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West Berkshire Citizens Advice Bureau
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Bartholomew St 08444 779980 Annual Report 2007 / 08 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. CAB Workload 8385 clients sought help from West Berkshire Citizens Advice Bureau Volunteers gave 17,535 free advice hours Advisers helped with over 12,528 enquiries 3,375 third parties were contacted on clients' behalf 4 people completed a 9 month adviser training course and a further 3 started it More than 1200 client enquiries were answered by our Carers Advice Service We also achieved: Quality of Advice assessed as being in the top 10% of Bureaux in the country Renegotiated new three year funding agreement with West Berkshire Council Incorporation of West Berkshire Citizens Advice Bureau 100% of all staff trained and competent to use electronic case recording system The design and initial implementation of a new database of local organisations Chairman's Report 2007 - 2008 This past year has been another very satisfactory one for the Bureau. A new Board of Trustees, including a number of New Trustees who had had no previous experience of Information & Advice Services, has taken up the reins of Governance and is working hard to maintain and improve the financial and physical environment for those volunteers and staff who really provide the service to the public. It does not take a new Trustee long to recognise the quality of service that Advisors and their Supervisors deliver face to face with clients or on the telephone every week of the year. It still surprises me how often I meet people who don't know what a CABx does. But if you have real problems you soon find out about us, and invariably you will be helped, often well beyond your expectations. Sadly there is little diminution in the number of clients needing the Bureau's help and it is evident that their problems are often increasingly complex and time consuming. That is the challenge to the Trustees; how does the Bureau help more people when our premises are so inadequate and we struggle to fund those of our services, like Outreach, that are amongst the most important because they often offer the only lifeline to people in the more inaccessible parts of West Berkshire? Many problems cannot be solved on the telephone even if you can get through to us! And yes, we are even trying to deal with even more calls! Although we have not received enough core funding to support our Outreach work or our highly valued Social Policy work Trustees have budgeted carefully and ensured tight financial control so that 'underspends' currently keep these services running on a year to year basis. If we could find some new sponsors, perhaps someone who hasn't previously heard of CABx, we could guarantee that their money would be well spent. There can be few organisations where exceptionally well trained volunteers deliver such a professional service. This is real value for money. In concluding this brief Report, once again I want to congratulate all those responsible for the success of the Bureau, and in particular the volunteers and their supervisors, for their continued dedication and energy. I also want to thank my fellow Board Members for their readiness to help with whatever is asked of them as well as for their invaluable contributions at Meetings. One Trustee, Prue Murdoch, retires from the Board this year after 20 years on it including two long periods as its Chair. Her service to the Board and the Bureau has been truly outstanding and she will be sorely missed. Anthony Allen |