The story of Jill and the Shoes
It is not often the words 'advice' and 'shoes' crop up together, it rather conjures up images of those pseudo scientific devises they have in Clarks for measuring children's feet; but not last Thursday!
Jill saw a man who came to us for help because he had not received his benefits for the last 4 weeks. The problem was that the DWP claimed that benefits were being paid but they were not in the clients bank account. The man had been living on food parcels for weeks and as his shoes were literally falling apart it was a major barrier to finding work.
Following lengthy and fruitless attempts to solve the clients problem on the DWP helpline and with the Discretionary Assistance Fund, Jill began ringing round local organisations looking for help getting new shoes for her client. She ended up talking to St Davids Foundation Charity Shop based in the shopping center. Within a few minutes Marilyn the Shop Manager had come to the Bureau with a selection of shoes for the client to try.
A happy client left with some great looking shoes, a food voucher and an appointment with our benefits team to get to the bottom of the problem.
Great work going the extra mile Jill.
Our Bureau is full of unsung hero's, all happy to work hard supporting people in our local communities for the satisfaction that brings, for an occasional thank you from a client, and for some of us some wages thrown in as well.
We have much to thank our Admin Team for. From helping us make some sense out of Petra, resetting our passwords, processing client letters, looking after our files and fixing any number of little problems, we would not get on well without them.
This group have been quietly transforming the work they do over the last six months and three very significant changes have taken place that have improved our service to clients and made life easier for everyone in the Bureau.
Our reception service is much improved; more informed, friendly, engaging and consistent it is all about preparing the client, the room and everything else around the adviser so the interview goes well.
The diary system is more harmonious, reliable, consistent and much easier to use
The transfer of our archive to an Electronic Archive is underway and will make files much easier to store and retrieve in the future, no more rooting around with the rats in the basement! At the moment all files are scanned on closure but in the time the team will be moving to virtually paperless client files.
The Admin Team are now supported by an increasingly skilled group of volunteers contributing to reception, admin and casework support who are generously donating 25 days a week of work to help our service run smoothly.
A big thank you to our wonderful and often overlooked Admin Team, keep up the good work
Annual General Meeting: Friday 21 Nov, 3pm in the meeting room
Team Meeting 26 Nov 1pm
Christmas Meal: Friday 28th November, 1.30pm The Unicorn, Pontypool
Christmas closure: The Bureau will be closed from Mon 22nd Dec until Friday 2nd Jan inclusive. Staff are expected to take the period around the statutory holidays as annual leave as usual.
This Blog is prepared for the staff and volunteers of Torfaen Citizens Advice Bureau
Jill saw a man who came to us for help because he had not received his benefits for the last 4 weeks. The problem was that the DWP claimed that benefits were being paid but they were not in the clients bank account. The man had been living on food parcels for weeks and as his shoes were literally falling apart it was a major barrier to finding work.
Following lengthy and fruitless attempts to solve the clients problem on the DWP helpline and with the Discretionary Assistance Fund, Jill began ringing round local organisations looking for help getting new shoes for her client. She ended up talking to St Davids Foundation Charity Shop based in the shopping center. Within a few minutes Marilyn the Shop Manager had come to the Bureau with a selection of shoes for the client to try.
A happy client left with some great looking shoes, a food voucher and an appointment with our benefits team to get to the bottom of the problem.
Great work going the extra mile Jill.
Some Unsung hero's
Our Bureau is full of unsung hero's, all happy to work hard supporting people in our local communities for the satisfaction that brings, for an occasional thank you from a client, and for some of us some wages thrown in as well.
We have much to thank our Admin Team for. From helping us make some sense out of Petra, resetting our passwords, processing client letters, looking after our files and fixing any number of little problems, we would not get on well without them.
This group have been quietly transforming the work they do over the last six months and three very significant changes have taken place that have improved our service to clients and made life easier for everyone in the Bureau.
Our reception service is much improved; more informed, friendly, engaging and consistent it is all about preparing the client, the room and everything else around the adviser so the interview goes well.
The diary system is more harmonious, reliable, consistent and much easier to use
The transfer of our archive to an Electronic Archive is underway and will make files much easier to store and retrieve in the future, no more rooting around with the rats in the basement! At the moment all files are scanned on closure but in the time the team will be moving to virtually paperless client files.
The Admin Team are now supported by an increasingly skilled group of volunteers contributing to reception, admin and casework support who are generously donating 25 days a week of work to help our service run smoothly.
A big thank you to our wonderful and often overlooked Admin Team, keep up the good work
Diary dates
Annual General Meeting: Friday 21 Nov, 3pm in the meeting room
Team Meeting 26 Nov 1pm
Christmas Meal: Friday 28th November, 1.30pm The Unicorn, Pontypool
Christmas closure: The Bureau will be closed from Mon 22nd Dec until Friday 2nd Jan inclusive. Staff are expected to take the period around the statutory holidays as annual leave as usual.
This Blog is prepared for the staff and volunteers of Torfaen Citizens Advice Bureau
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