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CAB cuts
• WE write as volunteer advisers and support workers for Kilburn Citizens Advice Bureau.
We have read with interest the letter (October 8) from Councillor Andrew Marshall. We will not dispute the remarks made by Cllr Marshall. However, what he has left out of his letter is the actual plan which is being put through at the current time in CABs in Camden.
This plan will demote managers working in bureau while at the same time creating a new paid tier of management not connected directly with the delivery of the front line service. In addition, it will cut back by 50 per cent both the management and the paid staff who currently support volunteers and share case work with them in the bureau.
While these cuts in paid experienced staff take place there is to be a tripling of the number of new, untrained, volunteers entering into the service with no plan as to how they will be supported in giving advice. We volunteers were never informed that this was in the offing when we joined the CAB service. The working of the front line service, which is under continuous heavy demand from many people in need, relies on a good mix of experience alongside new trainees.
To lose this makes a bureau unworkable unless the flow of callers is radically reduced (for example, limits on tickets handed out, etc.).
The question at issue therefore is not the generous amount of money given by Camden but how that money is used to provide a quality service in both Kilburn and Kentish Town.
We are concerned for the future of CCAB and particularly fearful for all the clients who rely on bureau support.
VALERIE ADAMS, HASSAN ADEN, ROSANNA ARUTA, KEVIN BARTLEY, SALLY CHERUBINI, MERVYN CROSSICK, EILEEN DAVEY, ILONA EDONOGIE, FREDDIE GRAYS, CAROLYN GOLDHILL, NICOLA LASSADOS, LINDA LEW, VALDETTE PALMER, VERA PECK, SUSHILA SNELL, CATHERINE UTLEY, CHARLOTTE WISEMAN
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