Help Citizens Advice make a big difference
Citizens Advice East Berkshire (CAEB) is a local charity that offers advice on issues like housing, debt and much more. Chief reporter Adrian Williams visited the team to hear about they do and what they look for in volunteers.
Those looking for a ‘fresh challenge’ in the new year are encouraged to join Citizens Advice East Berkshire (CAEB) – which is always keen for volunteers from all walks of life.
CAEB offers advice on civil law or ‘everyday law’. This could relate to housing, debt or employment.
CAEB’s advice is confidential, impartial and free at the point of service.
It can also handle some related criminal law, such as illegal convictions and landlord harassment.
Pippa Banham, CEO of the branch, explained some of CAEB’s functions.
Types of help CAEB can offer
CAEB can help demystify aspects of law where people are uncertain. A commonly misunderstood one is around tenant rights.
A landlord can issue a Section 21 notice giving tenants two months’ notice that they want them to leave – but this is more of a request than a demand.
The landlord must go through the proper processes and if they have not, this notice isn’t valid and would have to be issued again.
CAEB can help people look at the paperwork to check it is correct – if it isn’t, that at least buys more time for people to find other living arrangements.
The charity is seeing more of these kinds of issues, because landlords are under financial pressure and can’t afford their mortgages.
Citizens Advice services across the board are experiencing a lot of demand due to the cost of living.
How CAEB can help
For those seeking advice, CAEB continues to recommend phone contact in the first instance.
Though CAEB can support via email, the back and forth of phone communication is often better.
“We’re all about empowerment,” said Pippa. “If someone can solve their own problems with support, we want to empower them to do that.”
To make the service more accessible, CAEB is looking to potentially introduce a web chat feature next year, which CAEB hopes will help engage more young people and people with disabilities.
“We have seen a big uptick in people seeking help for their disability benefits,” said Pippa.
The personal independence payment (PIP) form is ‘extremely long’, confusing and is often refused when submitted.
“It’s a very long, arduous process for people, not an easy benefit to apply for,” said Pippa.
“The fact that you need a specialist adviser [to complete it] is a policy issue for us. We don’t think it should be that difficult.”
The team break-down
Some problems are solved quickly, and others need work from full advisers, or specialist advisers connected to the national Citizens Advice group.
There are also two people working on a mental health case team.
CAEB has about 100 volunteers overall. That includes people working in reception and admin, which are also important volunteer roles.
People who begin in reception can also be upskilled into assessors as they continue to volunteer.
Assessors complete training which takes on average six to eight weeks, whereas the full adviser training is likely to take about nine months, taking up one or two days a week.
Training volunteers
CAEB is keen to get people training into the swing of things by letting them observe the others work – and has some other ideas for helping people volunteer at CAEB.
It is looking to fast-track university students from Royal Holloway, with just two weeks training. Their legal literacy, experience in research and IT skills give them what they need to get started.
It is also looking to run taster days in the future to help interested volunteers get a feel for the work.
Computer skills are a must at CAEB but Pippa is keen to make volunteering as accessible as possible.
In particular, CAEB is looking to boost diversity in its volunteer base.
“Peer-to-peer advice is really valuable in terms of age and ethnicity,” said Pippa.
The charity is looking at introducing more flexibility in its training programme to boost this – and also speaks to volunteers to find out more about their reasons for volunteering.
Some people are retirees, some have been helped by CAEB in the past.
“Lived experience is a really great thing,” she said. “It gives you a deeper understanding of the issues and the necessary empathy for engaging with clients.”
CAEB is always on the hunt for new volunteers.
For those willing to look into a ‘fresh challenge in the new year’, see the volunteer opportunities available at caeb.org.uk