CatholicCare Wilcannia-Forbes (CCWF) Chief Executive Anne-Marie Mioche says calls to federal Social Service Minister Tanya Plibersek have fallen on deaf ears.

''I don’t hold out much hope," she told the Western Plains App after cuts to their funding for financial counselling services to western NSW communities were announced.

She says hundreds of vulnerable families in the most remote areas of NSW will go without help.

However new information provided to the Western Plains App indicates other providers will be funded to share the load, including Uniting Care.

CCWF will lose 41 per cent of its Financial Counselling and Financial Capability funding in the Far West and Orana region.

Ms Anne-Marie Mooche says she is still shocked and the loss of Financial Counselling to help families is a crushing blow.

"The effect on families and young children will hit hard communities in the Western Plains and further west.

"Gambling is doing so much harm, it leaves families without essentials like food and paying power bills and it leads to mental health problems and even domestic violence when pressures mount.

''Our counsellors help them with budgeting because families can go into a dark hole and it is so stressful but I am so pleased we have been able to help families function."

She says the federal government gets major value from CCWF Financial Counselling.

"We help with things like rising telco payments or buying an affordable vehicle, the government gets a good bang for their buck from counselling.''

Out with the well-established, in with the new

The tender outcomes awarded CCWF an unchanged level of funding for the Central West region, but less than 40 per cent of the funding available for the Far West and Orana, despite the organisation being the predominant provider in that region.

A service in demand, in the past financial year alone CCWF provided financial counselling to 710 clients, 36 per cent of whom identified as Aboriginal, a critical indicator of the organisation’s reach and trust in communities where support is often hard to access.

“Our coverage across rural and remote NSW is unmatched,” Ms Mioche said.

“Wilcannia, Condobolin, Cobar, Nyngan and Bourke are among our 15 branch locations.

“We’re deeply embedded in these communities and our services are community-designed, which is exactly the kind of delivery model the government says it wants.”

Decisionmaking "defies logic"

Having had its financial counselling service gutted in their core Far West and Orana location, CCWF has been awarded funding for the Murray region, requiring it to expand to a new location with a significantly reduced overall budget and foundation.

“The decision to give us a new region but de-fund us where we’re already well established defies logic,” Ms Mioche said.

“I’ve spoken with other services affected by this decision, and they are just as dismayed.

“It does not make any sense.”

The funding cut comes after a nine-month wait for the tender outcome, leaving just eight weeks for CCWF to work through the impact on jobs and service transition.

“It is about poor decision making that will cause service chaos in areas where support is stretched so thin.”

Minister for Social Services, Tanya Plibersek. [IMAGE: Catholic Social Services Australia]

While CCWF welcomes new providers to meet growing demand, Ms Mioche says new providers will take time to establish and recruit, meaning little to no service improvement for clients in the short term.

“We urge the Commonwealth Government to review this decision and engage with us to find a sustainable solution that protects frontline services and ensures vulnerable Australians are not left behind,” Ms Mioche said.

But new operators have entered the market and Minister's Plibersek's staff say funding for the region has been divided and increased.

The electorate of Parkes electorate received a $183,742 increase to be divided between operators Uniting Care, the Salvation Army and Catholic Care.

Uniting Care and Regional Counselling Limited will also be providing financial counselling services in the region for the first time.

It is understood it was an open competitive grants process decided at arm's length of government.

“No one should be faced with a choice between putting food on the table or paying their bills," Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek said as she announced the funding.

“That’s why we’re increasing funding for these vital services by 25 per cent, to ensure all Australians can find a helping hand when they need one."