Activists gathered in front of Whitechapel Town Hall on October 9 to protest upcoming budget cuts which would defund Tower Hamlets Community Advice Network (THCAN).

THCAN is a partnership of local services that offers advice on a variety of issues such as debt, housing, and immigration. The partnership also helps to train volunteers to support local advice services and offers courses to council staff.

The budget adjustments also threaten to cut funding for Island Advice Centre, the leading member of THCAN, by 20 per cent. 

Protesters spoke to ELL about their demands on the steps of Whitechapel Town Hall ahead of that evening’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting.

Sarah Sauvat, 44, centre manager at Island Advice Centre and leader of THCAN, told ELL: “The issue is that THCAN has been there for over 20 years and has helped all the advice sectors in the borough to do joint work.

“Unfortunately the local authority no longer wants to fund that infrastructure, so these services now are going to be disorganised [and] disjointed.”

Sauvat added: “In a time of the rise in the cost of living and the poverty crisis, social worker advice is key to ensure residents can get the help they need at the time they need.”

She told ELL that THCAN’s role as an information gatherer, bringing resident issues to the attention of the authorities, will also be lost.

Sauvat said protesters were demanding increased funding for advice services in general and for the council to pledge support for the various advice services across the borough, though she did not expect the council to be forthcoming.

Mahmuda Khanom, 41, who has worked for Island Advice Centre for over a decade, said: “It is incredibly important that this funding doesn’t get cut […] individuals who want to come into advice work need this training. I feel very passionate about supporting this cause.”

Khanom, who has lived in Tower Hamlets all her life, began her career with Island Advice Centre with an NVQ3 qualification and hopes to preserve the same opportunity for others.

She said she has emailed Mayor of Tower Hamlets Luftar Rahman, who leads the Aspire Party cabinet, about the benefits she has gained from her training with THCAN and experience as an advice worker. 

Halema Khanam, 45, works for Limehouse Advice Project, another THCAN constituent. She told ELL: “That service, which lots of advice centres rely on, is going to close. Once it’s closed, it’s not going to reopen.

“Whether the council hear it or not, that’s why we’re here; to let them know that it’s really important that it’s going, and that they should put their money into it.”

Amber Van Boost, a welfare rights caseworker at a law centre, said: “I wouldn’t be studying law now if I hadn’t been on this [THCAN] training course. It’s a massive mistake of the council to decide that this is something that shouldn’t be funded for the future.”

At the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting, opposition councillors from the Labour Party supported a call-in from Labour councillor Mufeedah Bustin.

The call-in requested that the Mayor and Cabinet look again at the decisions to cut funding for THCAN and Tower Hamlets Council for Volunteer Service.

Councillor Marc Francis, who represents the Bow East Ward for Labour, said: “Tower Hamlets Community Advice network has done incredible work over the years to support organisations providing advice and advocacy to those facing homelessness or destitution as a result of the Government’s cuts to Social Security benefits.

“I am incredulous that Tower Hamlets Council didn’t appreciate the value of continuing this funding.”

Francis added that he hoped funding would be found for the initiatives despite Aspire’s rejection of the call-in.

Island Advice Centre continues to share updates through its Facebook and Instagram pages.

Tower Hamlets Council has yet to provide ELL with any information or comment on the issue.