South Lakes Citizens Advice
Westmorland and Furness
South Lakes Citizens Advice is a registered charity offering a holistic advice and information service for anyone and everyone which is:-
Free - We offer a free service to all our clients.
Confidential - Nothing about a client is revealed outside of the service without the clients’ permission.
Impartial - The service is available to everyone regardless of race, sexuality, gender, religion, age or disability. We fully comply with Equality Legislation and Guidance.
Independent - We offer our service to all our clients independent of any funding body.
The Citizens Advice Service aims are:
• To provide the advice people need for the problems they face.
• To improve the policies and practices that affect people's lives.
We have offices in Kendal on Blackhall Road and Ulverston on New Market Street.
Our service is currently closed for face to face appointments but we are available for telephone and e-mail advice. Clients may be asked to drop documents off at the office door.
The Citizens Advice service provides free, independent, confidential and impartial advice to everyone, on their rights and responsibilities. It values diversity, promotes equality and challenges discrimination.
We provide generalist advice and information on a wide range of issues. For example, we can help people resolve issues in relation to legal matters, money and debt, employment, consumer, welfare benefits, housing and homelessness and much more.
Our advisers will also provide practical support such as writing letters and completing forms and can make phone calls to third parties on the client's behalf. We work with client’s who are struggling financially to maximise their income, identify priority and non priority debts and negotiate on their behalf with creditors.
We can also refer clients to a range of other organisations, who can provide other practical and/or specialist support to meet your needs.
Specialist services
MacMillan Project
We offer specialist welfare benefits advice to people who may be affected by or living with Cancer via our Macmillan project. We have two dedicated Macmillan Benefits Advisors who support and provided advice and this service can be delivered, if appropriate within the person’s home.
Our advisors are Joe Naylor who can be reached on 07500 726058 and (position vacant) who can be reached on 07854 157822.
Welfare Benefits Advice
We can also assist clients in applying for a range of benefits, and can help with appeals against decisions. We have a dedicated Welfare Benefits Caseworker, who can support clients throughout the various stages of the application and review process.
Money Advice
We have a dedicate team of money advice caseworkers who work on a one to one basis with clients to help resolve their financial problems by negotiating with creditors and drafting affordable repayment plans.
There is no waiting list for our service and our caseworkers will endeavour to help you resolve any problems as soon as possible.
Help to Claim - Universal Credit.
We offer telephone advice and one to one appointments to help the client make their initial claim.
Our dedicated advisers can help to decide if Universal Credit is right for the client, set up an e-mail account, show the client how to manage their Universal Credit online accounts and help develop client confidence in using Universal Credit online Services.
Our Help to Claim team can be reached on 0800 1488 444
Money Matters
We can provide group sessions or one to one coaching with people to look at how they can manage their finances more effectively.
Housing
In conjunction with Cumbria County Council and their HAWCs team we deliver low level housing advice such as help needed maintaining a tenancy.
Making a Difference
We can make a difference by influencing policymakers. We campaign on a range of issues, and aim to influence local and national government on Social Policy Issues which affect people’s lives.
We provide a quality advice and information service for the community in South Lakeland.