THE CENTRAL Borders Citizens Advice Bureau is holding a meeting tonight (Thursday) to give the public the chance to find out about the work they do.

The event will take place in the Galashiels branch and will give people the opportunity to see behind the scenes.

The service is mainly delivered by a team of trained volunteers and is free and confidential.

A spokesperson said: "The Central Borders CAB has been operating in Galashiels since 1970 and our core funding comes from the contract between the Borders Citizens Advice Consortium and Scottish Borders Council to provide Money, Welfare and Advisory Services in our area.

"We were also awarded project funding from Scottish Legal Aid Board and Citizens Advice Scotland Welfare Mitigation Fund.

"In 2015/16 the top five enquiry categories were; social security and tax credits: 2966; debt issues: 1909; employment: 591; housing: 426 and referrals to food banks: 440.

"And our clients received a reported financial gain of £824,981 as a result of advice given by our Bureau – 61 per cent of which was connected to Social Security entitlements," he added.

"During the year 2015/16, the Bureau had 3683 contacts with clients and dealt with 8150 issues."

The AGM starts at 7pm.