Your campaign to highlight the role of Citizens Advice and their partners is wholeheartedly welcomed by all in the voluntary advice sector (Guardian and Observer charity appeal 2022, 9 December). It is drawing much-needed attention to the role quietly played by advice agencies in helping people to address the problems they face on a daily basis. We send our thanks to you and your readers.
At a recent meeting of our members (Advice Services Alliance is the sector-wide umbrella body for the advice sector – Citizens Advice is one member), all reported an increase in clients facing debt, housing and benefits problems, with every case complex and difficult to resolve. Inevitably, staff are stressed and demoralised, and as volunteers leave and paid staff move to better-paid jobs, the sector is experiencing a severe skills drain.
Successive funding cuts to local authorities’ core funding – triggered by austerity and exacerbated by poor commissioning practices – have created an impossible dilemma for services.
Desperate clients are becoming more frustrated with services signposted as a source of help.
The government’s local authority settlement will hit desks on 20 December and we urge everyone who cares about people facing extreme hardship to write to their local councillors in support of our services. We have heard of many councils planning to completely cut funding to advice, while others salami-slice the service to the bone. Without these local sources of help, more people will inevitably experience avoidable life-altering consequences.
Lindsey Poole
Director, Advice Services Alliance
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