Citizens Advice Bureaux Critisised By Own Regional Manager
Citizens Advice Bureaux across the North West are being reorganised to cope with budget cuts at a time when a soaring debt crisis is placing greater demands on their services.
Services are under threat or are being scaled down amid calls by politicians and councillors for a more efficient and organised service.
In Manchester the city centre CAB came close to disintegrating after weak management left a gaping hole in its finances.
Its telephone counselling service now looks set to be suspended and the office shut down with services being relocated around the Manchester area.
In Lytham St Annes a bureau was closed down after failing an audit.
In Wirral two offices are under threat as managers review service provision across the district.
In Flintshire, North Wales, the CAB will have to renegotiate service agreements with the local authority as it grapples with a £49,000 budget deficit.
CABs in Bebington, New Ferry, Wythenshawe, and Withington – among the most impoverished areas in the region – are also threatened with closure.
Citizens Advice North West interim regional manager Nick Bussey said: “Where a bureau implodes, as almost happened in Manchester, it is always down to poor management and trustees, and an inability to adapt. Some of our North West managers are simply not up to the job.
Thrive
“We are now moving away from a situation where CAB are handed grants to one where they will tender aggressively for contracts from local authorities and primary care trusts. Bureaux which saw this coming and prepared themselves will thrive, while others will fail.”
Politicians are calling for a wide-ranging review of the way CAB services are funded. Wirral South MP Ben Chapman said: “The question is one of core funding and sustainability, and about the regional and national structures of Citizens Advice itself. It provides a crucial impartial service, particularly in deprived areas with high debt levels, and we need to protect it for the future. But we need to urgently examine how the service is funded and look at how it is structured to safeguard it for the future.”
The North West has 56 CABs which operate as separate charities and are members of the national umbrella group.
All depend on local authority funding, grants from the Legal Services Commission and cash from the Lottery and similar funds. Volunteers make up about 80 per cent of staff and advice is free and impartial. Forty-six have closed in the last decade under restructuring and now more services are under threat as reduced grants push some bureaux into a financial crisis of their own.
The problems have emerged against a background of spiralling debt, which is forcing thousands more clients to turn to CAB. Consumer borrowing has passed £1 trillion, while the average British resident owes more than £26,000, including mortgage debt.
In one case, advisors in Wigan supported a man whose £1,800 home improvement loan spiralled to £14,400 after he lost his job and struggled to meet repayments. Some clients are so desperate they threaten suicide in front of counsellors.
From next year, the Department for Trade and Industry will fund dozens of extra debt advisors, to be employed by CABs across the North West. But many bureaux only went for the contract after being assured full costs would be factored in and that they would not be left out of pocket and in even worse financial difficulties.
Salli Edwards, chief executive of Flintshire CAB, said: “The danger is that if core funding from local authorities and other sources continues to be reduced like this, there will be no one to deliver the services. If many bureaux are forced to close, what will be left?”
Cuts made last year in Preston were only reversed when councillors re-instated £22,000 of funding. South Lakes CAB has also found itself in difficulties as local authority funds were cut.
Critics claim the fragmented set-up of CABs is inefficient and unaccountable. Councillors in Fylde slashed funding when two bureaux refused to merge, and core funders are pushing offices across the region to reorganise as a condition of support. Cumbria County Council has promised to raise funding for financial advice by £15,000 to £329,000 in 2008 but expects a county-wide presence to be established.
CAB managers warn a system of one-year grants is creating instability and say a balance must be struck between efficiency and meeting community needs.
North-West Enquirer
Myvesta UK IVA Advice
Services are under threat or are being scaled down amid calls by politicians and councillors for a more efficient and organised service.
In Manchester the city centre CAB came close to disintegrating after weak management left a gaping hole in its finances.
Its telephone counselling service now looks set to be suspended and the office shut down with services being relocated around the Manchester area.
In Lytham St Annes a bureau was closed down after failing an audit.
In Wirral two offices are under threat as managers review service provision across the district.
In Flintshire, North Wales, the CAB will have to renegotiate service agreements with the local authority as it grapples with a £49,000 budget deficit.
CABs in Bebington, New Ferry, Wythenshawe, and Withington – among the most impoverished areas in the region – are also threatened with closure.
Citizens Advice North West interim regional manager Nick Bussey said: “Where a bureau implodes, as almost happened in Manchester, it is always down to poor management and trustees, and an inability to adapt. Some of our North West managers are simply not up to the job.
Thrive
“We are now moving away from a situation where CAB are handed grants to one where they will tender aggressively for contracts from local authorities and primary care trusts. Bureaux which saw this coming and prepared themselves will thrive, while others will fail.”
Politicians are calling for a wide-ranging review of the way CAB services are funded. Wirral South MP Ben Chapman said: “The question is one of core funding and sustainability, and about the regional and national structures of Citizens Advice itself. It provides a crucial impartial service, particularly in deprived areas with high debt levels, and we need to protect it for the future. But we need to urgently examine how the service is funded and look at how it is structured to safeguard it for the future.”
The North West has 56 CABs which operate as separate charities and are members of the national umbrella group.
All depend on local authority funding, grants from the Legal Services Commission and cash from the Lottery and similar funds. Volunteers make up about 80 per cent of staff and advice is free and impartial. Forty-six have closed in the last decade under restructuring and now more services are under threat as reduced grants push some bureaux into a financial crisis of their own.
The problems have emerged against a background of spiralling debt, which is forcing thousands more clients to turn to CAB. Consumer borrowing has passed £1 trillion, while the average British resident owes more than £26,000, including mortgage debt.
In one case, advisors in Wigan supported a man whose £1,800 home improvement loan spiralled to £14,400 after he lost his job and struggled to meet repayments. Some clients are so desperate they threaten suicide in front of counsellors.
From next year, the Department for Trade and Industry will fund dozens of extra debt advisors, to be employed by CABs across the North West. But many bureaux only went for the contract after being assured full costs would be factored in and that they would not be left out of pocket and in even worse financial difficulties.
Salli Edwards, chief executive of Flintshire CAB, said: “The danger is that if core funding from local authorities and other sources continues to be reduced like this, there will be no one to deliver the services. If many bureaux are forced to close, what will be left?”
Cuts made last year in Preston were only reversed when councillors re-instated £22,000 of funding. South Lakes CAB has also found itself in difficulties as local authority funds were cut.
Critics claim the fragmented set-up of CABs is inefficient and unaccountable. Councillors in Fylde slashed funding when two bureaux refused to merge, and core funders are pushing offices across the region to reorganise as a condition of support. Cumbria County Council has promised to raise funding for financial advice by £15,000 to £329,000 in 2008 but expects a county-wide presence to be established.
CAB managers warn a system of one-year grants is creating instability and say a balance must be struck between efficiency and meeting community needs.
North-West Enquirer
Myvesta UK IVA Advice
posted by Your Friends @ Myvesta.org.uk at
8/22/2006 09:10:00 pm
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