Marketing ban sparks charity concern

Concerns have been raised that government-imposed restrictions on charities marketing their activities will undermine work with children and young people.

The Department for Education has written to all charities in receipt of funding through the Children, Young People and Families (CYPF) grant instructing them to put a freeze on any new marketing or communication for work supported by the fund, as first revealed on cypnow.co.uk.

Set up by the previous government, the grant funds a variety of services. Charity Respect was funded in 2008 to create a toolkit for supporting 13- to 19-year-olds who may experience violence in their relationships.

“I’m surprised that the government has written to us at this stage,” said Neil Blacklock, Respect’s development director. “Unless we tell people about this toolkit the work we have done to develop it will be totally undermined.”

Kathy Evans, deputy chief executive of Children England, said a freeze on marketing could be detrimental to smaller organisations.

Sally Whitaker, deputy chief executive of the National Children’s Bureau, added the real constraint appears to be on those promoting awareness of government policies.

“Many grants, including ours, are about providing direct support to the sector.

“Clearly, the big society will require a well-supported voluntary sector, and we are sure the government will recognise this as they enter the spending review process,” she added.

The CYPF grant has awarded around £134m to more than 250 organisations since 2006.