Hundreds back bid to save ‘ crucial services’ from closing down
HUNDREDS of people have pledged their support to save five of Glasgow’s Citizens Advice Bureaux from closing down.
In a “devastating blow” to the city, five of the eight bureaux could close following potential cuts by Glasgow City Council.
Facing closure are Glasgow Central, Bridgeton, Easterhouse, Parkhead and Castlemilk CABs.
The other three – Drumchapel, Pollok, and Glasgow North West – are also facing funding cuts, which would likely take effect on October 1, as the furlough scheme is set to end.
A petition, signed by more than 1,600 people as the Glasgow Times went to press, states that the closures would “devastate our city’s poorest and most vulnerable”.
One person wrote: “Advice Bureaux are indispensable at any given time, but in the grip of a global pandemic, they are needed more than ever.
“To defund free access to justice, empowerment, rights, representation and advocacy is not only an attack on working class communities, but an attack on a free and open society.”
Another added: “These services are vital to Glaswegians. They are often the only assistance available to citizens in need of dire help.”
Meanwhile,
Rory
Mair
CBE,
Citizens Advice Scotland chair, claimed that cutting the services will just increase the pressure on council services, and vulnerable people will fall through the net.
He said: “These cuts are short- sighted and will seriously damage the prospects of people in the city just as we enter a period of huge economic uncertainty.
“Local bureaux have sought to engage with the council through this process and have been met with silence. The process here once again seems to have put an algorithm above the needs of real people. We understand that these proposals have not yet been seen by councillors, so we are pleading with Glasgow City Councillors to see sense and not implement these proposed cuts.
“The long- term damage they would do would be simply devastating for the poorest people in our communities.”
Last year, the Citizens Advice network in Scotland unlocked £ 130million in gains for people with top issues being social security, debt, employment and housing.
And even during the on going Covid- 19 pandemic, staff have continued to provide advice remotely, helping thousands of people struggling with the uncertainty of lockdown.
In Glasgow, for every £ 1 of funding for core advice services enables £ 13.98 of gains for clients.