A dementia charity in Manchester has been saved from closure by a National Lottery Community Fund grant of more than £360,000, but the charity said it remained in need of further funding to meet growing demand.

Together Dementia Support, which supports 1,000 people annually across Manchester, was on a “cliff edge” after its previous lottery funding ran out, its chief executive Sally Ferris said, saying that without the NLCF’s latest grant it would have been “looking at closure”.

According to the charity’s latest accounts filed with the Charity Commission, it recorded total income of £480,428 and expenditure of £502,604 in the year ending 30 June 2024.

The NLCF has awarded £366,827 to Together Dementia Support over three years, which Ferris said would enable it to fund key staff posts and continue operations. The grant will also fund a new operations and data manager post.

Ferris said that without this funding the charity, which receives 300 new referrals each year, would have needed to reduce its services and make redundancies to its 13-strong staff team.

“We are absolutely delighted to have secured a third award from the National Lottery. Without its support we would have been looking at closure, which would have left people completely isolated,” she said.

“The charity was on a cliff edge as our previous lottery grant was about to run out and we hadn’t been able to secure other funding to cover service costs.”

Ferris said there were fewer grantmakers funding work with older or disabled people, adding that the charity had hoped its work would be locally commissioned but that had also fallen through.

“The charity wouldn’t be here now but for the lottery as it has repeatedly recognised the need for this work. It is funding work that the NHS or local authority should be funding,” she said.

But the charity still needed to find further funding, according to Ferris, who said: “We still need to secure further income for all our services or will have to reduce them a little until more funding becomes available.

“As many other charity managers know, we have to live constantly with that stress and uncertainty.”

Ferris added that the charity could not rely solely on grants, saying: “We’re doing all we can to organise fundraising events, and our supporters are generous in giving donations – but it’s still not enough to meet the growing need for dementia support services. And people with dementia in Manchester, and the UK generally, deserve better.”