Citizens Advice

Maidstone a registered charity

Annual Report

2013/14

Strength in Partnership

Free Confidential Impartial Independent

Citizens Advice Maidstone is the operating name of Maidstone Citizens Advice Bureau

Annual General Meeting 2014 Agenda

MAIDSTONE CITIZENS ADVICE BUREAU

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

to be held at the Archbishop’s Palace, Maidstone on Monday, 22nd September 2014 at 7pm

A G E N D A

1. Apologies for absence 2. Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 23rd September 2013 3. Matters Arising 4. Report of the Trustee Board 5. Annual accounts and report of the auditors 6. Appointment of auditors and fixing of their remuneration 7. Any other business 8. Introductions by the Bureau Chairman and hand over to Honorary Chair 9. Proposed re-election of Sir Michael Buckley and Mr Ivor Owen to the Trustee Board 10. Presentation of Trustee Board members 11. Presentation of Bureau Chairman's Report 12. Presentation of Chief Executive’s Report 13. Guest Speaker, Mr Martin Finnan, Custodial Manager for Resettlement & the Segregation Unit at HMP Maidstone 14. Vote of thanks 15. Closing Remarks by Honorary Chair

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Trustee Board 2013-14

President: The Mayor of Maidstone, Cllr Clive English

As a result of a vote held at the Annual General Meeting on 23rd September 2013, the Constitution of the Bureau was updated and the Board restructured. The Board is now made up of Elected Members, with others co-opted as appropriate. Bureau representatives may attend meetings but have no vote.

Elected Members:

Sir Michael Buckley: Chair

Mrs S Hawkins: Vice Chair

Mr J Cobbett: Hon. Treasurer

Mrs W Kneller

Mr I Owen

Mr R Bird

Mr S Cooke

Co-opted Members: Cllr Mrs M Ring: Maidstone Borough Council

Bureau Representatives:

Chief Executive: Mr S Malhotra

Volunteers: Mr P Taylor

Paid Staff: Mrs M McFarlane

Citizens Advice Maidstone is the operating name of Maidstone Citizens Advice Bureau

Charity Reg. No. 299055 Citizens Advice Membership No. 75/004 Company Reg. No. 2234220 VAT Reg. No. 930 0978 28

Bureau Staff 1.7.13 – 30.6.14 Paid Staff Chief Executive: Mr S Malhotra Service Manager - Projects: Mr I Park Advice Managers: Mrs S Smith Mrs M McFarlane Bureau Co-ordinator Mr P Hardy (from 1.9.13) Housing Advisers: Mr K Burchett and Mr C Turner Housing Law Litigator - Maidstone: Miss L Wilson (to 31.3.14) - Tunbridge Wells: Mrs S Speller (to 30.4.14) Money Advisers: Mrs R Lovell, Ms S Ahern (from 1.9.13) Welfare Benefits Caseworkers: Mr P Sayonas (to 30.5.13)

Mr J Cross, Mrs A Bobinska (both from 1.5.13) Employment Advice Caseworker: Mrs T Weber Independent Domestic Violence Adviser: Mrs C Gale Outreach Adviser: Mrs A Bobinska Prison Outreach Caseworkers: Mr R Pellant, Mrs J Woollacott (both from 1.2.14) Prison Outreach Administrator: Miss S Russell (from 1.4.14) Administrators: Miss D Woodroff, Mr J Clark, Mrs R Dimitrova, HealthWatch Advisers: Mr M Burlem (to March 2014),

