Easter Newsletter

Hello from all at Citizens Advice Diss, Thetford & District

With all the difficulties facing communities at present and the necessity for many people to stay at home, Citizens Advice have needed to adapt quickly to make sure that they can continue to provide services for clients. Citizens Advice Diss, Thetford and District (CADAT) is no exception to this.

COVID-19 has meant that we have to focus on alternatives to seeing clients face to face. Working with our IT team, our staff and volunteers are currently working at home, and we continue to provide much needed advice by telephone, email and other forms of social media.

Similarly with the increase in numbers of people claiming Universal Credit it is fortunate that our Help to Claim project, funded by the DWP, has been extended for another year.

These positive changes mean that we can help people in our communities, as they face the challenges of the present time. We are also lucky that we continue to be supported by the majority of our local councils, who recognise the value of the service we provide. Together with our partner Citizens Advice offices in Suffolk we have been delighted with the very positive response from the Council’s Task and Finish report on our work and the value for money we provide. This recognition of our work is highly valued especially at a time when our services are needed more than ever.

I would like to finish my part of this newsletter by adding a comment from Gillian Guy – Chief Executive of National Citizens Advice:

‘For over 80 years, Citizens Advice has been helping people through times of crisis and unprecedented change. The world we live in now is very different from the one that we were set up in, the day after WWII broke out.
But the fundamental challenge of adapting and working together for our clients – whoever they are and whatever their problem – remains the same.’

Read on to find out about all the things we are doing.

Marion Morse MBE
Chair of Trustees

If you (or anyone you know) needs advice, please contact us through the following channels:

Email us at: dissadviser@cadat.org.uk or advice.thetford@cadat.org.uk
Ring us on: 0344 411 1444

Our telephone lines are very busy, so if you are able to go online and email us, please do so to allow those without internet access the opportunity to contact us.

With our face to face services currently suspended and the need to find new ways to support those in our local communities with reliable and impartial advice about what the Coronavirus means to them, we’ve launched a new Facebook page.

Although we are not able to provide individual advice via social media, we can signpost people to self-help website pages and our email advice at https://www.cadat.org.uk/email-advice/.

We are continuing to share information and advice with our stakeholders and other followers, including information about the emerging Coronavirus scams and share links to the latest information on benefits, employment and a wide range of other issues.

Please like our new Facebook page: www.facebook.com/DissThetfordCA
Follow us on Twitter @DissThetfordCA

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Forward

Task & Finish Group, Suffolk

On 20th December, a Task & Finish Group comprised of representatives from Mid Suffolk, Babergh, West Suffolk and Ipswich District and Borough Councils submitted their report into the work of LCAs (Local Citizens Advice) in Suffolk. Councillors had become concerned about the impact of funding Suffolk County Council’s cuts funding to Suffolk LCAs and undertook a consultation with their LCAs. The report comments on the depth and breadth of work in Suffolk, stating ‘A full list of issues and problems covered would be too lengthy, but a simpler question might be ‘What issues are NOT dealt with by Citizens Advice’?’

Witnesses from various departments of the local authorities (particularly housing and benefits) were present, so that they could comment on the likely impact of SCC’s decision to cut funding. The report explains: ‘The housing departments and benefits managers see the same patterns as CA in their own caseload… Anecdotally, they were all aware of these impacts and valued CA as an active resource reducing workload.’

The report summarises: ‘Our final overwhelming conclusion was that the Suffolk LCA’s Core Services need Core Funding. They offer ‘Value for Money’ that any authority (ours or any others) would find impossible to match, and simultaneously support our own services. Every additional £1 invested in Citizens Advice would be well spent.’

The report recommends that Suffolk CC reconsider their decision to cut funding to Suffolk LCAs, in order that local authorities do not face increased pressures through the loss of CA services in the county.

