Dear Prime Minister,

What does the disturbing experience of a small North-East charity for homeless people, now facing closure, say about your Big Society?

THIS week, the 700 Club, which provides shelter for homeless people in Darlington was left facing ruin by an unfair employment law.

The little local charity was told by a tribunal that it is legally liable for the redundancy costs of 18 workers who lost their jobs when a Salvation Army hostel in the town closed due to public sector funding cutbacks.

The 700 Club’s dedicated volunteers are now desperately anxious about the future as they face a bill of up to £250,000.

What message does that send to other local voluntary organisations wanting to play their part in the Big Society?

Threat to charity asks a question of Big Society

DAVID CAMERON’S vision of a Big Society is doomed unless something is done about “ill-conceived” legislation that penalises small charities, community leaders warned last night.

In a letter that will be personally handed to Foreign Secretary William Hague this weekend, Darlington-based charity the 700 Club said the Prime Minister’s flagship concept has been drastically undermined by a court ruling this week.

The 700 Club, which runs two homeless hostels in the town, is facing closure after it was dealt a crushing blow in an employment tribunal earlier this week.

The Salvation Army, which used to run a hostel in Darlington, was successful in using legislation designed to protect workers in the event of a corporate takeover to transfer 18 of its staff onto the 700 Club using so-called TUPE legislation.

The Reverend Dr John Elliston, who founded the 700 Club, said the ruling would prohibit any small charity from taking on public services.

He said this would threaten the very essence of the Big Society concept, which is aimed at giving charities and community groups more control over their services.

“It effectively debars smaller charities from entering the tendering process,” he said.

“The legislation needs tightening up at every level.”

The letter, signed by Dr Elliston and 700 Club chief executive Steve Rose, states: “It undermines the principle of the Big Society, of localism, of the ability of small organisations to contribute, even when the standard of work that they offer exceeds that of national providers.”

On Saturday, the letter will be passed to Mr Hague, MP for Richmond, by Councillor Charles Johnson, deputy leader of Darlington’s Conservative group and chairman of eVolution, which represents the town’s voluntary sector.

He said: “This isn’t how the Big Society should work.

There seems to be a certain disregard for the morality of this issue.”

Former Darlington MP Alan Milburn, who attended the press launch of the 700 Club having been one of the first to donate to the cause, declined to comment.

Mr Milburn, who is now the coalition’s social mobility tsar, said: “I’m no longer the MP, so it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment. When you’re gone, you’re gone.”

The Big Society was dealt a further blow yesterday when the leader of Liverpool City Council told the Prime Minister that the city is to pull out of the Government’s plans.

The city was one of four pilot areas for the Big Society scheme.

In his letter, council leader Joe Anderson said: “How can the city council support the Big Society and its aim to help communities do more for themselves when we will have to cut the lifeline to hundreds of these vital and worthwhile groups?”

Responding to the news last night, Tessa Jowell MP, Labour’s shadow cabinet office minister, said: “David Cameron’s Big Society is imploding.”

Darlington MP Jenny Chapman said: “I think there are many flaws in the Government’s plan to rely on something they are calling the Big Society to take over the running of public services, and the case between the 700 Club and the Salvation Army highlights one of them.

“I think the mistake the Government makes is that they think the charitable and voluntary sector comes cheaper, but it doesn’t. If you are providing a good service it will cost money no matter who provides it, and that is what councils are finding.”