Call to boost awareness of South Tyneside charity after just three young people benefit in a year
Calls have been made to boost the benefits of a charitable fund supporting South Tyneside’s care experienced children and young people, after only three funding awards were made in a year.
Westoe Educational Charity was the focus of the most recent meeting of South Tyneside Council’s ruling Labour cabinet this month (November, 2025) during a report on its annual accounts for 2024/25.
The local authority is the trustee of the charity, which was registered as a charity back in March, 1999.
The charity’s income is linked to the previous “sale of the old Westoe Comprehensive School site as a wider housing development” and because the land was “subject to covenants”, council documents state, the capital receipt had to be “ring-fenced and used for charitable purposes [and] hence the trust was created by the council”.
A cabinet report states Westoe Educational Charity can “make awards to individual applicants who must be under 25 years old and resident in the borough” who fit certain criteria, including being either a care experienced child or a care leaver.
It was noted that awards must go to an “individual involving advice from social care staff with a maximum award of £1,000 per individual” and must “relate to benefits not funded by mainstream council budgets”.
Although South Tyneside Council is the trustee of the charity, the council’s director of children’s services also has “delegated powers to approve spend from the trust on behalf of the council in consultation with the lead member.”
A report on the charity was discussed by South Tyneside Council’s cabinet at its most recent meeting on November 5, 2025, at South Shields Town Hall.
Council cabinet documents noted the “trust’s ongoing income is generated by way of interest earned on the original investment” and that “income from interest in 2024/25 amounted to £18,558”.
At the end of the financial year 2024/25, the trust also had a “balance of £47,464 in earmarked reserves”.
The council cabinet report said the “availability of funding for the purpose of the charity is widely publicised, including on the internet”.
However, over the 2024/25 financial year only three awards were made by the trust totalling £900, all to “care experienced young people”, with funding going towards “travel and course fees in all cases to enable further education courses to be completed.”
Councillor Jim Foreman, cabinet member for governance, finance and corporate services, asked if more could be done to increase awareness of the funding to help increase the level of uptake.
“I can remember 20 years ago when I presented a report on this and I often wondered whether we advertised enough,” Cllr Foreman said.
“Within the body of the [2024/25] report it talks about that there were only three individual [successful] applications.
“When you consider deprivation levels in South Tyneside I would have thought there would have been more opportunities arising for young people to get into this charitable money.
“If there is, I just wondered whether it’s something that we could advertise within schools and colleges to see if we can get any more applications.
“Because if there’s an opportunity, why not take it.”
Councillor Liz McHugh, cabinet member for children and families, social care, education and skills, said the council was already looking into the matter.
“We’re presently looking at that because we did note that there was only three uptake this year and we need to use the money wisely for our young people, so yes it is being looked into,” Cllr McHugh said.
The cabinet report said that “as trustees of the charity, members must act independently of the authority and only in the best interests of the charity when making decisions”.
It added that “when spending charity income trustees should act prudently, taking a long-term as well as short-term view, ensuring that income is spent only for the purposes of the charity and fairly between persons qualified to benefit”.
The report to cabinet also referenced South Tyneside Council previously “agreeing a motion in March, 2023, in which it recognised and called upon the Government to recognise care experience as a protected characteristic” in order to “level the playing field for those young people”.
The cabinet report added: “The Westoe Trust supports our looked after children and care leavers by directing resources to further help them to achieve their ambitions.”