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Kentish Town Citizens Advice Bureau |
Lawyers speak out against end of CAB advice sessions
Lifeline Citizens Advice Bureau set to become part of call centre
LAWYERS have voiced strong objections to proposals to end face-to-face sessions at the Citizens Advice Bureau in Kentish Town.
The service, which helps hundreds of Camden’s most vulnerable people with welfare and debt advice each week, is expected to be transformed into a call centre following an internal review.
Under the proposals, trained staff will be replaced by a fleet of volunteers – mostly solicitors – who will take calls and refer clients for appointments in Camden’s two other bureaux in Kilburn and Holborn.
Legal Aid “Barrister of the Year” Robert Latham, of Doughty Street Chambers, said: “Trained volunteers may be able to offer tea and sympathy, but not the quality advice necessary to keep those affected by the recession in their homes, to retain their jobs, or to access welfare benefits.
“The sad reality is that this Tory council is not interested in high-quality public services. What they destroy during their four-year tenure in Camden will take much longer to rebuild.”
The cuts follow changes to funding packages the service receives from the Town Hall and other bodies.
Former Camden Council leader Raj Chada, a solicitor at Hodge Jones and Allen, said: “At a time of recession and when commercial firms are pulling out of Legal Aid, there is a huge premium on properly funded local non-profit advice services. How has a progressive borough like Camden got to this state?”
Ismail Einashe, who has used the service, said: “This news is even more shocking considering the numbers of people that queue on Kentish Town Road every day.
“It is a little wonder they queue, I mean just look at the crisis ordinary people are facing across the borough, over mounting debts, benefit problems and housing issues.”
A spokesman for CAB, the private company that runs advice services in Camden, said: “Some redundancies across Camden CAB’s three constituent bureaux in Kentish Town, Holborn and Kilburn may result from this process, but there are currently no plans to close down offices and so the focus of the restructuring will be on ensuring on-going services to clients.” |
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