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Council axes vital welfare rights service with no consultation

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CROYDON IN CRISIS: The council cuts keep coming, as now an advice team for the poor and disabled has been deemed not to be ‘an essential service’. By STEVEN DOWNES

No benefit: council insiders have been left ‘speechless’ by the latest cuts

Thousands of Croydon’s poorest and most vulnerable seem certain to be hit by the latest cut-back at the cash-strapped council, after the decision to close down the welfare rights team.

Council staffers say they have been left “speechless” by the randomness and seemingly arbitrary nature of this latest cut.

This council team has been providing comprehensive advice and support to residents for more than 25 years. The small department provided a drop-in service (pre-covid), plus helplines for a range of common issues, including benefits claims, debt management, jobs and training.

It has been estimated that the welfare rights team helped Croydon residents to make claims to access more than £10million per year in benefits to which they are entitled.

But according to one council insider, “It has been deemed to be a non-essential service.”

They and colleagues are obviously shocked. “I’m just speechless.”

There are well-founded fears that the removal of the welfare rights advice service will see Citizens Advice Croydon and the Croydon law centre swamped with callers who are no longer able to seek help from a dedicated council team.

“No public consultation has taken place on this cut to services nor any research to see if the one Citizens Advice service centre and the law centre in the borough can cope with the massively increased demand there will be for their services,” said the source.

“Unemployment is already high in the borough, with the high street struggling badly following the collapse of the Westfield deal and the last year’s covid closures.

“The welfare rights team have consistently supported residents to access more than £10million pounds in benefits and grants each year. This supports the council’s revenue directly as the majority of this include rent and Council Tax support.

“Thousands of disabled and vulnerable residents are going to miss out, which will also impact on financial assessments for care charges.”

The closure of the welfare rights advice service follows the news that the council is to scrap its home care support equipment business. One of the first cuts that the council announced, last September,  as it nose-dived into bankruptcy was a 20 per cent cut to the adult services budget.

Inside Croydon approached both Citizens Advice and the Croydon law centre, but neither were available for comment by the time of publication.


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