CAB staff plead for more cash (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

CAB staff plead for more cash

CAB manager Sarah CardySTAFF from west Wiltshire's cash-strapped Citizen's Advice Bureau turned out in force at a council meeting to plead for more funds.

The west Wiltshire CAB, a registered charity, is faced with a funding shortfall that has sunk it into deficit.

Most of its funding comes from Wiltshire County Council and West Wiltshire District Council but last year it projected a deficit of £16,000.

Last year the district council provided £57,000 but the CAB needs at least £64,000 to cover their shortfall for the next financial year.

The Warminster branch of the CAB was earmarked last month for closure if the books cannot be balanced.

Staff members and volunteers attended a meeting of the council's cabinet last Wednesday to plead for more money, but no indication was given about whether this would be available from the district council, which is also facing a funding crisis.

At the meeting, CAB manager Sarah Cardy said: "We are concerned about where we are going for the future. I do recognise that the position of the district council is very difficult this year and there have been some difficult decisions to make.

"We also have these problems about trying to face what we are going to do and where to make cuts and wanting to have certainty for the future.

"There is a bottom line that we cannot fall below. If we cut too far effectively the organisation disappears."

The CAB, which was set up afresh four years ago, dealt with 12,000 inquiries last year, ranging from housing concerns to debt problems and welfare benefits.

The budget for the next financial year has not been set but will be put to the vote on February 23.

District council leader Tony Phillips hopes parish and town councils can be encouraged to increase funds.

Trowbridge and Melksham Town Councils have both already increased their grants to the CAB.

County and district councillor Jeff Osborn said: "The district council should stop trying to obscure this essential issue and be honest and open enough to increase its contribution to the CAB as Trowbridge Town Council has had the good sense to do."

Cllr Duncan Hames said he thinks the CAB faces an unfair insecurity about its future with members not making it clear whether funding would be increased or cut.

He said: "This is no way to treat our partners like the CAB."

Praising the work of the CAB, Cllr Jeff Osborn said: "It provides a most important role for some of the most vulnerable people in our community. Without the CAB there would be more poverty, homelessness and a general sense of hopelessness for a significant number of local people."