A YOUTH centre which keeps kids off the street has missed out on £100,000 because of an administrative error.

Inclusion Ventures, which helps keep youngsters in Jaywick and Clacton’s Percy King estate out of trouble, fears crime could rise as a result.

Sessions have already been cut and staff hours slashed.

Some teenagers at a drop-in session were so upset at the news, they staged a lay-down protest in the car park to stop staff leaving.

Essex County Council has told the charity the bid, which was sent through a new online system, never arrived.

Youth workers based in Coppins Hall Community Centre, Clacton, say they will have to turn youngsters out on to the streets.

Co-ordinator Sarah Hanness said: “What we do is valued work in a very deprived area where kids are easily led into crime.

“Ultimately it is the children who will pay and the community.”

Youth worker Mark Russell said: “The offence rate really fell through the floor and that is where it has stayed since we have been here.

“We were looking to run sessions to stop youngsters getting involved with weapons and gangs, but we can't do that if we are not here.”

Siobhan Bultitude, aged 11, of Maldon Way, Clacton, fears she could end up hanging about on the streets where she would feel less safe.

She said: “We come from an estate which is a bit rough.

“We should be able to have the money, because there are a lot of children here who would like to do things.”

Inclusion Ventures hoped to receive about £37,000 a year from the county council over the next three years, a significant slice of its overall funding. It helps about 200 children get involved in sports and other activities as well as providing support to youngsters. Michael Page, spokesman for Essex County Council, said the authority had no record of a bid being submitted via its online system, which has been in use since January 2008.

He said organisations were given step-by-step advice how to use it.

Mr Page said: “We take complaints very seriously and have already made contact with Inclusion Ventures about this issue.”

The council says the Local Priority Fund was five times oversubscribed and it was impossible to contact organisations it had not received bids from.