If the Labour Council do not quickly provide the £120,000 to keep open the three Citizens Advice Bureaux in Northfield, Kingstanding and Tyseley, the CAB in Corporation St (Gazette Buildings), will be the only one left in Birmingham. And this one is only open on three days itself, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
Having done very successful stalls in Cotteridge and Northfield, and already having handed in a 427 name petition to the Northfield Ward Committee, Communities Against the Cuts teamed up with Birmingham Against the Cuts to hold a stall close to the Corporation St CAB today, at the Old Square.
Despite the footfall being down in that area due to the roadworks and diversion of bus routes, over a hundred names were collected in less than two hours. It was once again remarkable how many people not only knew about the CAB, but how many had used their services and spoke highly of them. Another common reaction was one of disbelief; ‘why on earth is this being cut?’ etc. Birmingham may have been dealt a bad hand when it came to the grant from central government, but if the new Labour administration presides over the slashing of essential services for the poor and desperate, what use its election victory and large majority? The money to keep the CAB open must be found from somewhere.
Setting up for business
Reblogged this on Birmingham Against The Cuts and commented:
Really important that we pressure the council to find the funding for CAB – they provide a vital service already, and with welfare cuts and reforms and cuts to legal aid, advice services in Birmingham are expected to be “overwhelmed” by casework.
Well done everyone who went along and signed the petition -we’ll be doing more in the future.
Reblogged this on Gogwit's Blog and commented:
CAB – yet another service used by people like me, like you, who don’t have corporate legal services and a secretariat to back us up. Yet another service that will be noticed when it’s gone.