What We Do

Telephone Advice & Casework Services

We provide welfare benefit and debt advice services, including casework, by phone to people who have money and debt difficulties. In this way we can support some clients nationwide. The service is always free to clients and is independent of the organisations who fund us. Clients don’t have to travel anywhere and we phone out to clients who can speak to an adviser in complete confidence.

Face to Face Advice

We specialise in working with clients who find it difficult to access mainstream advice services, and seek to deliver our services in a way that is accessible to anyone needing them, whether this is by offering home visits, taking time to establish working relationships with clients who are reluctant to engage, finding out the best way to communicate with an individual, and/or working with other support services, and interpreters. We have expertise and experience in working with people;

experiencing mental illness, dementia, or fluctuating mental capacity,
who have a learning disability or sensory loss,
who have substance misuse as part of their life,
who are refugees or asylum seekers
who have a physical disabilities or chronic health condition
who are neuro-atypical
who are trans or non-binary
who are just wary of those offering “help”

Debt Advice

Many of the people we help are in financial distress with debts that have built up over time to become unmanageable. Our advisers provide expert help which deals with the immediate problems, as well as providing the longer term support that people need to make their money and debt manageable in the future. We may work with a client for a few weeks or months depending on the circumstances.

Our advice services help clients to:

Deal with current debt problems
Manage essential bill payments
Understand their rights
Understand about legal action taken by creditors
Offer repayment by contacting creditors on their behalf
Receive advice about state benefits and tax credits
Make cost savings and maximise income

Where clients want to resolve their problems themselves we provide the information, advice and support to empower them to do this. This includes drafting a workable budget, a copy of the Standard Financial Statement, and letters to enable them to approach creditors with offers of repayment.

Some clients may need more in depth support. We will contact creditors on their behalf and arrange for reduced payments to be made at an affordable level.

We give you information and help with County Court Judgments (CCJs), court procedures, bailiffs, repossession, Debt Management Plans, Bankruptcy, Debt Relief Orders and Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVA). Our advice is always free and independent.

Welfare Benefits Advice

We hold the AQS accreditation for the quality of our advice and casework. We will check that a person is receiving the correct benefits for their individual circumstances, advise and assist with new claims, and provide a casework service and representation at appeal tribunals.

Money Handling

If people need practical help organising their money, we are also able to help with this. We are funded by Brighton & Hove City Council to provide money support to people who have been referred to us by Social Services and who are eligible for free care. People who need support with their money who have been assessed as being fully self funding (or people who live outside Brighton & Hove) can choose to pay us directly for this service. The aim of this service is to enable people to remain independent in their own homes, and we are experienced in supporting people in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act, to make their own decisions wherever possible.

Here are some examples of how we help people with money handling:

We can deliver cash in their own homes to people who can’t get out to the bank
We can pay bills for people who find it difficult to remember what needs to be paid
We can help people stick to their budgets by administering all their payments for them
We’re able to act as appointee and deputy for people unable to deal with their finances themselves

We have contracts with Brighton & Hove City Council to work with the following Groups of People:

Older people who need support
Older people with mental health needs and dementia
Working age people with mental ill health
People with substance misuse and alcohol misuse issues
People with learning disabilities
people with physical disabilities
other people with social care needs

Our support is flexible and person centred – this means that people are encouraged and supported to do as much for themselves as they can.

Talks & Education

We offer budgeting, debt and money management workshops and training sessions to groups of individuals and workers supporting clients with money.