Councillors  have donated £5,000 to a disability advice centre.

Councillors Mark Packard and Ed Thompson have donated a combined cheque for £5,000 from their enabling communities budgets to the Disability Advice Service in East Suffolk.

The service is based in Martlesham Heath and covers from Leiston to Felixstowe, with 15pc of its clients living in Ipswich.

The service provides help to disabled children and adults along with their family carers and has done for the last 39 years.

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Manager Steve Race said: “The help and support we receive from East Suffolk Council and its councillors is tremendous really, and we’re so grateful they take an interest in our vital work.”

Over the last four years, the facility has assisted more than 6,500 clients, offering free advice on welfare benefits, energy, and pension credit among other matters.

During this time it has won 219 out of 220 tribunal appeal cases and has secured an additional £9.8m in benefits for clients.

The charity also helped 926 clients with its crisis intervention service, distributing £60,000 in individual hardship grants along the way.