The chief executive of Stirling’s Citizens Advice Bureau has warned of a “catastrophic” impact on the services it provides if a proposed 25 per cent cut to its local authority grant is voted through.
The organisation, which provides a range of advice and support services to those in need across Stirling, is included in Stirling Council’s ‘Big Conversation’ budget document —which outlines an array of potential savings to address a £13million shortfall.
Among those mooted in the document, which was open for the public to offer its opinions on until earlier this week, is a cut to the council’s grant support for Stirling CAB, projected to save £20,000.
However, the charity’s chief executive, Craig Anderson, said the news would come as a big blow after seeing a reduction in its support last year — and hinted at potential job losses if the cut is approved.
Mr Anderson told the Observer: “Our grant had been static for a decade and last year it was cut by ten per cent, so the latest plans are quite significant for us.
“Our enquiries for support are up 37 per cent and we supported around 11,500 people last year; those people are not coming here on good terms, we are seeing rises in food and financial insecurity and the cost-of-living crisis is still very much a thing.
“The work we do is preventative and can stop those people going to the council’s door for help and we are also highly accessible for people, meeting them in foodbanks, church halls and mental health units.
“As local authorities are digitising and centralising, we get out to Killin and Callander and a lot of the rural areas which may be left isolated without that support.
“The worst case scenario for us is if I can’t convince someone to give us more money — which is likely in the current climate — then it may potentially mean redundancies in our core group and also we would lose some services.
“It is a real domino effect of potentially catastrophic impacts.”
Mr Anderson revealed that the chief executive of Citizens Advice Scotland has already written to council chiefs pleading its case for no cuts to its funding — and also said its ethos stopped it from gaining public support from petitions and other methods.
He continued: “The consistent message we want to send out is of the community benefit provided by the CAB and what it brings to the community here in Stirling.
“We appreciate the challenging environment the council is in over its budget, but I feel as if I have to speak up on behalf of our staff and volunteers and it will cost millions to replicate the bandwidth and depth of clients we support.
“We’re ethically precluded as well from something like a petition as an organisation and it’s not something that’s open to us too much because a majority of our clients are digitally excluded and/or vulnerable so they would lack that capacity.”