New services, New people

Financial Advice

From September Citizens Advice Torfaen will be able to offer financial advice under a new program called MoneyPlan. Under MoneyPlan a qualified financial adviser will offer services as a volunteer. Clients can be referred to this service on a fortnightly basis initially.

Pensions changes to criteria

Please note that Pensionwise is now available to clients aged 50 or over and not 55 as previously

Energy Efficient Homes

Citizens Advice Torfaen have secured funding to offer clients advice on grants to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. Natalie Hopkins will lead on this project which will advice 120 clients between now and the end of March. The project is also funded for home visits. This project is in addition to the Energy Best Deal project which advises on supplier switching.

Introduction to benefits for volunteer advisers

Our next Team Meeting (Wed 16 September) will feature a full session on an introduction to welfare benefits. This will be ideal training for advice volunteers and other staff wanting to know more. The session will be led by our Lead Benefits caseworker, Lesley Cave.

Operations Manager

Samantha Greenland has accepted our new post of Operations Manager. Sam comes to us with a background in trading standards where she has been a Trading Standards Officer in Blaenau Gwent, a Regional Officer for the Welsh Local Government Association and most recently a Project Support Officer for the All Wales Academy Project.

Sam will be key to the next phase of development for the Bureau, supporting both the operational delivery of our client service and the development of new funding streams. Sam's first day in the Bureau will be Thu 10th September. The position is pert time.

New starters

This week we welcome Martha Smith-Higgins and Francesca Breet

New on the Advice Rota : Justine George, Jade Ngai and Cynthia King

There are a number of adviser courses coming up as follows, please see David Roberts if you are interested.

15^th and 16^th September - Bristol

22^nd and 23^rd September - Birmingham

7^th and 8^th October – Cardiff

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

Is there anything else we can help you with ?

The Budget - implications for our communities and how we can help.

It will be some time before independent research can shed light on the implications of the July budget for Wales, South East Wales or even Torfaen.

We can help households across Torfaen manage by giving the right advice.

Citizens Advice Chief Economist Hugh Strickland says.. 

"...more concerning is the significant reduction in support through the tax credit system. £3.5 billion of support is taken away next year, rising further as limits to two children are imposed in 2017. This will have a serious impact on working families who are low paid but paid above the National Living Wage, for example families earning between £14,000 (for one full-time worker) to £25,000 (for one full-time and one part-time earner). [for example] A couple, one working full-time, the other part-time, with two children could well lose over £2,000 per year." full article can be found here

It is likely to certain that a large number of families in our local communities will fall into the category that Hugh refers to. 

'Is there anything else we can help you with ?'

In the coming days we will be asking all our advisers to offer an MOT style support package (provided by our casework team) of advice and support with budgeting, debts, benefits, fuel savings and access to other forms of support or help such as food banks, families first and others.

We owe it to our clients to make sure they have the information to manage the changes.

Scams Awareness Month

July is scams awareness month. We are collecting examples of scams to publicise on our Facebook pages so please send any examples you have come across recently to mal.edgson@torfaencab.org.uk

You can play the Scams Awareness Game here

New Advisers

The week we welcome onto our advice rota Jade Ngai and Cynthia King. well done both of you, we hope you enjoy the role.

Dates

Next Bureau Team meeting - correction: Wed 17th September 1pm - 4pm All staff and volunteers are welcome.

Bank Holiday closures: Mon 31 Aug.

Christmas Closure 2015: The Bureau will be closed from 12.30pm on Thu 24th Dec and will reopen on Mon 4th Jan 2016. There will be no outreach sessions on Thu 24th. Bureau staff will need to take annual leave on the following days. 24th (half day), 30th, 31st Dec.

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

Great start for Webchat

Great start for webchat

We had our general advice webchat launch on 4th June and since then, a little over 3 weeks, we have managed a whopping 123 chats, double the expectation. the General advice webchat is a service we are providing as part of a consortium bid alongside Caerphilly, Merthyr and Cardiff & Vale CABx and its got off to a great start.

