Crucial services may be cut at Eastbourne Citizens' Advice Bureau unless a substantial cash shortfall is plugged.

The free help service in Grove Road will face a deficit of more than £33,000 because some funds will not be renewed in the next financial year, which starts in April.

The CAB says East Sussex County Council has cancelled its Impact outreach service without warning, resulting in a loss of £143,000 a year.

Wealden District Council will make no contribution from next April and Eastbourne Borough Council says it cannot increase its £60,000 grant.

That could mean cuts in services at the CAB, which is the busiest in East Sussex and helped almost 12,000 people in the past year.

In the organisation's annual report, chairman John Boyle said it provided a vital service.

In Eastbourne, 74 per cent of people earn less than the average national wage and 27 per cent of households receive housing or council tax benefits.

Mr Boyle said: "We have given Eastbourne Borough Council facts and figures showing that our funding is about half of comparable bureaux.

"This is absurd. We have 51 committed, fully-trained volunteers working without any form of remuneration just to benefit the people of Eastbourne.

"All we ask is for the council to look at our books and agree what is necessary for us to carry on effectively."

Officials said negotiations were taking place with the CAB's national body, which has indicated it may offer some financial help.

Bureau manager Leighton Jones said: "Funders need to look very carefully at both the levels of funding and the conditions they attach to services delivered by advice agencies and the voluntary sector more broadly.

"Too often the sector is taken for granted and I would suggest that they think about life without us around for a moment."