Funding cuts to Citizens Advice “ridiculous”

Cllr Graham Eyre (Ash South & Tongham), has made a splash this week by publicly calling the proposals to cut funding for Citizens Advice and other charities as “ridiculous“. Guildford Borough Council (GBC) is considering cutting funds to the Guildford and Ash branches from £300,000 a year to £250,000 by 2023/24. The Ash and Guildford branches of Citizens advice were considering a merger to save money, following previous cuts by GBC. Some now fear that this latest wave of proposed cutbacks will severely impact the charity’s ability to provides services to those who are in the most need of support.

Challenging financial position

GBC has stated within a report that it is within a “challenging financial position” and is also proposing other cutbacks across many of its services. Several options were proposed, including;

A: Maintaining current funding
B: Cutting all funding
C: Reducing funding in phases or drastically
D: Finding an alternative way to provide a similar service in-house

Cllr Graham Eyre represents the GBC on the board of trustees for Ash Citizens Advice spoke on behalf of both branches has publicly stated that “The options in the document before us are ridiculous. Only A is practical (to maintain current funding levels) and B (making cuts) would increase the bureaus’ projected deficits. The remainder are just window dressing.”

A decision has yet to be reached by GBC, which will follow further investigations into the bureaus.

How is Ash Citizens Advice funded?

Citizens Advice Ash is an independent local charity, and it depends on local funding, mainly from Guildford Borough Council and private donations. This enables the highly trained volunteer force, who give their free time to help local people. To donate today, go to https://www.justgiving.com/ashcab