Our team of webchatters are: Jill Martin, Naomi White, Sue Roberts, David Taylor-Williams and Tony Pursell. Advisers who would like to become webchatters should speak to Dave Roberts.

New Energy Efficiency Project begins 1st July.

A nine month project, Energy Efficiency Wales, designed to help clients with fuel poverty issues relating to fuel efficiency, including grants for insulation, new boilers, draft proofing etc starts soon. Citizens Advice Torfaen was one of 5 bureau across Wales to successfully bid for this project. The others are Caerphilly, Merthyr, Powys & Denbighshire.

Natalie Hopkins will be seconded to the project until March 2016.

Refurbishent nears completion at Pontypool

The refurbishment of Pontypool Bureau is now substantially complete. We have created a new advice room, a new kitchen and loo. The new telephone system was installed a few weeks ago and some modifications to the internet connection should have speeded that up a bit. The new carpets are in and we are just waiting for the decorators, some works to the electrics and of course an updated sign.

Nathan joins the advice team

Nathan Adams has joined the advice team today having completed his supervised interviews. Well done Nathan.

Fantastic result Lisa

Lisa's client had completed a benefit renewal form which led to the all the child's disability benefits being stopped. Lisa helped the client with her appeal against the decision which led to an award for Child DLA; middle rate care and low rate mobility. We also advised to client to make a carers allowance claim which we helped her with . Both claims were successful, leading to a backdating payment of £9,000 and an ongoing annual increase in family income of £9,000 a year. Quite a days work, well done Lisa.

Volunteer forum

Tony Pursell and David Taylor Williams from Citizens Advice Torfaen joined 10 volunteers from Bureau in South Wales at the first Volunteer Forum last week.The forum focused on good and bad things about being a volunteer in your bureau and also included briefings on Research & Campaigning and Discrimination.

Bring in your Mugshots

With an ever growing and changing team of staff and volunteers we have to put some effort into getting to know one an other. We want to create a staff and volunteers board with photographs, names and responsibilities where relevant. 

Dates

Next Bureau Team meeting - correction: Wed 17th September 1pm - 4pm All staff and volunteers are welcome.

Bank Holiday closures: Mon 31 Aug.

Christmas Closure 2015: The Bureau will be closed from 12.30pm on Thu 24th Dec and will reopen on Mon 4th Jan 2016. There will be no outreach sessions on Thu 24th. Bureau staff will need to take annual leave on the following days. 24th (half day), 30th, 31st Dec.

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

The Bureau - What's in a name ?

What's in a name ?

As part of Citizens Advice re-branding not only do we have a new logo, new colours, visuals and a new 'tone of voice' we are also changing the name that we use everyday.

The introduction of a new tone of voice brings a refreshing and long awaited simplicity and friendliness to what we say. You can read more about this in the brand guidance

Citizens Advice Torfaen will be reflected in our signage, advertising and correspondence.

The re-brand says goodbye to the word 'Bureau' which for many in this modern era is not even a piece of furniture.

You can read more in the brand guidance which is available here

Email is Going Google

Monday will see the launch of Citizens Advice roll out of a new email system based on Gmail and Google Apps. Ultimately this will make it much easier for us to allocate email addresses to volunteers, share documents securely, access documents from anywhere and store documents more securely. It will also cost less to maintain the Bureau computers.

A final call for the Volunteer Forum being help in Cardiff.

If you would like to go to this expenses paid event on the 17th June in central Cardiff please see David Roberts

939 clients helped in May

Citizens Advice Torfaen helped near on 1,000 people last month. A lot of these were by webchat, some by telephone but the majority were face to face through our 6 bureau and outreach locations across Torfaen.

The problems people came to see us about: Debt 41%, Benefits 31%, Housing 8%, Employment 6%, Relationships and Family 3%, All other issues accounted for 11%. Slightly more than half were female and a third of clients had a disability or long term health condition. Around half of our clients are from Torfaen, the remainder spread across England and Wales.

A quarter of our clients required a full casework service.

