A MASSIVE shake-up of Waverley's Citizens Advice Bureaux looks likely following the publication of a feasibility report. A merging of the management of the borough's vital advice service is on the cards in a bid to slash costs and improve efficiency. On Monday, members of Waverley Borough Council's community overview and scrutiny committee learned the results of a special report into 'merging' the management structure of the borough's CAB. The committee heard that Waverley's four CABs have no long-term future unless radical changes are implemented. The major source of funding from CAB comes from local council grants but the failure to increase the grants in line with inflation has forced the bureaux into a mini-funding crisis. Farnham is budgeting for a £14,000 deficit in the current financial year. One of the problems facing the bureaux is the difficulty with attracting grant funding. In the current financial year Waverley Borough Council is expected to hand over a total of £212,337 to support the CAB, while Farnham Town Council gave the local branch a £28,000 grant. However tight budgets are increasingly making it difficult for councils to support the facilities which has contributed towards the financial problems. On top of this, rental costs and other costs of the offices vary with Godalming picking up a £30,000 bill, Farnham a £22,000 bill, Haslemere paying £15,000 and Cranleigh paying £8,500. "Funding from Waverley Borough Council has eroded in real terms in recent years with grants not being linked to inflation," the report said. "The service overall is not sustainable in the short-term on income alone but providing the status quo is maintained can, by drawing on reserves, be sustained in the medium term. It is not sustainable in the long term." The special report recommended a list of measures to use the CAB's cash more efficiently while providing a better service. "The CAB service now operates in an environment within which it must prove its worth, embrace innovation and plan for the future." Top of the list is for the CAB to be merged with one trustee board, one overall manager and three supervisors - a system which has been successful in other parts of the country. A "group" action plan could then be implemented, volunteers and staff could be recruited and trained centrally and the four offices would be working much closer together and be more pro-active. "In line with the rest of the country, the Waverley CAB are facing an ever more competitive environment with increasing demands being made on limited budgets by the voluntary and community sectors overall," the report said. "If the CAB is to remain viable, competitive and sustainable it is important that it is able to demonstrate that its own strategy complements and contributes to its local authority's strategic priorities and that it can contribute effectively at a strategic level. "It is equally important that a CAB is able to demonstrate that it works closely with with other agencies, does not replicate services and can build productive relationships at both strategic and operational levels."