Miss M Cole, Miss T Bryan, Mrs E Bennett Housekeeper: Mrs L Green

Voluntary Advisers Mrs P Dale Mrs P Cooper Lady J Buckley Mr I Wedgewood Mrs A Horne Mr G Hunt Mrs C Wale Mr P Taylor Mr N Pearman Mr M Ford Mrs J Evans Mrs S Hibbard Mr R Hubbard Mrs P Wright Mrs S Middleton Mrs C Renshaw Mrs L Sayer Mr G Morrison Mr M Blaber Mrs B Lloyd Mr J Stewart Mr D Cook Mr P Woodward Mrs J Curtis Mr M Carney Dr S Eden-Green Mr M Cresswell Mrs C Bouwens Mrs C Windle Mrs C Smith Miss L Savory Mrs S Rudd Mr A Waldie Mrs B Mitchell Mrs M Waters Mr A Turner Mrs R Cox Ms S Ryan Mrs P Greenstock Mr P Bolton Mrs H Hardy Mrs F Hamidi Mr P Gosling Mrs E Scutt Mrs S Burdon Miss J Alderman Mr S Jones Mr A Tarr Mrs M Gurung Mr M Dickson Ms J Raddon Ms A Ariyo Miss L McEvoy

Volunteers in Training and Observers Mrs A Withers Mrs M Carroll Mrs T Adedayo Mrs R Baylis Mrs A Boitos Miss H Tawasooli Mr G Turner Ms S Attridge Miss M King Ms E Wos Mrs L Summerfield Miss C Goodearl Miss J Blood Mrs O Chinakwe Mr P Clemons Mrs L Mitchell

Gateway Assessors Mrs V Furze, Mrs D Evans, Mr R Bennett, Miss A Ealuri

Admin Volunteers Mrs J Cline, Mrs M McGiveron, Mrs J Luker, Mrs I Muggeridge, Ms J Banister, Mrs L Dalton, Mrs K D’Souza, Mrs J Woods, Mrs G Ledger, Mr M Burlem, Mrs S Ashby

IT Volunteers Mr K Mulcahy, Mr G Singh

Social Policy Co-ordinators Dr S Eden-Green, Mrs R Cox, Mrs J Higgins, Mrs Deborah Evans

Website Editor Lady Judy Buckley

Volunteers who left during the period to end June 2014 Mr P Green, Mrs S Malhotra, Mr R Sawtell, Mrs L Ritchie, Mr R Bird, Miss N Dharna, Mr R Rajalingam, Mrs J Korten, Mrs S Kumarvel. Mrs N Mahtha

Chair’s Report

The past year saw two important changes in the work and governance of the Bureau.

The first change stemmed from the fact that as a result of cuts in the legal aid budget the Bureau faced a very substantial reduction in its income. In the previous year (2012-13) income from the Legal Aid Agency amounted to nearly £220,000, or some 36% of total income; and that income was due largely to disappear in 2013-14. In response, the Trustee Board adopted a strategy of ensuring that the core service of free generalist advice would be safeguarded, while providing additional services if it was financially prudent to do so. Fortunately, the management of the Bureau was successful in securing additional funds from the Advice Services Transition Fund (which was used to finance the very successful Maidstone Advice Services Partnership) and from HealthWatch; and the Bureau was consequently able to continue to offer a wide range of both specialist and generalist services. Even so, it was unfortunately necessary to make significant reductions in both the numbers and the hours of our paid staff.

The second major change was that at the Annual General Meeting in September 2013 the membership of the Bureau in its capacity of a charitable company adopted a new set of Articles of Association. As a result, paid staff ceased to be members of the company; and the Trustee Board was reduced in size and no longer included staff as members. However, the Board was determined to ensure that the voice of the staff was heard and effective in its deliberations; and the Chief Executive and one representative of each of the paid and volunteer staff have the right to attend and to speak at all Board meetings.

Despite the changes in funding the Bureau continued to offer a full range of advice other than legal advice. As I have emphasised in previous reports, this service is not confined to sign-posting or referral but offers substantial advice and, where appropriate, action. In the past year we saw 9,722 clients (slightly more than in 2012-13), who raised over 41,000 issues. The main issues were benefits (23%); relationship and family (primarily domestic violence) (15%); legal (14%); debt and housing (13% each); and employment (11%). The Bureau secured a total of £154,706 income gain for its clients, plus £116,780 debts written off. In the annual Customer Satisfaction Survey 97% of clients were satisfied with our service (3% did not respond), and 93% felt more confident about dealing with their problems. These are excellent figures and testimony to the hard work and skill of our staff, both paid and volunteer.

