People helped
The information we can retrieve from Petra about the work we do is now very detailed. This Dashboard shows that we are seeing more people in almost every advice category. It confirms what each of you experience every day; that more people need our help, and more of those people are having problems with welfare benefits and tax credits. Other dashboards also show us that much of this growth in clients helped is through our webchat services which now account for over 20% of our clients.
The profile of a webchat client is belived to be quite different. they are predominently from England, more likely to be 'in work' and often chatting from work. they prefer to remain annonymous, are from more diverse backgrounds than our drop in clients and present witha more diverse range of issues.
New starters
This month we welcome some new volunteers to the Bureau;
Fred Wyer, Jessica Steer, Caroline Treacy, Sarah
Clifford and Emily O'Mara. Also a big well done to Sue House who has qualified as an Adviser.
Training
There is a very high level of training going on in the Bureau these days. The number of volunteers qualifying in advice roles reported in previous blogs is testament to this. Also in recent weeks staff have attended training sessions on Suicide Awareness, Abuse, Illegal Money Lending, Mental Health First Aid. Currently the Admin Team are training with our Benefits Team so that they will have a better understanding of how they can support caseworkers and a fuller understanding of the client journey.
Blaenavon
Since early January we have moved our Blaenavon outreach into the new Health Centre. This is a busy location as it is also home to the doctors surgery, an opticians, pharmacy, podiatry services, dentist, careers, health visitor services and much else. We operate a drop in service Mon, Tue, Thu & Fri with Welfare Benefits appointment on Wednesdays.
Redecoration at Cwmbran
Thanks to an offer from Melin Homes we hope we will very shortly be able to redecorate the reception and first floor areas of our Cwmbran Bureau
Team Meeting
The next team meeting will be held on Wed 24th Febfrom 1- 4pm. The main element will be an Introduction to Welfare Benefits delivered by Lesley and her team of Welfare Advisers.
Next closed period
The Bureau will next be closed for Easter and will not be open 25th, 28th and 29th March 2016
