Money diverted from charity funding to pay towards the cost of the London 2012 Olympics will not be returned to hard-pressed voluntary groups until the mid-2020s, it has emerged.
Lottery revenues worth £675 million were re-allocated from charities towards the Olympic in 2007, on the understanding the money would be returned to its originally intended recipients shortly after the end of the games, using the proceeds from the selling off of Olympic assets.
But ministers have now said that the money will not be returned for at least another decade.
Dozens of charities, including the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services and Mencap, have now joined forces, under an umbrella group called the Big Lottery Refund, to campaign for the money to be returned far sooner, claiming they face financial disaster without it.