Organisers of a lottery-funded service which offers free advice to people with an employment grievance are expecting a deluge of requests for help.

Abingdon and District Citizens Advice Bureau's new lottery-funded specialist in employment law says she expects to be kept busy because of increasing and complex amounts of new legislation.

Anne Lee, who lives in Abingdon with her family, has been taken on full-time for three years thanks to an £82,500 grant from the National Lottery. She specialises in employment law, which takes up nearly a quarter of the CAB's workload.

Last year, the Abingdon office dealt with more than 1,000 employment-related cases of which nearly 100 had to go to an employment tribunal.

For three years, Abingdon CAB ran an employment law pilot scheme. The need for the specialist service was proved and the bid for lottery money to fund a full-time professional lawyer was successful.

Ms Lee said: "Employment laws particularly from Europe have increased in recent years and the whole area is becoming more complex."

The workload of the Abingdon and District CAB has increased enormously since it opened in 1968. There are 20 volunteer advisers and more volunteers are being sought to help ease the burden.

Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer adviser should get in touch with joint managers Diane Armstrong or Doreen Kinsler on 01235 550553.