Johnson told LAG that many people were ‘aghast’ at the £215,000 cost of the research for the new brand for ‘such facile results’ and were critical of the £750,000 implementation budget. In some hard-hitting comments, he told LAG that the charity could only afford the branding as it has ‘£65m annual income from the public purse and nearly £15m in the bank’. He added: ‘People need to be aware that this is just the national body, not the local CABx, who have to raise their own money and are mostly strapped for cash.’ He accused CA of being a quango that ‘drinks money’ and which ‘no-one in government has ever wanted to get a grip on’.

A spokesperson for CA explained that the charity wanted people who use its 320 local branches to better understand what the service offers, making it more likely that they will approach it for help. According to CA, they have consulted extensively on the re-branding which they believe is widely supported by their local branches. Gillian Guy, chief executive of CA, in a statement said the re-brand ‘is in line with how we are modernising our services to respond to changing needs and to help more people’. She stressed that the service was keen to protect its ‘heritage’, but wanted to make sure ‘we stay fresh and relevant to everyone’.