Charity to crowdfund after losing council grant

Campaigners demonstrated ahead of a council meeting to discuss cuts to Citizens Advice Woking services in February

A charity has begun crowdfunding in order to continue operating due to council budget cuts.

Citizens Advice Woking (CAW) said there would be a "significant reduction" in services it can provide due to cuts by Woking Borough Council (WBC) from 1 April.

“Woking needs us and we need you,” CAW chief executive Lorraine Buchanan said.

The authority, which declared itself effectively bankrupt in June last year, declined to comment.

CAW has been providing local clients with free, impartial and confidential advice for more than 80 years.

In the past 12 months, the charity has helped more than 7,000 clients – 10 per cent of the adult population in Woking.

'Alternative funding streams'

Ms Buchanan previously said CAW had lost a grant of £189,000 for the year.

“Most of our income has previously come from WBC, but the council is in financial difficulties and has cut our core funding from 1 April,” she said.

“If we are going to continue to provide the same level of support, we need to find alternative funding streams.”

The charity has set a crowdfunding target of £100,000.

“Every little will help someone in the borough,” Ms Buchanan added.

One client said the decision to crowdfund was “heartbreaking”.

“To lose Citizens Advice in any town is a bad thing because people like myself or people worse off than me have got nowhere to go,” he said.

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