Our clients had a wide range of ages, with the largest single number in the range 35-49 years. 91% were White and 9% were of Asian, Black, or Mixed ethnicity. 58% of our clients were female.

At the end of March 2014 the Bureau had 26 paid staff and 80 volunteers, consisting of 50 trained advisers, 14 trainees or observers, 2 Gateway Assessors, and 14 volunteer administrative assistants. Since the end of the year a further 11 volunteers have joined the Bureau. We remain anxious to recruit volunteers. Anybody interested in joining the Bureau in whatever capacity should get in touch with Maria McFarlane on 01622 750770 or advice@maidstonecab.org.uk.

Our service continues to be provided mainly from our premises at 2 Bower Terrace and from the Maidstone Gateway in King Street. “Drop-in” interviews are available at both locations; interviews by appointment take place in Bower Terrace. In addition we provide outreach services at Parkwood, Marden and Headcorn, and a home visiting service. Thanks to funding from the J Paul Getty Memorial Trust we have recently established an advice service in Maidstone Prison for prisoners, their families, and prison staff.

In 2013-14 the Bureau received a total income of £561,080. The largest single amount was a grant of £200,693 from Maidstone Borough Council. We are most grateful to the Council for their continuing support. Other major sources of funding were the Advice Services Transition Fund (£134,085) and HealthWatch (£85,768). Thanks to careful financial management the Bureau was able to meet all its obligations; and whilst there was a deficit of £21,134, the reserves against pension and other liabilities were unaffected.

As always, I am grateful to the other members of the Trustee Board and to the staff representatives for their support and advice. Because of the reduction in the size of the Board an unusually large number of members left during the year. The thanks and good wishes of all of us go to Mr Paul Coles, Mr Ian Dawson, Mr Morel D’Souza, Mr John Fowler, Cllr Mrs Jenefer Gibson, Mr Peter Green, Mr Roger Sawtell, and Mr Peter Stokes. We were pleased to welcome as new trustees Cllr Mr Rob Bird and Mr Simon Cook, and Mrs Maria McFarlane as representative of the paid staff.

Sir Michael Buckley, Chair

Chief Executive’s Report

When I first joined the CAB service more than 20 years ago, our work as advisers was much simpler. Clients came in or called, we gave them the correct advice and then wrote a brief resume of the interview alongside the correct information source and ‘job done’. Today, our advisers have to record these interviews on a special computer programme, writing up all aspects of the presenting problems, the clients’ unique situations and the probable outcomes in a very precise and exacting format. Over the years our advisers have had to become more professional, thorough and detailed.

We still depend on volunteers, and those at the Bureau give up their time gladly, and in return receive bespoke CAB training, enabling them to advise and help people. In this the age of digital technology some of our clients have already researched much of their problem on the Internet. We have had the somewhat unnerving experience of a client with a complicated debt problem being advised on the telephone, who was at the same time grumbling in an online forum as to how long it took the adviser to research the information and advise them. The life of an adviser can at times be uncomfortable and challenging, so I give all credit to those who stand, bloodied but unbowed, in the face of such social and technological difficulties.

With all the changes within the benefits system, the withdrawal of legal aid and sharp financial cut backs, the work of the CAB Service has become even more complicated and competitive. In order to attract additional funding we have to some extent to re-invent and re-package a service that predominantly exists to help those who could not help themselves. Colleagues within the service will agree that while our clients’ problems are becoming more complex and multi-faceted, providing a bespoke and holistic service is becoming more challenging.

Without the dedication and motivation of our volunteers we would not be in a position to provide a service from two venues in the Borough, yet with dropping number of advisers during the last 12 months we at the Bureau have had to make some drastic choices. For the best part of the year all drop-in service to our clients has been limited to the Gateway in the Town Centre. With the withdrawal of legal aid most of our specialists’ work in debt, housing, employment and benefits also ceased with immediate effect.

