A PLEA has been made to recognise the importance of Bolton's voluntary sector as it faces a "massive decline" in funding.

Nearly a third of the town's volunteer groups and organisations have reported a decrease in income but more than 40 per cent have seen more money going out.

At the Bolton Health and Wellbeing Board, Bolton Community and Voluntary Services chief officer Darren Knight made an appeal to council and health bosses to recognise the importance of the sector.

In a presentation to the meeting, he explained that funding was scarce, more competitive and there are greater expectations no the voluntary sector to deliver support in the community.

He added: "There has been a massive decline in funding since 2013 in the sector. It is more challenging but there are a lot of new opportunities emerging. Some groups can make a little go a long way.

"In order to help them find funding we need to make sure groups know their value and understand the difference they make in the sector they work in.

"We have seen organisations going under and need to make sure we support them, and that is not always in funding but helping improve planning and increasing the number of volunteers."

There are 1,561 organisations in the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector in Bolton alone.

Areas they cover include health, community development, education and sport.

Around 46,900 volunteers and committee members give up 113,500 hours their time a week to the town while 4,500 people are employed by the sector.

Meanwhile, 94.4 million per year was contributed to the economy by paid employees of Bolton VCSE sector organisations.

Mr Knight explained that the precarious financial situation some organisations were in was emphasised by the state of the groups' reserves, with more than a third holding reserves worth less than one month's expenditure while just under half had reserves worth less than 25 per cent of annual expenditure.

Of the groups, 30 per cent have reported a reduction in their financial reserves compared to 22 per cent reporting an increase.

Overall, the sector was worth £142 million in 2012/2013 but dropped to £134 million by 2014, only increasing by £3 million by 2015.

In order to make sure the sector benefited in the future, Mr Knight said more needs to be done to link VCSE groups with public bodies such as Bolton Council and NHS as well as recruit and retain staff and volunteers.

Mr Knight added: "The size, scope and breadth of the Bolton volunteer sector – it is amazing, I'm sure you would all agree.

"We need to nurture the volunteer community to deliver against these expectations. It is exciting, there is a lot to learn from the involvement in the grass-roots community across the borough."