Bring in your Mugshots

With an ever growing and changing team of staff and volunteers we have to put some effort into getting to know one an other. We want to create a staff and volunteers board with photographs, names and responsibilities where relevant. 

One Person Responds.....

PLEASE can you bring in or email to mal.edgson@torfaencab.org.uk a photograph of yourself for the board. We promise we will not use it for any other purpose. My gratitude goes out to the single person who has so far responded, you know who you are.

Dates

Next Bureau Team meeting - correction: Thu 18th June at 1 - 4pm All staff and volunteers are welcome.

Bank Holiday closures: Mon 31 Aug.

Christmas Closure 2015: The Bureau will be closed from 12.30pm on Thu 24th Dec and will reopen on Mon 4th Jan 2016. There will be no outreach sessions on Thu 24th. Bureau staff will need to take annual leave on the following days. 24th (half day), 30th, 31st Dec.

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

What would YOU do with £1,000 ?

What would YOU do with £1,000 ?

Last summer the Community Projects Centre, Cwmbran donated £1,000 to the Bureau on the condition the money was spent on volunteers. We have yet to allocate this money to a purpose which volunteers at the Bureau would value or benefit from. We would be grateful for your suggestions. Please send them to mal.edgson@torfaencab.org.uk

What new services would you like to see the Bureau offer ?

With the construction of three new advice rooms at our Cwmbran Bureau we have the opportunity to provide new services to our clients. We already have a number of external organisations who supplement our core advice offer: Shelter, Pensionwise, Family Law Clinic, and Tax Help for Older People. what else could we provide ?

If you have an idea for a useful service please email me on mal.edgson@torfaencab.org.uk

New Starters

This week we welcome Michelle Leeder who is a graphic designer joining us on an internship. Michelle we be mainly working from home but as part of her work improving our reception areas, our shop windows, our publicity and integrating the new Citizens Advice branding she will be in and around our offices from time to time.

Thank you for the team work

Both Karen and Rachel have been poorly recently which has left our Admin Team depleted of staff. Doreen and Lisa like to thank the Admin Volunteers and others for helping out and going beyond the call of duty to keep reception and the admin function running these last two weeks. A great example of team work, thanks to all.

Generalist webchat

Our new webchat service which will mirror on line what we are able to provide through Adviceline Cymru will start with the training of the first four volunteers, Jill Martin, David Taylor-Williams, Tony Pursell, Sue Roberts and Naomi White will take place on Tue 19th May.  If you are interested in trying out this exciting new advice channell please drop Dave a line david.roberts@torfaencab.org.uk 

Leaks and broken windows

Cwmbran shopping have finally engaged builders who will replace the broken skylights in the Cwmbran Bureau. The work will be done overnight so will not disrupt our normal services.

New Branding

Torfaen CAB has been accepted as an early adopter of the new Citizens Advice branding we hope to have new publicity materials arriving from next week which will feature the new logo, new colour scheme and new stories to describe our work. Expect posters and pop-up banners as a minimum.

Bring in your Mugshots

With an ever growing and changing team of staff and volunteers we have to put some effort into getting to know one an other. We want to create a staff and volunteers board with photographs, names and responsibilities where relevant. 

PLEASE can you bring in or email to mal.edgson@torfaencab.org.uk a photograph of yourself for the board. We promise we will not use it for any other purpose.

Dates

Next Bureau Team meeting: Wed 17th June at 1 - 4pm All staff and volunteers are welcome.

Bank Holiday closures: Mon & Tue 25/26 May; Mon 31 Aug.

Christmas Closure: The Bureau will be closed from 12.30pm on Thu 24th Dec and will reopen on Mon 4th Jan 2016. There will be no outreach sessions on Thu 24th. Bureau staff will need to take annual leave on the following days. 24th (half day), 30th, 31st Dec.

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 Torfaen Citizens Advice Bureau

2014-15, our busiest ever year

2014-15. Our busiest ever year.

Last year was the busiest for the Bureau. We helped 7,033 unique individuals who came to us for help with 13,034 problems. A little over half of those people were from Torfaen, the remainder from the surrounding areas and those across Wales and England who we helped via Adviceline and Webchat.

