Wirral Citizens Advice Bureau becomes second busiest in England and Wales

Sep 9 2009 by Matt Hurst, Birkenhead News

ACTIVITY at Wirral’s Citizen’s ŠAdvice Bureaux soared in the last year, making it the second busiest in England and Wales.

In total, 16,942 individuals with new enquiries attended between April 2008 and March 2009, leading chief executive officer, Mike Eden to describe the 9.5% leap as “quite frightening”.

Last year, Wirral Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) was calculated to be the 11th busiest centre in England and Wales.

Mike told the News: “We first noticed the increase around the turn of this year.

“The serious problems have always been around but we just seemed to be getting more and more enquiries, and they were coming from different areas of society.”

The CAB helps people resolve legal, financial and other problems by providing free, independent and confidential advice.

Wirral boasts five offices in total, based in Birkenhead, New Ferry, West Kirby and Heswall, with the head office in Wallasey.

The service is traditionally used by those on lower incomes who may be struggling with debt, or need advice on accessing benefits.

But Mike says he and his colleagues are seeing more individuals who don’t fit that profile, and bring a different set of challenges.