Such a major upheaval usually causes many problems, for us the main one being redundancy consultations. I would like to show my gratitude to all the paid staff for their understanding and support during the process. Everyone of our team accepted the need for the consultations and showed their trust in senior management and the Board by accepting the proposed changes. In some cases full time staff agreed to work part time, others accepted a drop from 3 days a week to one day. Nowhere have I seen such determination to continue to help others who are less fortunate than them.

All is not doom and gloom as partnership work saved the day. We were successful in attracting new funding through the BIG Lottery Transition Fund. This funding allowed the Bureau to harness the exceptional resources within its specialists’ team and utilise their knowledge and expertise to provide bespoke training courses for partner frontline workers. To date our team has delivered more than 115 training courses for 645 attendees. Most of our partners’ frontline workers have been trained within the four Social Welfare Law subjects of Employment, Housing, Benefits and Debt. This basic training allows them to help their own clients in simple cases, and complex matters can then be referred to our specialist staff.

The Bureau also successfully negotiated with the Maidstone Prison for us to assist their prisoner population in matters relating to debt and benefits. The John Paul Getty Jr Trust and Maidstone Prison Service financially support this project, which provides a service to prisoners, their families and the prison staff. Our advisers have a confidential room with the ability to telephone and negotiate with creditors as well as access our Information System remotely using specially adapted equipment.

In order to make ourselves future proof, we reviewed the way the Bureau trained and supported its generalist service. Prospective volunteer advisers are taken through the various stages of in-bureau training, where they work in groups and shadow all the specialised services provided to the clients. We are very fortunate that a number of people, including younger working age people, have applied to become advisers, so the average age of our volunteers has dropped appreciatively. The training courses provided to trainees and experienced volunteers by our specialists have made them more skilled in dealing with the difficult cases brought by our clients, with only the most complex cases needing to be passed to the specialists, thus allowing us to help even more people.

I am very proud to report that due to all the hard work by the Advice Managers and Specialists in training new volunteers, we are able to once again provide drop in services at the Bureau as well at the Gateway.

Needless to say during most of the upheaval during the last 12 months, our local authority has been our biggest support. Council Members, the Chief Executive, Directors and Officers have given the Bureau all their help, with reassurances of no financial cuts. So, my thanks go to them for all their support.

Citizens Advice has provided support through the National Development Manager, who has been unstinting in his help during these difficult times. My team and I thank him for all his assistance.

I would also like to record my thanks to the Trustees who have given strong support during this time, and I could not have done all the necessary work without their help.

Our paid staff gave me their utmost trust, and worked with me during these trying times, proving themselves worthy of my respect for them. A number of them told me that they had joined the CAB to help others, and they trusted me to ensure that their jobs were secure. I take this opportunity to thank them as well.

Amidst all these changes, the volunteers have been working hard, concentrating on helping their clients, without having to worry or be distracted over much that has, of necessity, taken over our time during the year. Without this team we would not be able to help all those clients who contacted us in the past year. My many thanks to them, for their confidence, diligence and dedication.

Here’s to another 16 years!

Bonny Malhotra, Chief Executive

Projects and Partnership

We have a number of funded projects successfully underway at The Bureau. They are outlined below:

Maidstone Advice Services Partnership

We have been fortunate in gaining two year Lottery funding through The Advice Service Transition Fund to establish, lead and develop Maidstone Advice Services Partnership (MASP). MASP is a new partnership of 12 Maidstone-based charities, comprising the Bureau, Age UK Maidstone, The Blackthorn Trust, Citizens Rights for Older People ( CROP), Fusion Healthy Living Centre, Kenward Trust, Maidstone and Malling Carers, Maidstone Day Centre, Maidstone Mediation, Maidstone MIND, Porchlight and Golding Homes; the Borough Council is also a partner. The aims of the partnership are to improve access for local residents to advice in debt/money, benefits, housing and employment issues, to speed up access to a team of specialist advisers at the Bureau through a fast-track referral system and the use of digital technology where appropriate, and to reduce the need for travel from agency to agency in the Borough to get help. The specialists at the Bureau are up-skilling partner front-line workers, including Bureau generalist advisors, in the topic areas.

