along with notifying the press. PARC is like a family to all of us and a place we all feel safe to bring our children and young adults.

​

You may be wondering what you can do to help, beyond supporting PARC at Fundraising Events. You could contact your MP or local councillor to make them aware of this issue and ask them what they are doing to help charities such as PARC. You may also wish to contact your social worker if you feel that you will need an increase in your social care allocation and funding.

​

We are confident that we will address the issue by acting quickly as detailed above, and also in the longer term with the continued dedication of all of you making PARC a wonderful place for all. 

​

Finally, if anyone has any other ideas, please contact Amanda Richardson or Louise Thain.

 

Thanking you in advance for your constant help.

Kind Regards
Siobhan, Lorraine, Andrew G, Andrew R, Kirk and Helen.

Trustees of PARC Essex