A CHARITY supporting people with disabilities could be forced to close within months after its funding was taken away.

The Disablement Information and Advice Line, known as DIAL, needs about £180,000 per year to run its advice line, home visit and tribunal support service.

It has struggled to survive since losing out on grants and funding from Basildon Council and Essex County Council.

Manager Jan Stevens admits she now fears for the future of the charity, based in Southernhay, Basildon.

She said: “All of our grants have come to an end. We have been applying for more funding but there are reduced grants available and more people going for the same pots of money.

“We’ve applied for a new lottery grant but we won’t know about that until March. We don’t know if we’ll have enough funds to survive until then.”

Andy Foden, 43, who travels from his home in Burnham-on-Crouch to use the service, said: “It’s really shocking they might close, it’s really essential.

“They have really helped me in the past.”

Basildon Council initially split its £205,000 annual advice budget between DIAL, Impact - which specialised in complex legal cases - and the Citizen’s Advice Bureau.

Earlier this year it decided to give its entire budget to the Citizen’s Advice Bureau - although some money still goes to DIAL to fund its helpline.

As well as having volunteers, the disability charity also employs two members of staff to carry out home visits, outreach work and to help clients facing tribunals over benefit disputes.

Mrs Stevens added: “We have a small amount of reserves but we may have to reduce services or even close.

“If we do everyone will be devastated. We have some regulars and they really don’t know what they are going to do. “There’s one man who is deaf who comes to us as we can speak on the phone for him, he really relies on us.

Terri Sargent, councillor for environment and community, said: “For the best and better value for resident, we decided that, rather than giving it to three places we would give the budget to the CAB to run services.

“I wish DIAL all the best in their grant applications.”