The plight of a charity that could close within weeks after its funding was slashed by £100,000 was highlighted at a meeting of the county council.

Pro-Action provides ‘behind-the-scenes’ support – including help with DBS checks, GDPR compliance and drafting constitutions – to more than 150 youth projects and charities across the county.

Its work is designed to help many small organisations to remain compliant with the law and other legislation.

And in some cases it is that support that gives volunteers the confidence to take on the legal liability of being a governor or trustee in their own organisations.

But from April the funding Pro-Action receives from the county council will drop from £150,000 a year to just £50,000.

And, as a result of that 66 per cent cut, they’ve now warned they may have to close – with their services expected to stop as early as June.

At a meeting of the full county council, on Tuesday, Liberal Democrat councillor Paul Zukowskyj highlighted Pro-Action’s work.

And he asked for the previous level of funding to be reinstated by the county council.

He told councillors that while Pro-Action did not provide high profile youth activities themselves, they were “the nuts and bolts behind the delivery of youth services on the ground”.

Cllr Zukowskyj said he had been contacted about Pro-Action by a trustee of another organisation, who felt unable to continue in that role without the support of Pro-Action.

And he said that pulling the legs out from under that service would threaten the 150 youth and other organisations they supported.

The cut in funding to the charity is part of the county council’s  £1.6million  ‘restructuring’ of youth services across the county.

At the meeting, executive member for children, families and young people Cllr Teresa Heritage said this had been one of the difficult decisions they had had to make.

She told councillors she had been working with Pro-Action in a bid to help them find other funding.

And she said that – should Pro-Action close – the council was committed to ensuring the organisations they served still had the support they needed, with regard to safeguarding, DBS and other guidance.

Nevertheless Liberal Democrat Cllr Mark Watkin questioned where this help would come from – without additional funding or a team of council officers available to provide it.

And fellow Lib Dem Cllr Ron Tindall suggested that the current approach was likely to be the “most effective model at cheapest price” – compared to 150 organisations  seeking this help independently.

Meanwhile, during the debate Labour councillor Nigel Bell called for a full debate on the future of youth services, to include contributions from young people and recognising other youth services that were being cut.

But deputy executive member for children, young people and families Cllr Graham McAndrew said that at this time he did not feel full council was the right place to debate the future of youth services.

And he said they needed to take a wider approach that just the county council.

Ultimately a Conservative amendment to Cllr Zukowskyj’s initial motion was agreed by the county council.

This recognised the “extremely valuable contribution” of Pro-Action.

And it also recognised an “unintended consequence” of the cuts to youth services “could be to undermine the infrastructure support for voluntary youth clubs and youth organisations across the county”.

However the amended motion stopped short of requesting the executive to reinstate funding to Pro-Action.