Changes to Citizens Advice Bureau

Published: 20 March 2020

Dear all,

Due to the Prime Minister’s announcement on Monday 16th March 2020 and in order to minimise the risk of spreading the virus, Arun and Chichester Citizens Advice has made the following difficult decisions: h immediate effect:

We will stop delivering a face to face service for the following projects:

Home Visiting Service;

Social Prescribing Service;

Dementia Support Service at Sage House;

Multiple Sclerosis Service;

Energy Advice Programme;

Big Energy Saving Network;

Technology Doesn’t Byte (Digital Money Coach) Service;

Domestic Abuse Financial Capability Service;

Help to Claim Service

From Monday 23rd March 2020

• From this date we will cease all our face to face service at the following locations:

Outreaches : - East Preston Parish Council, Yapton & Ford Village Hall, Rustington Parish Council, Littlehampton, Chichester & Bognor JobCentres, Amber House, Littlehampton Baptist Church, Wickbourne Family Centre, Midhurst South Downs Centre, Selsey Town Hall, The Witterings Medical Centre and HMP Ford Prison.

Offices : -

Chichester Centre, East Pallant House, 1 East Pallant, Chichester, PO19 1TY,

Bognor Centre, Town Hall, Clarence Road, Bognor Regis, PO21 1LD,

Littlehampton Hubs :-

Littlehampton Library, Maltravers Road, Littlehampton, BN17 5NA,

Chilgrove House Community Centre, Kimberry, Wick, Littlehampton, BN17 7JD.

(N.B. Although we planned to close these offices on the 23rd March, external factors forced us to close these offices earlier.)

During this period, we will provide a telephone/webchat/email and post advice service.

o Adviceline can be accessed by calling 0344 477 1171 or 0300 3300 650

o Webchat can be accessed through https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/contact-us/web-chat-service/ - when webchat is not available, the client is given an option to send an email instead

o Postal advice can be given by writing to:

Arun & Chichester Citizens Advice

Town Hall, Clarence Road

Bognor Regis

West Sussex

PO21 1LD

Please see the Citizens Advice website www.citizensadvice.org.uk. Click here for vital information on consumer and employee rights from Citizens Advice, and visit Citizens Advice's Coronavirus page for all the latest information.

Please note that we will be able to continue to distribute food and fuel vouchers without the need for clients to access our premises. We have also managed to agree for the restriction of one fuel voucher per household a year to be lifted during this period and we are therefore able to provide enough vouchers to enable people to stay warm during this period.

Social Prescribing Service

Following discussion with our funders, it has been agreed that the role of the R.E.A.L Social Prescribing service should be altered during this time.

Rather than meeting clients face-to-face and encouraging them to “link in” with activities in the community, the team will be conducting telephone appointments to “check in” with vulnerable and isolated clients in the Rustington, East Preston, Angmering and Littlehampton (REAL) area. The service will be advertised as someone to listen to their worries or having a general chat, with the aim of reducing the negative feelings of isolation and ensuring vulnerable people are still able to access food, medication, electricity, etc, and so improving both the mental and physical wellbeing of the community.

Clients can be referred to this service by calling 01903 725960. The Administration team will take the client’s details and send them through to the Social Prescribers who will call the client back.

Other

We are also investigating working closely with other organisations and our volunteers to provide more practical help and assistance to our local community during these difficult times.

Please look after yourself and each other.

Kind regards,

Luca Badioli

Chief Executive Officer