Wellingborough Welfare Rights Action Group helps people find out which benefits they are entitled to and assists them with filling out the necessary forms.

The group advises more than 700 people each year and currently receives funding of £38,000 each year, £30,000 of which comes from Northamptonshire County Council.

This is a reduction of 10 per cent on last year's funding and the county council says this could fall by 10 per cent in future years.

The group's Audrey Ellis said: "Seven of us are volunteers but we still have to pay for the phone lines, the office rental and our travel costs.

"We pay one full-time member of staff but she works far more hours than we are able to pay her for.

"Each year the county council and the Government are making it harder and harder for us to function.

"We work with the elderly, people with mental health problems and people with learning disabilities, many of whom are living in poverty, and all we want to do is to help them achieve a quality of life that many of us take for granted."

Volunteer Joanne Din said: "A lot of the elderly people we visit are embarrassed because they think claiming benefits is accepting charity. They are put off by the fact the forms are up to 40 pages long and because they ask for personal details, down to how many times they visit the toilet.

"They are very isolated, with no family, perhaps only seeing their doctor for five minutes now and then.

"We go to their homes and spend a few hours with them and they receive benefits that can change their lives."

Fellow volunteer Mike Prescod said: "We are saving the Government a lot of money by providing this service as volunteers, with rock-bottom operating costs. We are also bringing more than £1m in benefits into the Wellingborough economy."

A spokesman for Northamptonshire County Council said: "We recognise the valuable role played by voluntary and community organisations but the county council is continuing to face financial challenges and so grant funding is not unlimited.

"The number of applications received always far outweighs the amount of funding available.

"We adopted a new strategic funding policy in March, which recommends that funding agreements are awarded on the basis of an annual reassessment, which could see the funding award increased or decreased by up to 10 per cent.

"Organisations are given an opportunity to make a case against the recommendation."