Citizens Advice Guernsey faces financial challenge

Citizens Advice is predicting its annual deficit will continue and is exploring options for future funding.

Rising costs and a drop in income are being cited as reasons Citizens Advice Guernsey ended 2022 in the red.

It made a loss of £63,520, compared to a profit of £5,797 the previous year.

It comes at a time the charity says demand for the service is "more critical than ever".

Last year it dealt with more than 11,000 enquiries, from about 4,000 different clients on issues including housing, the cost of living, and debt.

The charity said its costs went up in several areas:

• Office expenses increased by 51%

• Premises costs were up by 12%

• Salaries and insurance rose by 26%

• Recruitment and training costs went up by 70%

The end result was in 2022 the charity had to rely on its reserves.

Income was also down, partly due to the closure of its shop at The Bridge in September.

An alternative site was found the following month, and although no longer rent-free, the charity is confident it will be a good source of funding.

Citizens Advice is still predicting challenging times and repeated year-on-year deficits.

Alison Vine, fundraising member, said: "Having been relatively comfortable financially for the last decade or more, in 2022 it became apparent that our financial stability was seriously under threat and that we run the risk of eating through our reserves quite rapidly in the next year or two."

There is optimism though with Maggie Thompson, the treasurer, adding that the charity "is actively pursuing numerous funding opportunities from the public and private sectors to ensure that CAG will thrive and continue to provide its quality service to our community long into the future".

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