One of the country's leading disability charities claimed yesterday that without financial support from the Littlewoods scratchcard, its key National Heipline service would have closed down.
Unlike its National Lottery counterpart, the Littlewoods scratchcard donates 24 pence from the sale of each card direct to the charity (compared with 4.7p to each of the five good causes totalling 23.5p from the National Lottery scratchcard).
It is then up to the individual charity to decide how the money will be spent. This frees it, for example, to provide vital services rather than having to make time-consuming project-based apptications to the National Lottery charities Boar&
Mr Bert Massie, director of RADAR (Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation) said:
"We are losing out on two fronts: the public are giving less money to charities such as RADAR and so far we have not received any National Lottery funding.
"Our total income this year will be just over 1 million. Almost half of our projectedvoluntary net income (400,000) has come from the joint RADAlRLitdewoods scratchcard. Without it, we would have been forced to shut down our information department which runs the RADAR National Helpline.
"The information department received over 22,000 enquiries last year - and all of these would have gone unanswered. Five members of the RADAR staff could also have been made redundant"
The helpline is the only disability heipline in the country which operates on one national number offering information and advice on all disability issues, not just to individuals but to hundreds of other groups and organisations who in turn use it to help individuals in their own local area. The first RADAR/Littlewoods scratchcard was launched in the North West region in August
1995 and raised 192,000, almost half of RADAR's voluntary net income projected for this year. A second RADAR scratchcard will be launched later this month in the Midlands.
Bert Massie said: "Our original core government grant of 250,000 has been cut to 150,000 this year and will be cut by 50,000 a year so that by 1999 we will receive nothing. "RADAR, like many other charities, can make project-based grant applications to the National Lottery Charities Board with no guarantee of success and no security of funding.
"In our view this lacks foresight, especially when we are involved in long-term planning and campaigning. One of our objectives is to make all public transport accessible to disabled people - an objective which may take up to 20 years to realise.
"RADAR is therefore compelled to become more reliant on Litfiewoods and other organisations
which have a lottery card that puts money straight into the hands of charities letting them choose the priorities for spending it.
"The Littlewoods scratchcard has meant that RADAR's immediate future is secure", said Bert Massie.
18 March 1996
Littlewoods scratchcards are available in Post Offices, supermarkets, newsagents and forecourt garages.
The country has been divided up into seven regions and three separate lotteries will run in each area at any one time, enabling 21 charities to benefit. There are 1 million tickets in each lottery game. Once all million tickets have been sold a new game for another charity will start in that region. Each ticket costs 1.
Littiewoods scratchcards offer a - 1 in 4.6 - chance of winning with prizes from 1 to 25,000 or 50,000 in the Double Money launch games.
Issued by Keith McDowaIl Associates tel 0171 278 7333