Charity needs to double its funding to break even

Citizens Advice in Torridge, North, Mid and West Devon has said it needs to double its funding "just to break even".

North Devon Council's policy development committee has recommended the authority puts £7,000 more into the charity for the next financial year, on top of the £45,000 it already gives.

Citizens Advice CEO Vicki Rowe said the charity had a budget deficit of £150,000 in 2025/26.

She said it was currently only able to answer 40% of calls and it could take people up to 20 days to get an appointment.

The 36 volunteers and 13 paid staff working in North Devon have helped 3,159 people with more than 11,000 problems since September 2024, reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Ms Rowe said the charity had healthy reserves up until 2025 which had gone into helping more people. She said it planned to apply for more grants and develop more partnerships.

Ms Rowe added the number of volunteers had risen from 36 to 80, but that she had plans to increase that to 100 and had been working with Petroc College to get more young volunteers.

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