New Community Advice project in Wokingham
From May 2019 Citizens Advice Wokingham will prove a dedicated Community Adviser in two areas of Wokingham Borough.
Residents living in Gorse Ride in Finchampstead or St Sebastian’s in Wokingham Without will be able to access Advice and information face-to-face in their area.
Our Community Adviser will act as a caseworker for local residents on a variety of issues – including benefits, debt, housing, employment law and many other problems.
They will be supported by a handful of our dedicated volunteers to ensure that we reach as many people as possible who will benefit from this additional service.
This new project comes following a successful funding bid to Wokingham United Charities for over £13,000.
Citizens Advice Wokingham Chief Executive Jake Morrison said:
It is great to be able to announce this new project for the communities of Gorse Ride and St Sebastian’s.
Following feedback on issues such as access to public transport to our main offices, we are keen to ensure we meet the needs of our community.
We know from our statistics that residents who access us already in Gorse Ride tend to have 4 issues per client – our highest in the Borough. With 3 issues per client in St Sebastian’s.
This shows an additional need in the area and our generalist casework provided by a Community Adviser will be able to help empower people to solve those issues through good equality and effective advice and information.
Janet Rogers, Chair of Grants Committee at Wokingham United Charities said:
We frequently hear about the difficulty in “accessing services”, particularly for the vulnerable in our community. We are therefore delighted to support this brilliant new initiative from Citizen’s Advice making their support available close to people’s homes, in some of our most disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
Wokingham United Charities is a registered charity (1107171) supporting people in need in Wokingham since 1451. They provide modern almshouse accommodation at Westende for elderly people in need and relief in need grants for organisations and individuals to tackle disadvantage.
