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West Berkshire Citizens Advice Bureau
2nd Floor, Broadway House 08444 779980 Annual Report 2009 / 10 Here are some statistics and the Chairman's Report for 2007 / 08. If you would like to be sent a full copy of the latest Annual Report please contact us. The Bureau made 8,592 client contacts during the year The Bureau made 3,279 telephone calls to clients or on behalf of clients to third parties Advisers helped with 15,224 different issues The Outreach Service accounted for 7% of the workload, helping typically the most vulnerable in our society Volunteers gave 17,722 free advice hours External audit by Citizens Advice put the Bureau in the top 10% of the country The Bureau continued opening on alternate Wednesday evenings for drop-in sessions, with two local solicitors providing pro bono sessions on these evenings Debt and Benefit advice represented 54.8% of the total workload |
Analysis of issues seen by West Berkshire CAB
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Number of Issues 2007/8 | Number of Issues 2008/9 | % change on previous year | Number of Issues 2009/10 | % change on previous year |
| Benefits | 3,130 | 3,673 | +17.3% | 4,397 | +19.7% |
| Debt | 2,908 | 3,232 | +11.1% | 3,946 | +22.1% |
| Employment | 1,663 | 2,252 | +35.4% | 2,020 | -10.3% |
| Housing | 1,108 | 989 | -10.7% | 1,047 | +5.9% |
| Relationships | 1,185 | 1,042 | -12.1% | 1,189 | +14.1% |
| Legal | 745 | 769 | +3.2% | 807 | +4.9% |
| Consumer | 306 | 323 | +5.5% | 279 | -13.6% |
| Other | 1,482 | 1,376 | -7.1% | 1,539 | +11.8% |
| Total | 12,528 | 13,656 | |
15.224 | |
The total indebtedness of clients for whom we have provided a Financial Statement rose 22% in the year to March 2010 from £4,151,969 to £5,066,149.
Chairman's Report 2008 - 2009
This last year has been a very successful one for the Bureau. We are particularly proud of the high score in the Quality of Advice Audit placing us in the top 10% of Bureaux across the country. This success is down to the excellent work of the volunteer advisers, the advice supervisors, the training officer and the Bureau Advice Manager.
I would also like to comment on the work of our Chief Executive, Bob King who will be leaving us in the next few months. Bob has been in post for almost five years and in that time has done excellent work in leading the organisation and in dealing with many challenges. He has firmly established our links with partner organisations and funders and will be leaving the organisation in a much stronger position. We are currently seeking a replacement for him and have also decided to acknowledge the excellent work done by the Bureau Advice Manager by re-grading this post.
It is important to highlight some of the key challenges we are facing in the coming years. I am writing this whilst the Chancellor is presenting his Budget and it is clear that the current economic situation will significantly impact upon the Bureau. Demands for the service are expected to rise while the funding will be increasingly under threat. The Chief Executive's report refers to the increasing numbers seeking our help and this increase is expected to continue. The cuts in public finances will also impact upon us. Although we have signed a Service Level Agreement with West Berkshire Council for the next three years they are expecting us to make savings over the period of this agreement. The economic situation also means that other potential funders are less able to help so we will have to work very hard to maintain our current level of funding over the coming years.
The Government has already told our parent organisation Citizens' Advice that its funding from government is to be cut by 11% in this financial year and, while we receive no direct funding from them, the organisation does support us, most importantly, with the advice database that all advisers refer to when helping our clients.
In response to some of these challenges the Citizens' Advice Bureaux across Berkshire have been looking at ways of working together and have formed a consortium. This does not affect the independence of the individual Bureau but does mean we will be able to talk to funding organisations that seek to offer funds for services across the County rather than just within the individual Local Authority areas. We will see what this produces but the West Berkshire CAB remains committed to offering a locally based service to the residents of West Berkshire.
We are looking forward to the move to new offices, hopefully in the autumn. While I am sure it will be a wrench to leave Bartholomew Street after so many years the new offices will offer a much better environment for our clients and staff. Also with more interview space it will allow us to increase our services when resources allow. We are grateful to the Greenham Common Trust for developing these offices and for all the help and support they have given us.
I would also like to thank all our volunteers and staff, funders, supporters and the Trustees who do so much to ensure we offer excellent services to local people. It takes all these people working together to ensure the residents of West Berkshire receive a top quality advice service.
Finally on a sad note we recently heard of the death of Prue Murdoch. Prue was a Trustee of the Bureau for over twenty years and during that time had two periods as our Chair. She was a great supporter of the CAB, as well as many other organisations, and I personally remember her for her measured, calm wisdom that she brought to the Trustee Board. She was a great supporter of the Social Policy work of the Bureau and continued with this after she left the Board. She will be greatly missed and our thoughts are with her family at this time.
Roger Winter
Chairman