Citizens Advice Bureau

Telephone Adviceline 08444 111444 On Line Advice at www.adviceguide.org.uk

How CAB can help

Our service is free, confidential and open to everyone in the community. Staff are trained to advise on virtually any issue, including: • welfare benefits • money management, debt and taxation • employment and travel • consumer rights and the legal system • housing, utilities • home and neighbourhood • education and healthcare • immigration and residency queries • human and civil rights • family and personal issues communications

We won’t tell you what to do but we will arm you with all the facts and possible outcomes of different options. That way you can make the decision that’s right for you. If needed, we can also offer practical support such as help with filling in forms, writing letters or negotiating with third parties. If you need help or advice with daily living – just AskSARA!

A website offering help and advice to people with a range of day-to-day needs is now available with information localised for people living in Cambridgeshire.

AskSARA is a self-help guide that enables you to identify equipment that may help in your daily life. It will take you through a series of guided questions leading to general advice and recommendations on what equipment would be suitable to meet your particular needs and where to get this locally.

The website is easy to use and widely accessible regardless of age or ability. It will be featured as part of the Staying Independent, Safe and Well roadshows taking place in libraries across the county during 2012.

To visit the AskSARA website or for the dates when the roadshows will be in a library near you see www.cambridgeshire. gov.uk/social Confidence boost for the Village Hub

Inspired by the prospect of Melbourn’s Community Hub, the Managers of North Herts and Cambridge Citizens Advice Services are working together to see what CAB services could be delivered to the Melbourn community from the Hub. Discussions so far suggest that a mixture of service delivery may be possible. There may be an advice kiosk provided to enable people to look up information themselves and there may also be outreach surgeries for people who need more help with an adviser.

This early interest by CAB in the Hub is a great boost for the village and an encouraging start towards the development of the Hub facility. Oil Clubs are a great way to save money on fuel costs. They help the environment by cutting down the number of tanker journeys on roads and offer support for people struggling with fuel bills.

Not heard of oil clubs? Oil clubs are groups of people mainly in rural areas who combine their orders for domestic heating oil. They vary in size, from just a few members to several hundred. Why join a club? Oil clubs can use their collective purchasing power to get better deals from oil distribution companies. Members report savings of 10 per cent and over. Combining orders means fewer delivery journeys reducing congestion on roads. How Citizens Advice can help If you are interested in setting up your own club and want to know how to go about it, Citizens Advice has produced a range of guidance and tips to help communities in setting up and running oil clubs which are also known as oil-syndicates, oil buying groups or oil-cooperatives. The following information is available:

A guide on Best Practice for Oil buying Groups, jointly produced by Citizens Advice, ACRE and the Federation of Petroleum Suppliers.

Tips for Co-ordinators – the key role of co-ordinator keeps oil clubs running. We provide some help with some practical tips on how to promote and run your club. If you are a co-ordinator and have anything to add to our tips then please let us know so we can keep them updated.

Case studies – West Berkshire CAB has talked to the co-ordinators of well-established oil clubs operating in its area. Find out what they say.

Citizens Advice has information on existing oil clubs and their contact details, so perhaps there might already be one near you.

If you do set up a club then Citizens Advice would like to know so we can register details of your club and build up our directory.

Justice for All

We are campaigning for free legal advice – because your rights matter.

Many people will be cut off from the help they need as multiple funding streams to Citizens Advice Bureaux, Law Centres and other independent advice agencies are being cut at the same time. Over half a million people will lose out on advice through cuts to legal aid alone, and local authority support is also under threat in many areas.

Citizens Advice is playing a leading role in Justice for All, the campaign to ensure everyone is treated fairly under the law. Thousands have already joined the Justice for All campaign – including leading charities, advice and legal organisations, trade unions, community groups, politicians and members of the public. Why don’t you? To find out more, or to join the campaign: www.justice-for-all.org.uk