The project was officially launched at a well-attended showcase event in the Town Hall in January, with an informal follow-up event for Borough Councillors in April. At the time of writing ( April), since the start of the project in July 2013, 235 clients have been successfully referred by partners to the Bureau for help under the partnership arrangements, and 80 training sessions have been delivered to 570 attendees from across the partnership. Feedback has been very positive and we are very pleased with progress being made so far.

Advice Work in Maidstone Prison

Following our earlier work with East Sutton Prison and Blantyre House under our Legal Aid contract (now ceased), the John Paul Getty 2 Foundation awarded us funding for a two year project to offer advice to prisoners, staff and their families in HMP Maidstone. The prison supplied additional funding to increase provision further. In January we appointed two case workers for this project, who began advising clients in April. We have been very encouraged by the positive response and support of prison management for this project and their help in setting it up. We look forward to developing our relationship with them.

South East Financial Capability Forum

We are managing the South East Financial Capability Forum under a contract from Citizens Advice. The forum network covers the whole of England and Wales and is coordinated nationally by Citizens Advice. The South East region, for which we are responsible, covers Kent, Surrey and Sussex. We now have over 200 Forum members in our region, encompassing CABx, other debt advice and financial capability bodies in the voluntary and private sector, Councils, Housing Associations, Credit Unions, Banks, Utility Companies and grant-awarding bodies, amongst others. National bodies and forum member organisations regularly provide funding opportunities through the forum network (such as The Energy Best Deal

programme, below) , and our quarterly meetings, which regularly attract 30-40 attendees, provide important opportunities for us to learn, influence and network.

Energy Best Deal

We were awarded a contract funded by OFGEM, to coordinate the Energy Best Deal campaign for our region (Kent, Surrey and Sussex) last winter. The aim of the national campaign was to show people simple ways to reduce their energy costs, with a particular focus on those in fuel poverty. We also gained a contract to help promote this in our area, by providing training sessions for front-line workers and members of the public, showing ways to reduce their energy bills, including switching to a cheaper supplier. We were awarded a subsequent contract to identify those of our own clients who might benefit, and to provide one-to-one advice. The campaign ended in April, with all our targets met. We are hoping to be involved in the next campaign which is likely to begin later in the year.

Advice Service to MS Society Members

We have recently agreed a two year contract with Maidstone MS (Multiple Sclerosis) Society to deliver specialist advice to Maidstone MS Society members, starting in May this year. We anticipate that the major issues from clients under this project will be around benefits though we are prepared for other matters as well.

Housing Law: Legal Aid Agency

Lastly, we have had to say goodbye to one service. As a result of Ministry Of Justice funding cuts which made our Housing Law service non-viable, we withdrew in April from our LAA contract in Housing Law, thereby ending over a decade of Legal Services Commission/Legal Aid Agency work on behalf of Maidstone Borough residents. However, although as a result we have sadly lost our hard-working Housing Solicitors, we are currently able to offer specialist help in Housing thanks to the MASP project, and some extra funding from Maidstone Borough Council and Golding Homes.

Ian Park, Service Manager - Projects

Admin

The word administration is derived from the Middle English word administracioun, which in turn came from the French administration, and is itself derived from the Latin administratio — a compounding of ad ("to") and ministrare ("give service").

Broadly speaking, the administration of an organization includes “the performance or management of business operations and decision making as well as the efficient organization of people and other resources to direct activities toward common goals and objectives”.

Administrator can be the title of a general manager or company secretary who reports to a corporate board of directors, however this is an archaic use of the word. More recently it has been claimed that administration has no generally accepted definition, “because the scope of the subject is so great and so debatable that it is easier to explain than define"! In general and certainly at Maidstone Citizens Advice Bureau, the administration department supports both the Chief Executive and the Bureau as a whole and refers to a broader role, which includes associated finance and personnel functions.

Well, that’s the synopsis, over to my colleague Paul for the specifics…

Jack Clark, Administrator

It has been another very busy year for the admin team, which I joined a year ago and I have received a very friendly and warm welcome from everyone.

