THE cost-of-living crisis has meant that Jersey Sport is currently unable to offer all the services it would like to, the outgoing chairman has said as he called for greater government funding for sport.
Phil Austin is stepping down as chair after seven years in the role and admitted that funding concerns puts a lot of pressure on sporting organisations.
He said that a GP referral scheme – whereby Jersey Sport help people who have recently had operations with their rehabilitation – has had to be paused due to money and manpower restrictions.
‘We have a team of physicians and coaches that will take them through a rehab programme and they are trained and qualified people that do that,’ Austin said. ‘We have had to press the pause button on that service because we cannot take any more people on at this time. That problem has two sides to it – one is we haven’t got the money to recruit new people and two we haven’t the money to train people.
‘We are full to the brim and we have a waiting list so we have had to say “No, we can’t take any more on”. We have not got the resources – human and financial – to continue with that service to the level that we would like to.’
And Austin added that the inflation rate – currently 12.7% – means that the grant Jersey Sport receives from government does not go as far as it used to.
‘We are under pressure to deliver the services we want to deliver and with inflation the way it is we are having to cut back on some of the services that we can provide at this time,’ he said.
‘The grant we get from government is not index linked so it does not go up with inflation.
‘We rent premises from government. That rental agreement has been subject to cost of living rises so on the one hand we are getting a grant that doesn’t have the cost of living factored into it but our rent to government does.
‘That makes life very difficult and we are not the only ones like that. As a non-profit making charitable organisation, that makes life very hard for us when we are trying to provide services that we think are very important and maybe even essential.’
Austin admitted that he understood other areas such as health, social security and education being higher on the agenda when it comes to access to government funding, but added that sport had a vital role to play.
‘Sport is part of the solution – it can certainly be part of the health solution,’ he said.
‘I know there are significant mental-health problems in the Island – part of that solution is getting people in a good frame of mind, getting people fitter and getting them active.
‘We say sport is part of the solution and we think there should be more funding made available to sport.’
While he said that there were concerns for the future of Jersey Sport, Austin said that he was pleased to see the politician with responsibility for sport – Deputy Lucy Stephenson – taking the matter forward.
‘I have to say while I have complained in the past about sport not being high enough on the political agenda, Deputy Lucy Stephenson is showing a real commitment to sport and has gone out of her way to engage with sport,’ Austin said. ‘I am more optimistic perhaps now that maybe I was a year or so ago.’
