Letters CAB needs support of council
Sir - Once again I find it necessary to write in support of the Goole Citizens' Advice Bureau which on this occasion is under fire from the body that should perhaps be its main supporter, namely Goole Town Council.
The C.A.B. is a registered charity and will therefore be, as is the registered charity that I represent locally, monitored by the Charities Commission and its finances will be audited to ensure that the donated monies it survives on are properly spent and used for the purpose for which it is intended.
I would therefore suggest that if Goole Town Council have any concerns about the manner in which the C.A.B. is run it should raise the matter with that body before airing its views in the local press. I do feel it is rather ironic that the Council, which once paid its Town Clerk more money that a Cabinet Minister and has singularly failed to date to recover any of it, should feel competent to advise any other organisation how to spend its money.
I have stated before in your columns that the C.A.B. is regarded as the gold standard organisation for undertaking legal, financial and benefits work by all the charitable institutions with which I have dealings. That there is a need for such an organisation in the town and surrounding area is proved by the council's own figure of fifteen people in a queue outside on a Monday morning. My colleagues and I are sometimes amazed at the results that the C.A.B. achieve for the clients that we direct to them. Ranging from simply having the know-how to successfully complete an application form for a benefit like Attendance Allowance when all previous attempts by others have failed, to preventing an eviction from a home having been given less that 24 hours notice by the client are but some examples.
My own organisation has had its problems with office accommodation which thankfully have been solved in such a way that several thousands of pounds annually that went on rent, power etc is now spent on our clients instead. As far I can deduce action to overcome the complaints of the Town Council would carry a financial penalty for the C.A.B. as well as taking up vital time for the staff. So surely if the Council is serious in its demands for these matters to be addressed it should increase its annual grant rather than stop it altogether. In the meantime I would suggest that the results achieved for clients are more important that the surroundings in which the work takes place. All charities have to exist on tight financial constraints and do not have the luxury of increasing the Council Tax precept when money is becoming short.
Finally, if the Council is successful in closing down the C.A.B. it would be interesting to know with what they would replace it. They could set up their own department to undertake the work of the C.A.B. but I think it would cost a lot more that £12,000 per year.
Or the councillors themselves could voluntarily take on the work that the C.A.B. does for their constituents. I wonder how much success they would have?
Or could this be the opening shots in an underhand campaign to replace the C.A.B. in Goole with a private company, as is already happening in Hull?
M.R. Rogers
(Divisional Secretary,
Goole and Howden Division
East Yorkshire Branch,
SSAFA Forces Help)
Registered Charity No. 210760
Published on 8th May 2008 in Letters.
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