ACT Welfare Rights and Legal Centre's principal solicitor, Genevieve Bolton, said the budget cuts had left staff overworked, frustrated and disappointed about their limited ability to help the community.

"People work here because they want to assist disadvantaged and vulnerable people so it is not easy when we are placed in a position of having to say no to people who need our help," she said.

"We may have been able to help these people if we had additional funding and everyone here recognises that."

In late January the centre denied services to a mother seeking more suitable accommodation for her family after a dispute with Housing ACT, amid fears this may become more common.

"Unfortunately the Welfare Rights and Legal Centre does not currently have capacity to take on your matter," wrote one solicitor to the mother.

"This does not mean your matter does not have merit – it just means we do not currently have any capacity to provide you with legal representation at this point in time."

The federal government stripped more than $300,000 from Legal Aid ACT as well as $100,000 from the Environmental Defenders' Office, and $50,000 from the Women's Legal Centre.

"During the last government, a number of community legal centres received supplementary community funding and we received 60,000 a year on a four-year contract," Ms Bolton said.

"But when the new government came in they decided they were not going to continue with the last two years of that funding, which meant we lost $120,000."

The funding cut meant the centre was unable to replace a senior solicitor who managed 62 cases last year, with many involving complex litigation and representation in the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

The funding also provided for a social worker who would work in co-operation with solicitors to assist Canberrans with any issues accompanying their cases.

"We now have to prioritise the matters that we are able to take on and provide representation for, and those matters are generally where a tenant is a risk of eviction," Ms Bolton said.

"It is early days but as time goes on we will be placed in that position more often."

"But at the same time, there has been an increasing demand placed on the centre due to significant changes to social security and a high demand from public housing tenants."

Ms Bolton said the centre was currently staffed by two solicitors with three part-time advisers and it was not uncommon to see lawyers working overtime on weekends.

"We try as hard as humanly possible to take on cases but we have had to redistribute given we are now down on staff," she said.

The budget cuts come despite the Productivity Commission urging for increased funding to community legal centres

A report published in early December found concerning gaps existed with access to justice, particularly for free legal help in family law matters like family violence and child protection

Attorney-General Simon Corbell has called on the Commonwealth to fund the already-stretched community law groups with close to $15 million expected to stripped from the sector over the next four years.