Advice bureau under pressure
MORE than 13,000 people – 9,144 of them new clients – turned to Maidstone Citizen’s Advice Bureau for help in the year to April. Kent’s largest CAB saw slightly fewer people than the previous year, but the bureau found the number and com- plexity of problems – some 56,000 – increased. The most common involved benefits and tax credits (34%); debt (18%); relationships (11%); legal (10%); and em- ployment and housing (9% each). Other problems were with consumer goods and serv- ices, education, health, immi- gration, tax and utilities. It follows an equally difficult financial year for the CAB in
Jobs support THE harsh economic climate meant there was no fall in the number of clients approaching the CAB with issues regarding dismissals and wages. Employment adviser Tania
Weber said: “So far this year, we have obtained about £150,000 compensation for our clients, as well as enabling the reinstatement or retention of several others. “The number of women dis- missed appears to have in- creased this year, and a worrying proportion have been dismissedwhile pregnant or on maternity leave, which suggests some employers are discriminating against them.”
No concert hall MUSIC fans will not get a con- cert hall in Maidstone any time soon, the council’s ruling party has warned. Tory leader Chris Garland
was responding to an idea put forward by Lib Dem councillor David Pickett for a performance house at Lockmeadow. Cllr Garland said: “We would
be looking at a price tag of some £30million plus and the coun- cil simply hasn’t got that kind of money at this time and, even if it had, there are things far higher on the priority list.”
Driving ban AN Aylesford man has lost his licence after drink-driving. Samuel Jacques (24), of Maple Close, Larkfield, had 54 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath when police stopped his Ford Focus in New Cut, Chatham, on Au- gust 21. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes. He was disqualified from driving for 36 months and fined £150 at Medway Magistrates’ Court, and ordered to pay £50 costs and a £20 victim sur- charge.
12 Malling
Maidstone, which faced a major cut in funding that led to redundancies and reduced hours for some paid staff. Only a lottery grant will
allow it to maintain a small highly-specialised advice team for borough residents in the key areas of debt management, ben- efits, employment and housing. In the meantime, the lottery transition money, which lasts two years, will be used to give further specialist training to all volunteer frontline staff. CAB also receives a core grant from Maidstone Council. Chief executive Bonny Mal-
hotra said: “We will want to keep our specialist salaried team, but we will have to look elsewhere for the money.”
the CAB’s annual report, and for this, chairman Sir Michael Buckley praised the bureau team. He said: “Of clients surveyed,
97% said they were happy with the service they received [3% did not respond]; simi- larly, 97% that they would rec- ommend the bureau to others [3% did not respond]. “This is strong testimony to
Bonny Malhotra Advisors offered more help
last year to people at home, at outreach posts and by placing assessors at the Maidstone Gateway centre, according to
Benefit changes hit home
IN the last financial year,Maid- stone CAB saw a huge increase in clients needing advice. A lot of this involved em- ployment and support al- lowances, following the radical shake-up of the benefit system. “The introduction of univer-
sal credit and personal inde- pendence payments will no doubt only increase the num- bers of clients accessing our service for advice as these ben- efits are introduced,” the CAB reported at its annual meeting. “As people’s in- and out-of-
work benefits are stopped, re- duced and/or frozen, this will have a knock-on effect and
many people will find they are unable to meet their weekly living expenditure. “This will mean that the bu-
reau will see an increase in en- quiries relating to debt and housing issues. “The introduction of the bed-
room tax and a reduction in the amount of help people can re- ceive towards their council tax has already brought a lot of people to our service, con- cerned that they will not be able to pay their rent, be evicted, or that they will be taken to court for council tax arrears.”
the skill and dedication with which the staff of the bureau do their work, and the trustee board, and I pay tribute to them.” Mr Malhotra added: “As long
as we have volunteers working at the CAB we will always have an open door for those who do not know where to turn.”
Help in figures In the year to April 2013, every week:
289.55 hours were spent by CAB advisers helping clients;
256 clients (or 51 a day) were seen;
156.64 hours were spent on face-to-face client work;
41.22 hours were spent advising clients on the phone;
Advisers needed 65.43 hours to write up casework.
If you would like to become a CAB advisor, call 01622 750770.
School’s bumper harvest GENEROUS families fromWateringbury Primary School celebrated a harvest service with a bumper crop of donations. The childrenpresented their gifts of fresh fruit,
vegetables and other produceduring the service at St John the Baptist Church. All the children took part in the service, singing songs and read- ing poems and prayers. Acting head teacher Chasey Crawford Usher
said: “The school’s harvest service is always a celebratory event, and it also enables us to rein- force the importance of being generous and sharing what we have with those who are less fortunate than ourselves.” Thedonations willnowbeparcelledupanddis- tributed to local care homes, food banks and homeless families.
Hospice appoints temporary chief executive He said: “The executive team kept things tick-
THE Heart of Kent Hospice has appointed a tem- porary chief executive to oversee the charity’s af- fairs. Vicki Morrey has been brought in on a tempo-
rary contract in the absence of Kate Bosley, who was seriously injured in February while cycle training in Tenerife. Kate (50) had raised over £10,000 in the past for
the hospice where she worked, by participating in long distance cycling events. After spending someweeks in intensive care in
Tenerife, Mrs Bosley was flown home to Maid- stone, where she continues to recover “at her own pace”, according to a hospice spokesman.
ing over in the short term but it was necessary to appoint an interim CEO to manage the charity in her absence and to give Kate time to recover at her own pace and in her own time until she decides to come back – if she decides to come back.” A native of Yorkshire, Kate worked at Demelza House Children’s Hospice before returning to the HOKH where she worked on the wards as a clin- ical manager after it opened in 1991. Vicki (56) has worked at several hospices around the UK, including Prospect Hospice, Swindon, London’s Trinity Hospice and St David’s Hospice, Newport, Gwent.
Have you got news for us? Phone our News Desk on 01622 734735
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