I READ with some concern that Thirsk Community Care, like many voluntary organisations, is struggling to maintain its support at a time when local statutory services are suffering from austerity cuts (D&S Times, Mar 24).

I was a member of the local social services team that, under the leadership of Steve Clark, was instrumental in the early 1980s in establishing the Thirsk, Sowerby and District Community Care Association. I am, therefore, well aware of the tremendous work that this charity undertakes.

The intention was that the organisation would supplement the community services available in the district from the statutory health and social care agencies. It was never envisaged that it would have to fill the gaps when these services were pared to the bone.

Reporting on the recent event to garner more local support for Thirsk Community Care, you quote the Thirsk and Malton Conservative MP, Kevin Hollinrake, who was present, as confirming how important the group’s work is. He says: “Clearly as a government we need to make sure that we are making savings wherever possible.” He also admits that “this is putting huge pressure on (voluntary) organisations and local authorities”.

What bare-faced hypocrisy these remarks represent, given that his votes in Parliament enable the very cuts which are causing such problems for the voluntary and the statutory sectors in the first place.

All these “savings”, as he likes to call them, are in fact drastic cuts across the board in social services, education, welfare benefits and the NHS, which make it impossible for these statutory organisations to provide an adequate level of service to the community as they used to.

The result is that charities like Thirsk Community Care struggle to meet the needs of the elderly, children and other vulnerable groups when local authorities patch up their depleted services by expecting volunteers to step into the breach, without providing adequate funding for them to do so.

When the post-war Labour government established the welfare state and the NHS, the concept was simple – we all pay in when fit and able and can draw on support when we need it.

We are one of the richest countries in the world. These essential services need to continue being properly funded by the state, not from the begging bowl.

Steve Hoyland, Sowerby, Thirsk