There have been changes to Citizens Advice Wokingham’s services for the borough from 1 July.
Reminder on changes to how to help residents
This is due to the end of the One Front Door contract with Wokingham Borough Council. This was a separate contract which was needed during the Covid-19 pandemic and initial period of the cost-of-living crisis.
Citizens Advice Wokingham and the council have been working closely on supporting the wider voluntary and community sector to support residents directly.
Citizens Advice Wokingham will continue to provide free, confidential and expert advice and support to the wider Wokingham Borough community. The teams will move from rapid response to comprehensive assessment of need. Specifically, more time will be spent on helping to identify the root cause of issues and provide education to prioritise and advice to address these.
This includes:
- Help with welfare benefits – such as benefit eligibility and support with appeals tribunals
- Help with money and debt – such as benefit entitlement, income assessments, debt prioritisation, creditor negotiation, budgeting advice and support with rent and council tax arrears
- Help with employment – such as statutory and contractual rights, dismissal and redundancy
- Help with housing – such as housing debts, housing costs and housing legislation
- Help with family or personal issues – such as death and bereavement, change of name and adoption, divorce or separation, children and young people
- Help with legal issues – legal proceedings, compensation, personal injury claims and support
- Help with tax – systems, exemptions and rates
- Help with disabilities and health – benefit eligibility and applications, health service complaints and representation at tribunals
- Help with foodbank and energy referrals as well as other grant applications
Why the change is happening
Additional funding provided by the council to Citizens Advice Wokingham since 2020 due to Covid-19 and the cost of living crisis stops after June 2024.
Citizens Advice Wokingham has been providing advice services in Wokingham since 1977 and will continue to do so in the way it always has. This means that longer term case work supporting residents holistically with multiple needs, promoting prevention and community engagement being the focus of the service moving forward.
The new approach means that not all referrals will go to Citizens Advice Wokingham to sign post, as professionals across the borough will ensure that residents are sign posted/referred to the most appropriate service for their needs at the point of contact. Within Citizens Advice Wokingham non-urgent referrals could take slightly longer, but it enables a better assessment and the ability to prioritise individual needs and identify the right support at the right time for residents who need it.
Referrals
Professionals across the borough will need to make more direct referrals to the required services themselves. This will enable residents to directly access the right service at the time they need it.
The council and Citizens Advice Wokingham have collaborated to make the transition from what was used as the One Front Door directory accessible for everyone, to help make direct signposts easily.
It’s for professionals and volunteers across the borough who need to signpost someone to the right type of help. This will be available soon.