Mel Jones, Chief Officer

How our services have adapted during the current situation

Our volunteers have excelled themselves at this time of national crisis. Many have embraced new technologies and are now offering email and telephone advice from their own homes whilst others have helped to spread the word via our social media platforms and supported us in many other ways.

We keep in touch by telephone and with regular email updates as well as face-to-face meet-ups in our virtual ‘CADAT Café’ via Zoom. We’ve even got a volunteer WhatsApp and Facebook group which have provided much needed light relief at times.

We are so grateful to all of our wonderful volunteers for all the support they continue to show us. Even though we can’t all be together at this time, it’s good to know that the volunteers of Citizens Advice Diss, Thetford and District are still doing everything in their power to support clients and each other.

General Advice

Our core service offering advice to anyone about any issues they have has continued to be delivered, despite closing our face to face service in mid-March. We are still taking calls over the telephone through our Adviceline number and local Thetford number, and are also responding to requests for advice through our website and via email. We continue to issue foodbank and fuel vouchers for those in need.

Help to Claim

Our service helping people apply for Universal Credit has unsurprisingly seen a massive increase in demand initially, but is now steady. We have staff and volunteers assisting new clients with their Universal Credit claims, and they are working hard to keep up with government guidance.

Pension Wise

Our Guiders were able to offer telephone appointments from 2nd April after being stood down due to Covid 19 for a fortnight whilst new processes were put in place. We were one of the first centres to resume the service, and early indications are that we have adapted to the new method very well. We are now able to give guidance to people with British defined contribution pensions from all over the world. The 2019/20 year was busy throughout, with continuing good feedback from users who had experienced the service.

Big C

Our Welfare Benefits Advisors, who see patients with cancer being treated at hospitals around Norfolk and Suffolk, have seen 801 clients over the last 12 months, achieving income gains of over £1.1 million for clients.

This works out at an average of almost £1,400 per client, which is invaluable in terms of helping people get financial support at a time when they need it most.
In March we rapidly switched to providing telephone appointments, rather than offering face to face advice to these vulnerable clients, and continue to help people get access to the support they need during these difficult times.

Help through Crisis

Our Advice Champion continues to support clients in crisis with the aid of various digital technologies. Although the use of videoconferencing is a great alternative to meeting face to face, it is difficult to establish whether clients are experiencing domestic violence at home, as the perpetrator may be listening into the call. This highlights one of the benefits of face to face advice.

Energy

We were pleased to be awarded funding to raise awareness of Smart Energy meters, particularly amongst older people with limited awareness of this technology. We will be working in partnership with South Norfolk, Broadland and Norwich City Councils. The project, due to start in April, is likely to be delayed until September and will focus on face to face engagement at flu clinics, and targeted events including lunch clubs and coffee mornings. We will also be offering advice on how to get extra help with energy plus giving energy efficiency messages and distributing giveaways, including LED light bulbs and room thermometers.

If you are involved in a local community event this Autumn and would like us to come along, please contact Caroline Mackinson at energyadvice@cadat.org.uk or 01379 658200.

A massive thank you to our IT and telephony support companies!

Without the continued support from the team at ION, MT Communications and CSquared, we would not be in the position we are in now.

We invested in replacing all our computers and telephony system back in 2019, and the transition to delivering advice from home and keeping the organisation going has been made so much easier because of this.

The help provided by the teams at these companies has been invaluable, and we continue to be impressed with the standard of service they deliver, so thank you!

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How you can help us

There are many ways you can continue to help us, including:

Volunteering your time, especially if you are interested in delivering advice through digital channels
Making a one-off or regular donation
Raising free donations for us when you shop online through Easy Fundraising
Donating Dividend points earned at East of England Co-op to CADAT through the Community Support Card scheme (our Co-op charity number is 701190)
Participating in Our Breckland Lottery and selecting CADAT as your chosen cause. This is a local lottery scheme supporting charities in the Breckland area, and prizes include a year of fruit and veg home delivery.

Donate

Raise money for us through online shopping