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Issue: 26
Bognor Regis Post ISSN 2397-8724
BognorRegisPost Your FREE weekly independent newspaper
Friday, October 28, 2016
Brexit fears lead Poles to seek help
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BREXIT fears have prompted a surge in inquiries to a Bognor Regis help centre. A host of questions from eastern Europeans about the effect of the Euro referendum has been handled by Citizens Advice helpers. THe past year of the voluntary service in Arun and Chichester shows 1,157 inquiries mainly from those from the other side of Europe, predominantly Polish. But Arun and Chichester Citizens Advice chief executive Carol Groves said at its annual meeting last week the period since June's historic vote to leave the EU had prompted a rise in questions from worried residents from countries such as Poland and Latvia. "We have had issues with Brexit. We have had quite a lot of Eastern Europeans coming into centres, particularly in Bognor Regis, concerned about what is going to happen. "Some of them have been here six years or more and they have got children in schools. THey are concerned because no-one has really told them what is happening," she said. Mrs Groves said the centres' helpers were staunchly non-political in their
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advice and did not get involved in commentating on the matter. "We have told those making the inquiries there's no change at the moment. It's about telling them to keep calm and re-assuring them. We don't know what is going to happen." THe last official figure for the number of eastern Europeans from the eight countries which joined the EU in 2004 comes from the 2011 census and is 2,500 for Bognor Regis town and 3,177 for the greater Bognor Regis area. THe annual meeting at the Regis Centre was told the three bureaux at Bognor Regis, Chichester and Littlehampton saw 13,090 mostly vulnerable clients in the year to the end of March. Almost 11,000 of those were oneoff questions, a slight decrease on the previous year, and 2,122 were more complex inquiries to represent a small increase on the preceeding 12 months. THe biggest source of inquiries came from white English people at 10,516. Benefits remained the biggest single source of inquiries, said Mrs Groves. Among that state help, the new personal independence payment is fast emerging Turn to page three
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