Citizens Advice service welcomes council funding & looks forward to continuing to serve community

Wrexham’s Citizens Advice Service have welcomed the recent decision by Wrexham Council’s Executive Board to allow a funding grant to help the service continue.

The Council were set to cut the funding for the service, and reconsidered the decision due to a motion lodged by the Wrexham Labour group.

As we reported the meeting ended up with a political bun fight, with it noted the Labour ‘alternative budget’ had no provision for the extra funding and had included the cut, and the reconsideration and subsequent decision presented as a positive move by the administration – despite it not being on the cards without the motion.

However following the executive board meeting it was confirmed that Wrexham Citizens Advice Service will receive £25,000 and perhaps even more importantly a wider review into advice services will be taking place.

In a statement given to Wrexham.com by the Wrexham Citizens Advice Service the Trustees thanked the council “…for taking the time to consider the implications that a closure would have had on the people of Wrexham”

The Trustees also said they were ‘extremely grateful for the unstinting support’ they have received from their own volunteers, service users, and from those both inside and outside of the council.

They added: “We at Citizens Advice Wrexham are greatly heartened by the wonderful efforts made on our behalf by our supporters, all of whom recognise the value of our services and the need for independent, high quality advice to continue to be available to the community in Wrexham.”

At the council meeting there was a discussion over if the service required £25,000 or £50,000 – with Cllr Hugh Jones being clear the £25k had come out of dialogue with the Citizens Advice Service.

Clarity from the Citizens Advice Service point of view is included in the statement: “Citizens Advice Wrexham required and indeed requested £50,000, but that request was initially turned down by the Council. We have received an award of £25,000 but will now need to source more funds in order to meet the cost of continuing to deliver the open door service for this year.”

Other funding is also noted: “We have already received some donations from concerned members of the public, and a volunteer on www.justgiving.com/gwyn-evans4.

“We more confident and are now confident that our services will continue to be delivered throughout this year albeit there are plans in place to look at restructure of service delivery based on funds available. ”

“In a difficult funding environment we hope that Wrexham County Borough Council will follow through on their commitment to review advice needs in the borough and work with us to address sustainability issues.”

Chair of the trustee board told us: “We are extremely grateful to those who spoke up for Citizens Advice Wrexham.

“Your voices were heard and we are pleased to announce that we will be keeping our doors open this year thanks to new funding from the council.

“We provide independent, high quality advice to anyone who needs it and we look forward to continuing to serve the people of our community.”