CABs too valuable to park

There’s an old saying: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. In the last financial year, the country’s Citizens Advice Bureaus (CABs) fielded 526,034 inquiries. That was up from

514,153 three years earlier.

Of that number, 339,984 were people walking in to a CAB office, an increase on

332,835 in the 2014 financial year. The rest were by phone or online.

Those are impressive numbers, even if they involve multiple inquiries by some of the people seeking advice.

They indicate a service that is valued, working and more popular and needed than ever.

Yet in many parts of the country, CABs are under threat because of changes to funding models.

Wellington’s five CABs – collectively called WELCAB – receive $210,787 a year from the city council; that’s 85 per cent of their funding, with various government agencies topping up the rest through the organisation’s national body.

The council has recommended offering just $103,500 for the next six months; after that, all bets are off.

Just a little north, Porirua City Council ended its contract with CAB, inviting it instead to apply for funding through the insecure Long-Term Plan process. It was a similar story in Gisborne and Christchurch, where local bodies cut funding, meaning a reduction in services despite a national increase in demand.

In the capital city, the argument appears to be that WELCAB is not targeting high-need areas and lacks relevance for younger clients, with maybe too much reliance on bricks and mortar.

But the numbers paint a different story. In the last financial year there were 31,196 inquiries in the capital CABs. Those people sought help with a variety of issues, including residential tenancy disputes, employment contracts, immigration hassles, divorce and custody battles, and the odd flatting stoush.

The vast majority – 21,847 – involved people walking into an office, a substantial increase on the 18,520 in 2014. The rest either rang the CAB 0800 number or contacted them online. And most of them were young: figures show the biggest group was aged 20-29, with the next largest group aged between 30 and 39. Some were happy with a single piece of advice; others needed the kind of in-depth advocacy they would not be able to afford if they went elsewhere.

Without CABs, where would these people go? Would they inundate local body offices and government agencies? Would they simply struggle on without assistance, potentially making the situation worse for themselves and others? That could undermine the wellbeing of the individual and that of wider society, which is not a good look given the progress of the Local Government (Community Well-being) Amendment Bill and its stated aims ‘‘to promote the social, economic, environmental, and cultural well-being of communities’’.

Wellington City Council and other local bodies would be better following the example of Auckland Council, which considers CABs strategic partners in the delivery of democracy in the region. That means non-contestable funding and promotion of the organisation’s services within the council.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Find ways to make it even better.