Advice centre under threat (From The Oxford Times)

Advice centre under threat

7:00pm Saturday 31st July 2010 in

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A CHARITY which helps people who are at risk of losing their homes has warned it could close if county council funding is withdrawn.

The Rose Hill and Donnington Advice Centre, which worked with more than 1,200 people last year, gets about 13 per cent of its income from Oxfordshire County Council.

However, it has been told that a policy change, brought about by impending cuts, means its grant could be withdrawn from April next year.

The council has already agreed £13m of spending cuts this year – but plans to make another £203m of saving over the next five years.

The chairman of the centre’s trustees, Dr Patrick Lawrence, made the closure warning in an open letter to county council leader Keith Mitchell.

He said: “Is it appropriate for the council to withhold this small sum, when it allows us to achieve so much for needful people?

“Lacking this small sum may force us to close our service to our communities, some of whom are among the 20 per cent most deprived areas in England.”

Dr Lawrence, from Iffley, estimated the centre, which has given free advice for 20 years, saved its clients about £115,000 last year.

It operates drop-in services on weekday mornings at its premises in Ashurst Way, Rose Hill, on weekday mornings.

People can walk in off the street and get free advice if they fear their homes are at risk of being repossessed.

Dr Lawrence’s letter to Mr Mitchell continued: “The city council funds some 60 per cent of our costs, and the county council about 13 per cent.

“Running costs amount to slightly more than £100,000 a year.

“To stay afloat, we depend on gifts and our own many fundraising events. We struggle, and it would be preferable to expand our services in these hard times.

“Last autumn we were warned of a change of policy within your council. The effect could, apparently, be no county grant after April 2011.

“Do your policy makers not appreciate the savings we make within your budget? Is it not a good return?”

Dr Lawrence said that the centre’s services provided important help to vulnerable people in the community.

He added: “Such relief to individuals, of course, has a welcome benefit for the whole family and, indeed, the local economy.

“With their worries abated, the family’s welfare is enhanced.

“Where we can stay an eviction, you don’t have the pain and expense of splitting up a family, arranging for the city to rehouse adults, finding shelter for the children, getting to work from a new house and making children go to unfamiliar schools.”

Council spokesman Louise Mendonca said: “We have a commitment to helping to maintain good advice services and we are reviewing a number of strategies but no decisions have been made.”