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OFFERING ADVICE We have been providing information and advice from our first days, from how to register with a doctor, dentist or school to individual rights and responsibilities in respect of immigration, nationality and citizenship. We were initially funded by Leicestershire County Council until 2014 when, with government cuts, our funding was stopped.
General Advice Those who have recently moved to the UK have a need to find out about things that will effect their lives. These include matters to do with housing, schools, doctors and dentists, council tax, debt, money management and welfare rights. In addition, they have to manage their citizenship, immigration and nationality.
We offer help to parents with school allocations, school meals and registration of births and deaths. The introduction of ‘digital by default’ has made it more difficult for people lacking language and IT skills. We are here to help fill the gaps in such skills and prevent frequently faced sanctions. Recently, we were approached by Job Centre Plus to help BAME people meet their claimant commitments. Some parents used to try to get their younger more computer literate children to help them in job searches.
Debt & Money Between 2014 and 2017 we ran several debt and money management projects for Charnwood Borough Council, under their Special Debt & Money Management programme. We continue to offer general debt advice, including helping people to learn key skills in managing their finances, budgeting and setting up direct debits. More specialist issues such as bankruptcy and repossessions have to be referred to Proactive Community Endeavour (PACE) or the Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB), both local specialist debt advice agencies.
Where the client needs support we will set up the appointment and go with them or have them meet at our offices. Unfortunately in 2019 due to changes in the funding criteria (advice agencies must apply to be FSC registered) we are no longer eligible.
Immigration/Nationality/ Citizenship This work has also been done for many years. It starts with people requesting help with sponsoring family members
