Some weeks ago, I had the pleasure of speaking at the 70th anniversary annual general meeting of Birmingham Citizens' Advice Bureaux (CAB). This organisation offers a free, independent, confidential and impartial service. It provides the advice people need for any problems they face, and seeks to improve policies and procedures which affect people's lives. "If you are supporting a voluntary organisation and it is not occasionally biting you or, at least, nipping your ankles, it probably isn't doing what it was originally set up to do." I remember, many years ago, being a councillor going through that interminable annual process of deciding on the recipients and levels of council grants. One year, the debate centred on the difficulty the local CAB was causing the council through its questioning of certain council policies. For some councillors, this was reason enough to severely reduce – if not completely withdraw – the grant. Fortunately, better sense prevailed and the grant was maintained. The clinching argument was that if CAB didn't exist, we would need to invent it. In Birmingham, the discussion touched on one current tension – a recession causing a real strain on the capacity of CAB, coupled with pressure on the budgets of funders. Someone made the point that the third sector generally struggles to maintain independence while trying not to frighten the funders. Or, don't bite the hand that feeds you. Surely, though, that's what funders should be looking for. A CAB which simply sought to provide advice and didn't challenge the things that affect people's lives wouldn't be doing its job. A service seen by the public as the agent of another, statutory body would soon lose their confidence, and would cease to be impartial. If you are supporting a voluntary organisation and it is not occasionally biting you or, at least, nipping your ankles, it probably isn't doing what it was originally set up to do. To his credit, the lord mayor of Birmingham acknowledged the value of CAB to the citizens of Birmingham which far outweighed the organisational discomfort of the occasional, well-meant, nip. Martin Horton is director at Solace Enterprises
