Inside Citizens Advice East Berkshire: CAEB calls for New Years volunteers

Those looking for a ‘fresh challenge’ in the new year are encouraged to join Citizens Advice East Berkshire (CAEB) – which is always keen for volunteers from all walks of life.

CAEB offers advice on civil law or ‘everyday law’. This could relate to housing, debt or employment. CAEB’s advice is confidential, impartial and free at the point of service.

It can also handle some related criminal law, such as illegal convictions and landlord harassment.

Pippa Banham, CEO of the branch, explained some of CAEB’s functions.

Types of help CAEB can offer

CAEB can help demystify aspects of law where people are uncertain. A commonly misunderstood one is around tenant rights.

A landlord can issue a Section 21 notice giving tenants two months’ notice that they want them to leave – but this is more of a request than a demand.

The landlord must go through the proper processes and if they have not, this notice isn’t valid and would have to be issued again.

CAEB can help people look at the paperwork to check it is correct – if it isn’t, that at least buys more time for people to find other living arrangements.

The charity is seeing more of these kinds of issues, because landlords are under financial pressure and can’t afford their mortgages.

“It all ties back to the cost of living,” said Pippa.

Citizens Advice services across the board are experiencing a lot of demand due to the cost of living.

The ‘worst few months’ of the year are coming up, what with the pressures on winter fuel costs and Christmas.

Typically, the service is ‘very busy’ in February and March.

How CAEB will help

For those seeking advice, CAEB continues to recommend phone contact in the first instance. Though CAEB can support via email, the back and forth of phone communication is often better.

Many of the cases CAEB deals handles involve several complex issues tied up together – talking to the initial assessor helps get the right help to the right people at the right time.

“We’re all about empowerment,” said Pippa. “If someone can solve their own problems with support, we want to empower them to do that.”

To make the service more accessible, CAEB is looking to potentially introduce a web chat feature next year, which CAEB hopes will help engage more young people and people with disabilities, who might use voice dictation features to communicate.

“We have seen a big uptick in people seeking help for their disability benefits,” said Pippa.

The personal independence payment (PIP) form is ‘extremely long’, confusing and is often refused when submitted.

“It’s a very long, arduous process for people, not an easy benefit to apply for,” said Pippa.

“The fact that you need a specialist advisor [to complete it] is a policy issue for us. We don’t think it should be that difficult.”

As such, Citizens Advice is involved in campaign work and is helped by the regional branches by the data they gather on their patches.

The team break-down

Some problems are solved quickly, and others need work from full advisors, or specialist advisors connected to the national Citizens Advice group that CAEB can contact – debt or benefits specialists, for example.

There are also two people working on a mental health case team.

CAEB has about 100 volunteers overall. That includes people working in reception and admin, which are also important volunteer roles.

People who begin in reception can also be upskilled into assessors as they continue to volunteer.

Assessors complete training which takes on average six to eight weeks, whereas the full advisor training is likely to take about nine months, taking up one or two days a week.

Volunteers have supervisors and support from people who’ve been at Citizens Advice for longer and can act as a ‘buddy’ for newer volunteers.

There can be some emotionally heavy topics and often CAEB volunteers will need to ‘decompress’.

Training volunteers

CAEB is keen to get people training into the swing of things by letting them observe the others work – and has some other ideas for helping people volunteer at CAEB.

Currently it is looking to fast-track university students from Royal Holloway, with just two weeks' training. Their legal literacy, experience in research and IT skills give them what they need to get started.

It is also looking to run taster days in the future to help interested volunteers get a feel for the work.

Computer skills are a must at CAEB – volunteers must not be ‘fazed’ by the IT – but Pippa is keen to make volunteering as accessible as possible and suggests those who lack confidence get free help from the library.

“We want to remove any barriers for people who want to come and volunteer,” she said.

In particular, CAEB is looking to boost diversity in its volunteer base.

“Peer to peer advice is really valuable in terms of age and ethnicity,” said Pippa. “This will definitely shape us as an organisation for the better.

The charity is looking at introducing more flexibility in its training programme to boost this – and also speaks to volunteers to find out more about their reasons for volunteering.

Some people are retirees, some have been helped by CAEB in the past. Pippa said CAEB encourages people who have struggled with debt or had mental health problems in the past.

“Lived experience is a really great thing,” she said. “It gives you a deeper understanding of the issues and the necessary empathy for engaging with clients.

“You’d be amazed how many people have debt issues and it’s good to know you’re not alone.”

CAEB is always on the hunt for new volunteers as its numbers are often in flux.

For those willing to look into a ‘fresh challenge in the new year’, see the volunteer opportunities available at the CAEB website:

“It’s a great time to come and join us and learn about what we do,” said Pippa.