This is a very busy environment, dealing with a huge and varied amount of tasks from organising large partner meetings and designing logos as well as ordering many different promotional materials and taking minutes at many different meetings, sometimes out of office hours. We also undertake some extremely challenging tasks such as designing and editing forms and inputting statistics and analysing them, dealing with many General IT issues and processing all of the Bureau’s financial incomings, outgoings and expenses, including our hard earned wages!

As well as all this, we filter all incoming telephone calls and emails, open and distribute the Bureau’s post, paginate and type client letters and still find time to shred and put the rubbish out. We also organise some great events including the quiz night, the Christmas lunch and the Annual General Meeting as well as producing the very publication that you currently have in your hands. I have always been impressed that

during challenging moments, often unseen, the admin team are always helpful to their colleagues and volunteers alike, no matter how busy they are. A truly dedicated team!

Paul Hardy – Bureau Co-ordinator

Gateway assessing at Maidstone Gateway

Maidstone Gateway in King Street, where Maidstone Citizens Advice operates a daily Outreach session from Monday – Friday, 9.30 am – 4.00 pm, is proving to be a popular venue with our clients. This is understandable as the location is central to Maidstone, near to The Mall shopping centre and conveniently located for bus services and car parks. The venue also has good access for the disabled client. The downside of the ease of location is that clients can often experience quite a long wait to see an adviser.

During the year 2013/14, our service saw some changes. This was caused by a decrease in our volunteer adviser numbers. For six months from July – December 2013, it was not viable to continue to operate a drop-in service at The Gateway, plus a drop-in service at our main bureau in Bower Terrace, which was also trying to offer a limited number of appointments to see generalist advisers plus answer phone and email enquiries. It was therefore with regret, we closed the drop-in service at Bower Terrace for this period. We are pleased to report that adviser numbers have since picked up, as we have been fortunate in attracting potential volunteers again who wish to train as an adviser. This means that Bower Terrace was open to drop-in once more from January 2014.

As part of the changes that were implemented in July 2013, the decision was made to increase the number of generalist advisers from three to four at the Gateway so we were better placed to operate an effective drop-in service there, particularly when we were unable to do so at Bower Terrace. It was also decided to place a supervisor on a daily basis at Maidstone Gateway so that the volunteer advisers had immediate access to a higher level of support than can be offered over the phone. The move was greatly appreciated by the advisers as it helped them to feel greater cohesion and less cast adrift when working in both venues. We also aim to have a Gateway Assessor there daily, who can operate a “triage” role by judging whether Citizens Advice are in a position to assist a client with their problem.

The presence of a supervisor on a daily basis has also helped to cement a closer relationship with Maidstone Council staff as there is always someone there to liaise with. A brain-storming session was held between the “Meet and Greet” staff and the CAB supervisors to discuss how together we can better manage clients’ expectations in relation to their waiting time, whether the client’s problem falls into the CAB’s remit and what paperwork may need to be seen in order to advise fully. Following on from this, training sessions were held with the Meet and Greet staff to inform them of the Citizens Advice aims and principles, how Maidstone Citizens Advice operates, a breakdown of statistics showing the nature of clients’ queries and an understanding of problems that we may not be able to assist with. The Meet and Greet staff now give each client a hand-out describing paperwork that may be required in order to fully address the client’s dilemma.

We continue to look at how we can improve the service offered to our clients at Maidstone Gateway so, no doubt, there will be further changes to report in next Annual Report.

Sally Smith, Advice Manager

Money Advice

Many changes have taken place in the Money Advice Department in the past 12 Months.

The loss of the Legal Services Commission contract left the future looking uncertain.

The ASTF Project breathed new life into the Bureau and has introduced a new way of working.

Sam joined the Money Team as a debt caseworker and provides face to face advice to clients and Support to Bureau Volunteers.

Working with Partners has enabled Debt advice to continue to the most disadvantaged in the Maidstone Community.

Partners have received Debt Advice Training from Rose.

