A charity that supports families with disabled children has said it is “devastated” after losing a council contract worth more than £1.5m to a private sector provider. 

We Are Beams provides services including advice, leisure activities, training and short overnight breaks to families.

The charity said it had lost a three-year direct payments support service contract worth £505,000 a year from Kent County Council after it was won by the training and employability company PeoplePlus.

We Are Beams has held the contract, which will end in April, for 17 years and supports 1,100 parents with a disabled child living in Kent with their direct payments, the charity said.

Direct payments are local council payments for people who have been assessed as needing help from adult social care, and who would like to arrange and pay for their own care and support services instead of receiving them directly from the local council. 

The contract is valued at £505,318 annually for a total of three years.

We Are Beams recorded an income of £2.1m in the year to the end of March 2024, latest accounts show. It spent £2.2m over the same period.

Ten staff are expected to transfer to the new provider, local media reported. 

The charity did not respond to requests for comment from Third Sector. 

But in an online statement, Katrina Adams, chief executive of We Are Beams, said: “We are devastated to be losing this contract and we hope the new supplier, which is not a charity, will support the parents in every way possible. 

“Beams linked up parents to other services and offered help to all family members.

“Everything we do has the disabled child at the heart of it. It is evident that the cost of our bid for the contract was a determining factor.”

Adams said her main concern was for the families the charity supports.

“This is a big change for them at an already difficult time,” Adams said.

“We are still here for all families if we are needed to support them with our other five services.”

The charity did not answer when asked about job losses following the contract transfer.

A spokesperson for Kent County Council said: “We Are Beams is a valued provider of support for disabled children and young people and their families in Kent.

“The direct payment support service was retendered last year and we have selected a new provider who best met our criteria and threshold for quality and good value for taxpayers’ money. 

“All providers who tendered for this service were advised of our decision in December.

“We look forward to continuing working with We are Beams’ many other services to ensure specialist support for our families who need it.”