A very happy Christmas & a prosperous New Year

Happy Christmas

A very happy Christmas and a prosperours New Year to all at Citizens Advice Torfaen. It is a privilege to work with so many committed staff and volunteers who work hard to deliver such a high standard to advice to our communities and who so often go the extra mile for our clients. 

All change at Blaenavon

From Monday 4th Jan our Blaenavon outreach will move to the health Centre. Formerly called the Blaenavon Resource Centre it is the centre for all the doctors in Blaenavon as well as podiatary, dentistry, opticians, a pharmacy, careers, communities first, police, and a range of other services. It is also opposite the only primary school in Blaeavon so we are very excited to be moving to what we hope will be a more accessible location. Our outreach in Church View will close on the 19th Dec.

New Staff

This time we welcome Aleshia Warren and Jade Ngai on to our staff team in the role of casework support. They will both work within Lisa's Admin team to support our caseworkers manage the client caseload. Welcome aboard both.

New volunteers

We also welcome Kirtsy Vaughan & Denise Colcombe who join the Admin team and Janette Tovey, Charles Dabbs and Sue House as trainee advisers. Welcome aboard all. 

Training

Ruth Felvus and Graeme Russell both graduate as Advisers whilst Lisa Oates has passed her NVQ Level 2 qualification in Team Leading/Management and Andrea Thomas & Allison Whitehouse passed their NVQ level 3 in Management.
 

Please complete our staff and volunteers survey

The survey will support us to continuously improve our people management performance and provide Citizens Advice with an assurance of the quality of our people management.

Please take the time to complete this survey. It is important that the views of everyone working here are represented.

You can complete the survey by clicking on this link: http://goo.gl/forms/53B7hmoTp1 

If you would prefer to complete the survey in an alternative format, or have any other difficulties accessing the survey, or just have a question please let Mal Edgson know.

Your response to this survey will be anonymous and confidential. Citizens Advice will only share summary results from the survey with us. We will share these summary results with you.

The deadline for completing the survey is 14 January 2016.

Changes to Benefits & Tax Credits
The Chancellors Autumn Statement introduced a new wave of reforms to the system of social security. This is a very complex area and apart from this article very little has yet been published on the impact on different household types. http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/23/budget-deficit-could-hit-40bn-pounds-autumn-statement-george-osborne

Diary Dates

Next Bureau Team Meeting - correction: Thu 21st January 2015 at 1 - 4pm All staff and volunteers are welcome.

Christmas Closure 2015: The Bureau will be closed from 12.30pm on Thu 24th Dec and will reopen on Mon 4th Jan 2016. Bureau staff will need to take annual leave on the following days. 24th (half day), 30th, 31st Dec. Note: we will be closed to the public on the morning of 24th Dec but this is still a working time and staff will need to take leave if they do not intend to report for work.

All outreach (Blaenavon, Trevethin, Greenmeadow & Garnsychan Partnership) will be closed from Mon 21st Dec until Fri 1st Jan inclusive.

Feedback

I always welcome feedback from staff and volunteers, you can ring me on 01633 876128 send an email at mal.edgson@torfaencab.org.uk, write a letter, comment on this blog, place your comment or suggestion in the comments box in the Cwmbran meeting room, feed it through your line manager or Advice Session Supervisor or come and see me.

This Blog is prepared for the staff and volunteers of Citizens Advice Torfaen