Volunteer workers have called on the Government to release them from a relentless tide of red tape.

The call was made at the annual meeting of Worthing Citizens' Advice Bureau (CAB) in the Gordon Rooms, Stoke Abbott Road.

The CAB revealed it had been very successful in meeting standards, attracting more funding and bringing significant improvements to services, particularly in housing, debt and welfare benefits.

But the amount of form filling that volunteers had to do was reducing the amount of time they could spend helping clients.

Manager David Chapman said: "This makes the work more onerous and less satisfying for the voluntary workers."

East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton said: "Voluntary groups are in danger of being victims of their success.

"They are increasingly prone to being used as cheap public service providers."

He accused the Government "bearhug" of being both expensive and suffocating.

Mr Chapman said: "While we feel the new standards we are meeting give us pride in the professionalism of our work, we find the regulations, form filling and checking of details almost halves the number of clients any one adviser can see in any one session.

"At the same time, the growing levels of bureaucracy faced by the public drives more and more confused and distressed people to seek our help.

"Advisers feel increasingly pressured and demoralised in trying to meet the insatiable demand for their time."