Your Citizens Advice Bureau

The CAB changes lives but needs a little help. Many people who are entitled to benefits are not claiming them. The CAB would like to hear from employers so that information can be included in employees' wage packets.

The FREE and impartial advice is not the only benefit that the CAB offers. Its charitable aims ensure that the law works well for everyone. The bureaux collect information which is used as evidence in meetings with ministers and organisations to make changes for the better. Evidence has been collected regarding the closure of post offices, lack of NHS dentists and debt problems.

A potential service that Wealden Citizens Advice is trying to establish is a Credit Union. This has come about through joint working with the Crowborough Partnership and is currently trying to establish whether this service is needed throughout the Wealden area. A credit union offers saving, lending and investment opportunities to residents in the local area and is particularly useful for people who find it difficult to access credit from high street banks or other lenders. The credit union has to run according to the Financial Services Authority rules and the interest rate is always reasonable which means that people will not have to rely on doorstep lenders and their exorbitant rates.

Another recent development has been the introduction of a pilot evening telephone service which has been running at Crowborough since November 2007. A similar pilot scheme was introduced at Uckfield CAB in January 2008. Whilst this provides better access for people who cannot get into the CAB during office hours it may not be sustainable as there are not enough advisers and supervisors to cover the service at present. In order to continue this service we urgently need to recruit more volunteers. Our volunteers come from all walks of life and to become an adviser you do not need any previous qualifications, skills or experience as all volunteers receive comprehensive free training. Wealden Citizens Advice would be pleased to hear from anyone who is interested in training to become a volunteer adviser or to provide admin., or IT help. Please phone Pauline, Ann or Judy on 01323 440323 for an informal chat.

The Citizens Advice Bureau provides FREE advice at its office in Uckfield and outreach services in Heathfield and Mayfield.
To contact the CAB Tel: 01825 767880

This article was created on Thursday, 1st May 2008. It was last tinkered with on Sunday, 8th February 2009.

This is Flea Magazine in the Wealden area of East Sussex.

You can see the individual articles by selecting from the titles below.

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