THE outreach worker who helps people in the Tavistock area to access unclaimed benefits could have her job saved.

In what looks like an eleventh-hour reprieve, Devon County Council has announced a multi-million pound investment package for the voluntary and community sector.

The move comes just weeks after the announcement of social service cutbacks in outreach work which affected the post hosted by Tavistock Citizens Advice Bureau.

An alternative source of funding was needed to allow the outreach workers to continue helping disabled and elderly people claim benefits to which they are entitled.

It has been estimated the community would lose out on more than £200,000 a year, which is brought into the Tavistock economy, for the sake of the annual cost of running the post — around £16,000.

The Tavistock outreach worker's contract is set to expire in March, but the new funding package to help Devon CAB's and welfare benefit take-up could ensure the future of the outreach project.

However, discussions are continuing on how the money should be allocated and whether the county council will concentrate resources on an individual or network support basis. The package, worth more than £800,000, will be concentrated on key areas of work such as helping implement the government's policy to increase benefit take-up.

The package was put forward by the county council's executive committee as funding priorities for the coming year were identified.

The package includes £200,000 to ensure the survival of local Volunteer Bureaux and Councils for Voluntary Service and £336,000 to maintain local advice work through the Citizen's Advice Bureaux network.

An additional £100,000 has been set aside to fund campaigns and schemes to promote the take-up of welfare benefits. It is estimated that £50-million of benefits goes unclaimed in Devon every year.

West Devon and Torridge MP John Burnett, who pressed for the post to be saved, said the outreach project job was vitally important for people in the area, enabling them to get benefits and in some cases get back into work.

'I am very pleased the county council is reconsidering and I am cautiously optimistic that they will reverse the decision,' he said.

Tavistock CAB branch manager Alex Wood was also remaining cautious as time was running out for the outreach project to be saved.

He said: 'We just want to be able to bridge the gap, so we have a chance to find alternative funding to retain the expertise of this outreach worker.'

Mr Wood said he was concerned the county council was saying it was committed to a campaign to increase welfare benefit take-up but had yet to make a definite sum available to maintain the good work already being done in Tavistock.

A county council spokesman said the package would secure the core service of the CAB and ensure the valuable work it did was not going to be lost.

In addition to the financial package, the council is also pledging to help groups and projects identify alternative funding sources and continue to lobby Government over the future of social services and the voluntary sector.

The county council also says it will involve the voluntary sector more in planning for the longer- term future and work closely with other agencies at a local level to maximise all available funding.

Cllr Mike Knight, executive member with responsibility for community planning, said the decision to find resources indicated how important the county council considered the voluntary sector to be. 'We recognise the voluntary sector is a key cornerstone of our communities and we want to help protect and develop the sector.'

The recommendations of the executive committee are expected to be approved by the full council when it meets today (Thursday).