Nick Hurd has promised a “short review” of the factors contributing to the growing pressure on voluntary sector advice centres.
The minister for civil society made the pledge in reply to a challenge in Parliament from Labour MP Russell Brown this week. Brown said that people in his constituency who are living with cancer and other long-term conditions “desperately need benefits advice”.
Brown went on: “It is currently provided by Macmillan Cancer Support, Citizens Advice, Welfare Rights and the Princess Royal Trust for Carers. I attended a meeting with these groups on Monday morning. Let me tell the minister that they are under real pressure to find the financial wherewithal to go forward. Surely now is the time to make sure that these organsiations have the financial support that is required to provide quality benefits advice.”
Hurd responded that he “could not agree more”, adding that when he visited his local advice centre on Friday, he had “a real sense of the strain and stress that its staff were experiencing”.
He went on to repeat an announcement that Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke made back in June, that the government had created a £20m cash fund for advice centres facing closure as a result of spending cuts.
Then he said: “There is also to be a short review to investigate what the government can do to manage levels of demand on those working in that vital sector, and how we can make life easier for them.”
CCCS: Growing personal debts add to pressure
The news comes just as national debt charity CCCS has warned that the growing financial burden facing younger people will increase the pressure on voluntary sector organisations.
A report called Debt and the generations, produced for CCCS by the Financial Inclusion Centre, paints a stark picture of the financial difficulties facing households in the 18-39 age group and warns that they face a worrying future with higher debts and fewer assets than previous generations.
Delroy Corinaldi, director of external affairs at CCCS, said that charities are key to helping people find solutions to their problems. “Making sure that consumers know they can turn to free debt charities, such as CCCS, for early advice and intervention, will be crucial in the years ahead.”
And in the summer, the Law Centres Federation claimed that 18 out of 52 not-for-profit neighbourhood advice centres in England and Wales were likely to close as a result of planned cuts to legal aid.
A spokesman for the Cabinet Office confirmed that the review was a new announcement but could not provide any further details before publication.
