The Money Goals Advice Service – Launch event

Money Goals Advice Service Launch event banner

 

Our charity is partnering with Bath City Football Club and Wessex Water to provide a satellite service for residents of Twerton and Whiteway.

In 2019, Twerton and Whiteway were listed as two of the most deprived areas in the UK. This deprivation is made worse by residents being located on the outskirts of Bath, far from charitable support services like ours. Now, we’re taking our service to resident in an effort to alleviate the financial challenges that some residents are facing, by establishing a weekly debt management advice service at Twerton Park football ground.

A launch event to help promote the service will be taking place at the community-owned football club and will be attended by Ken Loach, Director of the recently released movie about precarious work, Sorry We Missed You, and our ambassador, the TV personality, Dr. Phil Hammond.

Wessex Water, Bath City Football Club and Citizens Advice Bath and North East Somerset partnership

Our CEO, Les Redwood has said: “The effects of 10 years of austerity on communities and charities like ours are really laid bare by the dire circumstances of some of the residents of Twerton and Whiteway. That’s why collaborations such as this one are vital for the future provision of support to some of the most disadvantaged people in our society and it’s great that our partners are helping us to help others.”

General Manager of Bath City Football Club, Carole Banwell said: “The inequalities between Twerton and Whiteway and parts of the rest of Bath are alarmingly wide. So Bath City Football Club is really happy to be able to help with this project and hopes it will provide a real lifeline to local residents. As a community-owned club, we’re emotionally and financially invested in making Twerton and Whiteway a better place for residents and in the end, that’s good for Bath.”

Director of Customer Policy and Engagement at Wessex Water, Sue Lindsay said: “We strive to offer help for customers who struggle to pay their water bills, but we know that those living in deprived areas without any local support initiatives, like Twerton and Whiteway, can be hard to reach and may be missing out on these vital services. We’re delighted to be a part of this satellite advice service and hope to be able to help our financially disadvantaged customers in these areas get back on track.”

 

Please email: Douglas Eason if you’d like to attend.

 

 

Our chalet at the Bath Christmas Market 2019 was a great success!

Citizens Advice Bath and North East Somerset Bath Christmas Market 2019 chalet

Our charity was very lucky to be awarded a chalet at the Bath Christmas Market on Saturday 7 December 2019 and we made the most of it and the glorious sunshine. We raised a fantastic £632.31, while getting the message out that we are an independent charity. We really appreciate every donation we received and thank those who made them. The funds will go directly into supporting our core service of helping people manage multiple, complex issues, such as debt and benefit issues, employment and housing problems or even immigration concerns, along with many other topics important to people in our district.

We’d like to say a huge “Thank you” to everyone who supported our chalet, including all of the volunteers and staff who baked and made goods, were present at the chalet throughout the day and into the night, and who helped to manage it logistically. Additionally, we’d like to say “Thank you” to the Bath Christmas Market for giving us the opportunity to get in front of so many people.

Bath’s Prior Park College Baines House students very kindly and spectacularly decorated our chalet, helping to make it stand out and be noticed.

Finally, our gratitude goes to the local businesses that donated prizes to our raffle:

 

 

 

BATH HALF 2020! Running for Citizens Advice – Bath and North East Somerset

Promotional image of the Bath Half

We’re delighted to have 3 places for Bath Half 2020!

Rich, Fiona and Doug, members of staff at our charity, are training relentlessly for March 15. Our charity and our runners, in particular, would love to have your support on the day, so please let us know if you’d like to be involved in cheering for Citizens Advice – Bath and North East Somerset!

 

 

Campaigning for Change – Citizens Advice Bath and North East Somerset

The stories our clients tell us provide a unique insight into the problems faced by people in the UK today and we use this experience to campaign for positive change.

Bath and North East Somerset Citizens Advice conducts research and delivers campaigns on many issues of interest to local citizens, for example debt, housing, benefits, immigration, employment, legal matters and health.  We gather evidence of practices and policies that are causing difficulties for our clients and in turn this enables us to campaign, locally and nationally, for change to get a fairer deal for everyone.

We collect evidence and statistics anonymously so that individual clients are not identified.  We use this information to produce reports and to campaign locally and nationally for improvements in services and changes in the law by:

  • Highlighting issues to MPs, councillors, and other policy makers
  • Talking to our local Council about their services and attending forums and meetings
  • Discussing problems with organisations and companies to persuade them to improve their services
  • Submitting evidence and recommendations to Citizens Advice centrally, to contribute to national campaigns and sharing evidence and ideas with other Citizens Advice

We are independent and impartial so policymakers listen to us.

Other ways to get involved…

You may also want to contact your local MP or councillor, yourself, about an issue that concerns you. Find and contact your local MP by using this link – www.theyworkforyou.com
Or find and contact your local councillor via local.direct.gov.uk