Citizens Advice office insolvent

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A branch of the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) has been declared insolvent because it could not get funding.

The committee which runs the Cookstown and Magherafelt CAB has been wound up after Magherafelt council refused to renew its funding for the charity.

The council said it had set up a new advice service for people in the area.

A CAB service in Cookstown is still funded by Cookstown council, and managed by the CAB's Dungannon committee.

The problem started when Magherafelt council's five-year funding arrangement with its local CAB office came to an end in March.

The office remained open in the hope that further funding would be secured. In August, however, the council informed CAB that no more money was available.

The committee of the Cookstown and Magherafelt CAB then took the decision last month to voluntarily wind up the operation, with liabilities of £60,000.

A statement from CAB headquarters in Belfast said it was "disappointed that the local CAB committee and Magherafelt Council did not reach an agreement before March on the renewal of funding after March 2008."

'New, professional agency'

The statement added: "We continued to provide a service for the five months to August in the expectation that this would be possible, but were only informed by Magherafelt Council in August that it would not be continuing to fund.

"The Council has a right to allocate funding, however, the timing and nature of its decision didn't allow for an orderly transition of our business, and while we reached a settlement with Magherafelt Council for the service provided since April, the sequence of events precipitated a wider crisis."

The Magherafelt District Advice Service, which has replaced the CAB office, is funded by the council and has offices at its headquarters.

"The need was clearly there for a new professional advice agency which we are now happy to inform you has been set up and is in practice," said a statement from the service at the time of its launch.