Petition launched in bid to halt closures

Proposed funding cuts that will close five of Glasgow’s eight Citizens Advice Bureaux will cost the city's communities millions of pounds, new analysis reveals.

Data released today shows that, since lockdown, the eight Glasgow bureaux have helped provided 35,780 pieces of advice, helping 8,866 people, with a client financial gain of over £6.4 million.

That works out to an average financial gain per client in Glasgow of £727.

Citizens Advice in Glasgow is warning that the devastating impact of the cuts, which would come into force in October, would see thousands of vulnerable people fall through the cracks.

Glasgow City Council will vote this Thursday on proposals to cut funding for advice services in the city, which would close five bureaux and drastically reduce services at the remaining three.

There has been a widespread backlash to the proposals over the weekend, with a change.org petition gaining over 3,000 signatures at the time of release.

Frank Mosson, manager of Bridgeton Citizens Advice Bureau said: “The saying goes that people make Glasgow, but these cuts would make Glasgow’s people worse off.

“CABs deliver exceptional results for the poorest and most vulnerable people in Glasgow, putting millions back into people’s pockets which are then spent in local communities.

“These proposals from Glasgow City Council would wipe out any advice provision in the east end of the city, in Castlemilk, and massively reduce provision elsewhere.

“For this to happen in the middle of a global pandemic, as the furlough scheme winds down, would be absolutely devastating for the people of Glasgow.

“There is still time for Glasgow City Council to rethink these cuts. They would do horrible damage to the most vulnerable in our society.”