An organisation which provides a lifeline to some of Woking’s neediest residents helped more than 5,000 people in 2024/25 despite a huge drop in funding.

Monetary issues at the borough council forced Citizen’s Advice Woking (CAW) to make difficult cuts of their own.

But people who attended their AGM heard the service managed some “considerable achievements” and a £91,000 surplus despite losing a key grant.

The council’s financial troubles meant they had to cease the Community Grants scheme which annually gave £189,000 to CAW, leaving the service with a fight to balance the budget.

Opening hours at their town centre office were reduced with drop-in services being scaled back from five days a week to three mornings.

They also reduced the number of applications for charitable support on behalf of clients, instead focusing on advice to help their situation.

There were some drawbacks as CAW managed to help 5,090 in 2024/25 compared to 5,561 the previous year, a drop of eight per cent, while income gain for clients also fell by ten per cent over the period.

But they still managed to provide clients with more than £2.5million while the combination of cost control, extra fundraising activities and additional income from project funders including WBC meant the changes ultimately paid off.

Katrina Ford and William Annandale, CEO and Chair of Trustees, respectively, highlighted the success of projects with I-Access, the Trussell Trust Foodbank, Healthwatch Surrey, United Byfleet Charity, WBC and Surrey County Council in their report.

The pair also thanked their predecessors and the many funders, donors and volunteers, with the latter donating 15,739 hours during the year, worth £535,403 in wages.

The pair said: “At the heart of everything we do is the work to help and support our clients.

“And it is only possible to achieve so much because of the marvellous people who work and volunteer at CAW.

“We would like to thank every single one of them for all the time they commit to their clients and for achieving everything that is so clearly demonstrated in this Report.”

Sixty per cent of clients who asked CAW for help during the year were disabled or had long-term health conditions according to the report, while 59 per cent of all clients were female.

A total of 5,481 cases were worked on during the year with £182,000 of debts being written off for clients thanks to CAW’s help. Some 667 debt clients were helped with an average of £9,531 being written off for each one.

Council Tax arrears and energy debt were among the top five cost-of-living issues for clients, while homelessness and the lack of genuine affordable housing continues to be a worry.

One of the case studies involved a working mother-of-three in receipt of Universal Credit who declared herself homeless after her private landlord forced her out through the courts. She was forced to live in hotel accommodation for five months, prompting CAW to intervene.