The Big Lottery Fund has announced the recipients of £67m of funding provided equally by BIG and the Cabinet Office to support and improve advice services in England, with almost half of Citizens Advice Bureaux (CABs) benefiting.

The Advice Services Fund, administered by BIG, was launched in 2012 to provide transition funding of £50,000 to £350,000 to organisations willing to work in partnership to improve local services. 

Of the 226 awards made, 184 were to CABs, totalling just over £54m. The recipients represent almost half of the 382 registered bureaux charities.

The new funding comes as legal aid cuts brought in by the coalition government have threatened services up and down the country, with a number of bureaux advising they would have to make specialist staff redundant. It was confirmed by the national charity Citizens Advice that cuts of £19m would be made to the bureaux from 1 April, providing just £3m in legal aid funding, down from £22m.

Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice welcomed the advice services funding announcement, made yesterday: "With demand for advice higher than ever, this one-off funding will help bureaux up and down the country find innovative new ways of learning from each other, joining up services and finding ways of increasing sustainability through collaboration with local partners like Age UK, Shelter and law centres.

"At the heart of our service are over 22,000 volunteers who devote their time and expertise for free, week after week to advise people who are struggling to pay their bills, feed their family and feel they have nowhere else to turn. 

"Citizens Advice Bureaux are working hard to find new ways to fund and deliver the important support we provide in communities across Britain. Our exceptional volunteers will continue to provide professional, empathetic support despite the significant pressures they are facing," said Guy.