In 2014-15 we helped 5% of the adult population in Torfaen and across the last two years we have helped 10%, over 6,800 individual people from the Borough.

For those 7,033 people who contacted us last year we were able to help them to the tune of £18m in benefit, debts managed and other financial gains.

39% of people came to us with debt problems, 34% about benefits, 6% with housing problems, 5% with employment issues and 4% with relationship or family law matters.

A third of our clients have a disability or life limiting long term illness.

Fareshare in Blaenavon

Torfaen CAB are exploring bringing a Fareshare food hamper scheme for low income families to our Blaenavon Outreach. With help and support from Torfaen Communities First we hope to be able to offer the service to 40 families locally each week. You can find out more about Fareshare at www.fareshare.org.uk 


New Branding
The new Citizens Advice branding starts to go live acorss the country this month. You will have already noticed the new branding across all Citizens Advice websites and we hope to follow suit as soon as the image library is released to us. We have requested to become an early adopter bureau so we are hopeful of a fresh new image soon.

Bring in your Mugshots

With an ever growing and changing team of staff and volunteers we have to put some effort into getting to know one an other. We want to create a staff and volunteers board with photographs, names and responsibilities where relevant. 

PLEASE can you bring in or email to mal.edgson@torfaencab.org.uk a photograph of yourself for the board. We promise we will not use it for any other purpose.

Dates

Next Bureau Team meeting: Wed 17th June at 1 - 4pm All staff and volunteers are welcome.

Bank Holiday closures: Mon & Tue 25/26 May; Mon 31 Aug.

Christmas Closure: The Bureau will be closed from 12.30pm on Thu 24th Dec and will reopen on Mon 4th Jan 2016. There will be no outreach sessions on Thu 24th. Bureau staff will need to take annual leave on the following days. 24th (half day), 30th, 31st Dec.

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 Torfaen Citizens Advice Bureau

Volunteer Forums in Wales

Volunteer Forums in Wales

Citizens Advice Cymru are holding regional events for Volunteers.  The agenda for the day is based on feedback from Volunteers and will be circulated shortly.

Our nearest forum will be held on Wednesday 17 June at Citizens Advice Cymru, 5 Fitzalan Place, Cardiff. Lunch will be provided and all travel costs covered. If you are interersted in going please see David Roberts. david.roberts@torfaencab.org.uk

Feedback

Look Out for the new feedback system in Cwmbran: We have recognised that we ask our clients to fill in far to many forms for their liking so we have developeda fun way to get some feedback. Many thanks to John Sharratt for the inspiration

The Bureau has also begun signing up clients for an in-depth client feedback survey which will be routinely undertaken on a monthly basis and form part of our quality dashboard in the future. We are currently part of the pilot stage and began signing up clients at our Cwmbran reception last week.

New Interview Rooms at Cwmbran

We are delighted that our new interview rooms at Cwmbran are finally open. They have transformed the room and will allow us to inprove the range of advice as well as keep on top of the demand.

Welcome Back Aneta

Is has been great to see Aneta return this month from her maternity leave, she will be rejoining the debt team and working on the MASDAP Project, the Debt Webchat and at outreach in Blaenavon.

We have saved this opportunity to share with you some great feedback from one of her clients who said...

"...in summary, a higly professional and experienced service (from Aneta) for which I will always be grateful"

Welcome back Tony

We are also delighted this week to welcome back on of our long standing volunteers. Always a stalwart of Adviceline, Tony Williams is re-joining us to keep the phones manned on Mondays.

Dates

Next Bureau Team meeting: Wed 17th June at 1 - 4pm All staff and volunteers are welcome.

Bank Holiday closures: Mon 4th May; Mon & Tue 25/26 May; Mon 31 Aug.

Christmas Closure: The Bureau will be closed from 12.30pm on Thu 24th Dec and will reopen on Mon 4th Jan 2016. There will be no outreach sessions on Thu 24th. Bureau staff will need to take annual leave on the following days. 24th (half day), 30th, 31st Dec.

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 or come and see me.

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