As readers know, I have a very high regard for, and a close working relationship with, Citizens Advice Woking.

Every week, I witness the vital work that Citizens Advice Woking does to support the vulnerable in our borough.

It is therefore heartbreaking to see Woking Borough Council taking away all the grant funding from Citizens Advice Woking (CAW).

I am determined to keep questioning this decision by the council, and equally determined to try to help CAW in whatever way I can to keep their key services going.

In a question in the Commons to the Prime Minister, I talked about the vital need to protect the vulnerable in Woking. No organisation does more to help the vulnerable in Woking than Citizens Advice. 

I have witnessed first hand the importance and positive impact that CAW has for so many when they seek out advice in their hour of need. Virtually every week, my Parliamentary assistants and I liaise with CAW with regard to important casework from local individuals who have sought the advice of their MP and CAW.

I recently brought the Secretary of State for the Department for Work and Pensions to CAW to discuss and highlight their brilliant work. 

And I have attended and spoken at virtually every AGM of CAW since I was first elected as Woking’s MP in 2010.

From all that I know, it is clear that Citizens Advice and its volunteers and staff go above and beyond to support residents, and this is why I remain bitterly disappointed at Woking council’s decision to remove the core grant funding from CAW.

Last week, I joined the volunteers of CAW in their protest outside the council offices. 

I then attended and observed the five-and-a-half hour council budget meeting, hearing the thoughts and positions of the various councillors.

In my very first column in the News & Mail last September, I raised these same key concerns and said that “Given that CAW currently help more than 6,000 clients a year, including those seeking housing and facing homelessness – which are statutory duties of the council – I think there’s a very real danger our council will not be able to cope properly with all those enquiries and casework if CAW is no longer there to support.”

Last week in this newspaper, I said that “As I understand it, Woking council have not carried out sufficient analysis to assess the impact on vulnerable residents of the closure of Citizens Advice or, at the very least, the impact of a massive reduction in its services.”

The council still have not provided a plan as it how it will accommodate such extra demand on its own services.

The one positive is that the council will continue to pass on money to CAW from government-funded schemes such as the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, the Homelessness Prevention Grant, and the refugee support schemes.

However, these funds are ring-fenced for certain activities and cannot be used by CAW to support different demands and casework from vulnerable residents.  

Listening to the council’s budget meeting from the gallery, I was disappointed to hear attempts at cheap party-political point-scoring by members of the Liberal Democrat executive of the council. 

Time and time again residents tell me that they want their local council and local councillors to drop party politics and actually deliver for residents.

As your MP, I will continue to work with the team at Citizens Advice Woking to try to ensure that their service can remain open, and that they are still able to help the vulnerable as they have done so effectively over so many years.