A CHARITY for people with learning difficulties fears for its future after its budget was slashed by a staggering £300,000.

Bosses at Waltham Forest (WF) Mencap are worried services will have to be scrapped or reduced because they have been forced to reduce their budget by 30 per cent next year.

This is because council grants have been cut back and vital lottery funding has run out.

A total of ten staff face redundancy and 74 people with learning difficulties who are in further education will be unable to continue with their courses.

Diana Harrison, chief executive of WF Mencap, said: "These cuts are devastating for our excellent staff team which has achieved tremendous gains for users since we launched our supported employment projects in 2004.

"If we maintained our spending on supported employment, our traditional services would suffer. To make the companies commercially viable and sustainable, more funding contracts from state, private or charitable sector sources are needed.

"As it stands, lottery funding is being diverted to other national priorities and council funding from central government is being reined in over the next three years."

Mencap said the greatest impact would be felt by the supported employment projects which had been developed over the past three years, where losses have been running at around £150,000 this year.

The charity's lease on their learning centre in Brookscroft Road in Walthamstow runs out in October and if they do not get a cash injection, they will be forced to leave.

Mencap run London's only leisure library for disabled people who can borrow anything from DVDs to sewing machines, but because of their financial plight they have had to scrap it.

They have bids of £201,200 for 2008-2011 in the pipeline, but there is no guarantee they will be successful.

A Council spokeswoman said: "Waltham Forest Council and their partners commission Mencap to provide a range of services to people with a learning disabilities for which they receive £320,000 annually.

"The Council's core contract with Mencap is worth £235,000 for 2007-08, with other short term contracts for 2007-08 bringing the payment up to £320,000.

"The Council is committed to working with voluntary sector groups like Mencap to ensure residents can access the important support services they provide.

The Council will continue to work with Mencap on issues such as employment for people with learning disabilities."