Debts & Loans

A CHARITY which helps vulnerable people and those in debt is itself facing a big shortage of cash.

Ryedale Citizens Advice Bureau needs £20,000 by the end of December or it will have to cut its opening hours by almost a third in the new year.

The bureau says that is the worst thing that could happen when the credit crunch is beginning to bite locally and there is a “startling” rise in redundancies.

Bureau manager Sue Bywater said the cash deficit was due to unsuccesful funding bids leaving the service with no option but to cut its opening hours from January 2

She said: “These cuts will hit our clients and the agencies we work with throughout the district, who rely on us to provide services to vulnerable people.

“The combined impact of over-indebtedness and the startling rise in redundancies are already placing a great burden on the service.

“To meet the demand for advice we would wish to be able to increase our opening hours, not reduce them, particularly at the difficult time faced by many local residents.”

CAB provides free, confidential, independent and impartial advice and help to people across Ryedale.

Last year it helped local people resolve 11,200 problems and in the same period it raised more than £17,000 from small independent charties to help 65 families pay rent and mortgage arrears to stay in their homes.

They also helped clients get their legal entitlement to benefits worth just over £750,000 – many of whom were elderly or disabled.

And since January, 90 people have received extensive assistance to prevent homelessness – and much of that assistance is ongoing.

Judy Conn, chairman of the management committee said the bureau has 24 professionally trained volunteers who deliver 130 hours of advice a week. It would cost £145,000 a year to pay qualified staff to replace them – so that is great value for money.

She said: “Even so, we know there are many more people we could be helping at a time when we are feeling the terrible effects of the credit crunch.

“The cutbacks are very bad news for our clients, many of whom will have nowhere else to turn.”

The bureau has an action plan to try and prevent a cut in its opening hours but says it is unlikely to do so without the support of local people and organisations.

Ms Bywater added: “Any donation to our service, great or small, would help the bureau maintain the service.”