Issue - meetings

The Portfolio Holder for Leisure & Culture introduced the report and advised that all the Citizens Advice bureaux across Somerset had their budgets cut by 100% which represented a loss of £419,000.  She noted the valuable work which they undertook on behalf of the County’s vulnerable residents and she introduced Angela Kerr, their Chief Executive to speak in support of the recommendations.

The Chief Executive of Citizens Advice South Somerset (CASS) said she appreciated the support of the District Council and it had been helpful to discuss their funding with officers and Councillors.  She said the loss of core funding was sudden but not unexpected but regretted the risk of the severed relationship with the County Council.  She said the use of modern technology was helping their efficiency together with collaboration with other Citizens Advice bureaux across Somerset to share staffing. She concluded that it would be a challenge to maintain their outreach work but she was bid writing for additional funding and was confident the service would be maintained during 2019/20.

During discussion, Members expressed their support for Citizens Advice South Somerset and the valuable services they provided to vulnerable residents.

It was noted that the grant funding was part of the draft budget to be proposed to Council at Agenda item 13 and the recommendation was amended to reflect this. Members fully supported the additional one-off financial contribution for the year 2019/20 of up to £32,000 to Citizens Advice South Somerset (CASS) and agreed to receive a further report by December 2019 with proposals for consolidating and securing the long-term future of CASS.