HALSTEAD’S Citizens Advice Bureau office is set to close as part of the reorganisation of its services.

The current office in Ramsey Academy, on Colne Road, will close on March 21, and services will transfer to the office on Coggeshall Road, Braintree, from April 4.

As part of the move, the Braintree office will now be open five days a week, from Monday to Friday.

Jennifer Hyde, chief executive of the Braintree, Halstead and Witham CAB, said: “As our opening hours in Halstead are so limited it is not a financially viable service at the moment.

“We are in a position where we really need to make our services more accessible to people.

"Although quite often some people think that they need to go to a building, there are also a lot of people that want to be able to do things in other ways.

“Face-to-face advice is not necessarily a primary source of advice nowadays, but there will always be people who need to see an advisor and we won’t be losing that.”

The charity is extending the hours of its telephone services, additional team members will be recruited and they are installimh electronic advice terminals.

Mrs Hyde said: “Thursdays in Braintree are appointment-only but will also be priority for Halstead residents.

“In addition to that we will be having an appointment only service for people in Halstead who cannot travel to Braintree.

“In times of financial difficulty it is not only a case of reducing costs it is also a case of making us more cost effective.

“We are a charity and in charity terms we are a small one so we really do have to make the most effective use of our resources — this is about providing a better service.”

For more information, call the service on 0344 499 4719.