Support for Armadale

Armadale may soon get its own Advice Shop with regular sessions being held at the town’s partnership centre. It is one of the options that the Advice Shop team based in Bathgate is looking at to help the develop the service in the west of the county. Chris Nelson, from the Advice Shop, told the Armadale and Blackridge Local Area Committee that the Advice Shop had helped 1400 people over the year with inquiries and had helped secure £2.8m in benefits and recover £131,000 on benefit appeals for its clients. As with other areas, Chris Nelson highlighted the growing complexity of financial issues raised by those using the service in Armadale and Blackridge. He also pointed to the £452,000 of debt which Advice Shop staff had helped customers manage. Most is with small value loans and high interest rates, another growing trend seen across the service in other areas. Chris Nelson added:“It is often not just about the extra money. We do have to deliver some difficult messages to people.”