Vital support services for disabled people face the axe after a charity ran out of money.

Disability Information Services Sussex, which helps 300 people each year, will close unless it can find at least £5,000 to cover running costs for the next three months.

Without the money, the charity will have to abandon some of the clients it is representing at tribunals over disputes surrounding benefits.

Its dire financial state arose after a charitable trust was, at the last minute, unable to fulfil a £5,000 pledge to it.

The charity, staffed entirely by volunteers, needs the cash to cover the rent of its offices in South Coast Road, Brighton, and the cost of phone calls, stationery and petrol for home visits and transport to tribunals.

The crisis comes just one month after Sussex Autistic Society announced it would have to close if it could not find £20,000.

Fortunately, the society has secured at least £15,000 in donations and has begun reintroducing some facilities.

Disability Information Services Sussex chairman Brian Flint, 65, a chronic arthritis sufferer, said: "We put £300,000 back into the local economy each year by getting people benefits they are entitled to but are unaware of.

"These people can't represent themselves or afford a solicitor so we do.

"Without this service, many people would not have an extra £50 a week.

"That can mean the difference between putting the heating on and not putting the heating on."

The charity, which mainly gives benefits advice but also offers debt counselling, runs on a shoestring budget of £13,000 a year.

Treasurer Dinah Tracey, also an arthritis sufferer, said: "Our service is a very real benefit to people who sometimes don't realise how much their life has been eroded by disability."

One couple who have been helped by Disability Information Services are George and Jacqueline Crisp, of Franklin Road, Shoreham.

Mr Crisp, 63, was receiving benefits for a range of health problems including digestive difficulties and fevers following the removal of his stomach due to cancer.

He also suffers from diabetes and arthritis in the spine.

Last year, his disability allowance was suddenly stopped because of a mix-up.

The couple managed to get it reinstated after Mr Flint took on their case.

Mrs Crisp, 51, said: "We had nothing coming in because our income support automatically stopped when the disability allowance was stopped. We couldn't pay our rent.

"Brian Flint helped my husband fill in forms and represent him at tribunal.

"He made us feel we weren't being silly and that we shouldn't give up, that we had a good case to fight and we won.

"There is no one else out there doing what this group does in Sussex."

Anyone who wishes to donate money to Disability Information Services Sussex should call 01273 585575.