Citizen’s Advice Shropshire to lose £100,000 funding
Friday 5th November 2010, 8:00PM GMT.
A Shropshire charity which provides a lifeline to people in financial crisis today warned it may have to cut services as it prepares to lose more than £100,000 in funding.
Citizens Advice Shropshire has been told it will face a 20 per cent budget cut over the next three years from Shropshire Council.
The charity, which has its main base in Shrewsbury, is now seeking immediate help from other sources as it battles to keep providing a service to the large numbers of people in debt as well as those in need of practical advice.
Liz Warren, service director for Citizens Advice Bureau, said the organisation currently received about £540,000-a-year from the council but was preparing for tough times ahead.
She said it came as demand for the service was at its highest with increasing numbers of people out of work and facing financial difficulties.
The charity has now turned to Shrewsbury Town Council for support in the hope it may be able to allocate some funds to ensure residents are not left without an adequate service.
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Shame. This gives a vital service to those most vulnerable at this present time of cost-cutting from the government.
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The people who get paid by this so called charity should do it for free.
As should the town council.
It’s called the big society not the I’ll get paid/allowances/ nice little income whilst having the advantage of cultivating useful contacts for my own personal advantage whilst lording it over those desperate mugs who come for advice.
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I’m presuming you work for free as well?
That’s a really good concept – everyone works for free as part of the Big Society. I think you might be on to something here – let’s think it through. If everyone works for free we can pay less tax and less for goods and services and so we can then spend our income on things we want to – oh wait hang on a minute…
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Wait a minute – isn’t this the same Citizen’s Advice the government wants to take up all of the consumer work when it got rid of the Consumer “Quangos”? And then handed the rest of it to Trading Standards who are also being cut??
Typical of this government – no idea and no concept of joined up thinking. Ideological thinking at its very worst.
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Well there are plenty of other charities and companies who can help. To be fair the CAB does’nt really give good advice when it comes to matters such as debt. We went to see them and they passed us over to an IVA company because that certain company funded the CAB. Plus the advice they gave us on debt was wrong. We then appraoched a local company in Shrewsbury who more than helped us and gave us the correct advice that we needed. We now see the CAB as a waste of time and effort mainly because they can’t do the job their supposed to do right in the first place. We have no sympathy for them i’m afraid and it’s the kind of thing they needed to make them realise what bad advice does to people.
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I’m glad to see that people are starting to wake up and realise what a poor service the CAB actually provide.
For years any criticism has been met with “well, they’re all volunteers” and you’re treated like someone who’s been found kicking a puppy.
The reality is that many of their staff are in well-paid positions, and they’re having a hell of a job keeping hold of their well-meaning volunteers.
My and members of my family’s experience of their “advice” has been abysmal – asking for advice on personal injury, fuel debt and redundancy was met, at best, with a leaflet produced by another organisation.
For a long time before one of the Telford Bureaux closed visitors were often met during the advertised opening times with a sign on the door saying “Sorry – closed due to shortage of volunteers”.
This used to come as a bit of a surprise as I worked in the same building and knew that there were five or six people sitting in the CAB office.
An even bigger surprise was that their offices were often busy on the same day (out of advertised opening hours), or at weekends, dealing with immigration enquiries.
I know that you won’t publish this comment, but at least bear it in mind the next time you’re reporting on the activities of this money-grabbing bunch of parasites.
PS – I used to be a trustee of Telford & Wrekin CAB
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CAB.Your having a laugh. Like most organisations these day’s, the only help CAB provide is sign posting. Most people who spend all day in a que end up being given a list of other organisations who will also give them a list. Well done to Community Law Partnership (Bham) & Shelter (Bham). Your a cut above the rest.
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I have used the CAB several times and their advice has always been spot on. Highly skilled folk who deserve a good wage and nothing was too much trouble. Not sure where Eva Land gets the idea that people should work for free just because they work for a charity.
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I once contacted the CAB on an employment matter. All they could do was to point me in the direction of ACAS, their reason being they weren’t allowed to give me advice. They should be called the CB, then.
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Actually I do Freddie and the people I ‘work’ alongside are very dedicated, give up a nights sleep at times and do not do it for any personal gain.
I would like to meet up with Rob,Telford to share some views on this and to find out if there is any scrutiny of CAB staff who develop cosy relationships with useful contacts in the legal professions.
There should be properly accountable government advice centres to offer real advice to desperate people which we will be having more of in the not too distant future with poorer families, the disabled and pensioners being the vulnerable groups targetted by the cutbacks recently announced.
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