I am writing to update SVI members, supporters, partners and elected representatives following July’s 2025 announcement from Sandwell Council to remove our seconded staff arrangement.
In July 2025, we were informed that council funding would taper and that, while core running costs would remain, the offer did not include the council seconded staff or the SVI offices, without which SVI will fold. SVI was not given a timeframe for when the seconded staff arrangements would end, making it impossible for us to plan ahead or apply for the larger grants needed to secure our future.
SVI members and volunteers wrote to elected councillors to ask:
- That a decision regarding SVI’s seconded staff be made without further delay;
- The wider value SVI brings to Sandwell is recognised as part of those decisions
- SVI is given the opportunity and stability needed to secure long-term external funding.
I am grateful to supportive councillors and SVI members as we have now been informed that our secondment staff arrangement will end on 31 March 2028.
SVI has approximately 18 months to secure external funding to maintain these staff members. Unfortunately securing substantial long-term charitable funding is competitive and time consuming with no guarantee that replacement funding will be available. The application process will have to take place alongside SVI continuing to deliver multiple services on a stretched budget, supported by our dedicated staff and volunteers.
SVI was established 22 years ago, by blind people for blind people, because there was no specialist provision for visually impaired people living in Sandwell. The need for our services has only increased, as there is still no specialist organisation providing this expertise to Sandwell residents.
We need your support.
If you believe that protecting services for blind and visually impaired people across Sandwell is important, please write to your elected councillor to tell them why. Share this letter across social media and within your own group chats or tag us into your posts on facebook.
The challenge ahead for SVI’s survival is significant but I remain hopeful.
Come and meet us
Our Annual Forum and AGM, Monday 16 November at The Portway Lifestyle Centre, Oldbury, 10.30am to 3.00pm.
Thank you for your continued support.
Tony Averis
Chair of the Board of Trustees, Sandwell Visually Impaired
