Council tells Wellington CAB change focus or lose funding

Wellington City's Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) is warning that it could go under if the council goes ahead with plans to axe funding.

It's out of community hubs like the one in Newtown that the CAB helps more than 30,000 Wellingtonians every year. But that could soon all be in jeopardy, and the service's 150 volunteers aren't happy.

"They feel their time and effort is being rubbished and they're very upset," says CAB Wellington chairman Mike Regan.

CAB usually gets a three-year grant of more than $210,000 a year. But the council says it wants to see an overhaul of its operations, including increasing its presence in under-resourced communities.

Under a recommendation going before council next week, the service would get six months more funding, during which it needs to prove it can change.

"Course it's a threat - it's a threat and it's a threat that tells us, what can we do? If they want us to change and we don't, there's no funding," Mr Regan says.

Councillor Brian Dawson says no one wants to see the service disappear, but there needs to be a conversation about its funding.

"What we've said is, 'Here are our priority areas, so here are the things that we need to focus on with our funding, and we'd like you to deliver to those outcomes.'"

CAB says it's already making changes, including opening a new clinic in Strathmore Park. But without council funds, Wellington area manager Lucy Trevelyan says the community advisory service will struggle.

"The funding we get from the council pays for part-time staff who manage all our branches. We wouldn't be able to carry that on, so there'd have to be cuts to our service."

Online petitions have already attracted thousands of signatures, which will be taken to council next week when it meets to make a decision.

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