This has empowered them to assist their clients, as awareness has been raised in identifying Priority and Non-Priority debts.

Issues around Insolvency measures, Bankruptcy, Debt Relief Orders and Individual Voluntary Arrangements have also been covered in the Training sessions.

The I-Pad has opened up a whole new way of working as partners and their clients can receive advice “face to face “without having to travel to the Bureau .

Bureau Volunteers have benefited from the Partnership as additional Money Advice Training has been made available to them working alongside our Partner attendees for training courses. This has empowered our Volunteers to deal with greater aspects of debt Issues presented by our clients.

Skills and Knowledge have been gained throughout the Partnership providing Strength in Partnership which I am sure will underpin Debt Advice work in the future.

A very Successful Year.

Rose Lovell, Money Advice Specialist

The following was received from one our partners in MASP regarding a Money Advice client: Just a quick message to pass on a compliment I received at Maidstone County Court from a client of yours. The lady in question was very pleased with the service you gave her, felt you had great knowledge and understanding and the paperwork you helped her with was done to an excellent standard. Thank you, this helped her achieve a good outcome in possession proceedings. It helped us understand her situation well and to work with her to resolve the issue between us. Top 6 Issues within Debt

Housing Advice

Another year and another set of changes, but we go on because there are always people who need our help.

Not that all change makes our work harder; the launch of the Maidstone Advice Services Partnership for example has resulted in a streamlined client referral process and the building of much closer working relationships with our colleagues across the fourteen partner agencies. For clients this means much swifter advice and a reduction in the number of appointments they may have to attend, for us appointment time is saved, and we can also access the expertise of our partners whenever we need it.

The training sessions we have provided have also helped raise our partners’ awareness of many issues which means our joint clients receive the very best and most complete advice service Maidstone can offer its residents. For housing advice the biggest bonus is the awareness that it is almost never too late to defend possession proceedings and that it is much easier to try and keep a home than to try and find a new one.

Our training courses are bound to develop as we continue to learn what information is of most use to each partner, this will allow us all to focus our efforts on the delivery of the advice that each of us most commonly comes across.

Christopher Turner, Housing Advice Specialist

Top 6 Issues within Housing

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Employment Advice

Since July 2013 there have been significant changes to employment law, particularly the introduction of fees for claims to the Employment Tribunal and latterly the requirement to notify ACAS before undertaking legal action. Although this has had a major impact on clients’ ability to gain redress through the courts (nationally, claims to Tribunal have dropped by 79% which is mirrored in Maidstone) it has reinforced the need to attempt to negotiate an agreement. Several of our partners in Maidstone Advice Support Partnership work with clients who have problems in work, and are able to support them in discussion with their employers. Our partnership has been beneficial in this: we have been training them in the most contentious areas, so that they are able to advise their clients of their legal rights, thus enabling them to present a reasoned argument; and they are able to refer their clients to CAB for specialist assistance and support in more complex cases. We have also gained a greater awareness of their areas of expertise, and have been able to direct some of our clients to our partners for their support.

The charging of fees to access the Employment Tribunal has had a dramatic effect on our clients’ ability to claim the money that is owed to them by employers. Although there is a system of fee remission for those with little or no savings, and on a low income, this is proving to be hard to claim. Nationally, only 5% of applications have been granted. We have been successful in around 20% of ours, and those cases that have proceeded to Tribunal have been won or are still ongoing.

We have also been successful in obtaining settlements from employers in a number of cases, which is heartening for clients who would otherwise be faced with fees of £390 for a wages claim or £1200 for dismissal or discrimination complaints: fees that are very hard to contemplate when you have just lost your job, or are owed several hundred pounds worth of unpaid wages. Unfortunately, for many of our clients, the requirement to pay to make a claim is a very real deterrent, and they are unable to use the justice system that would restore their basic rights to be paid for the work they have done, and to be treated fairly at work.

Tania Weber, Employment Advice Specialist

Top 6 Issues within Employment

Welfare Benefits Advice

Major changes to welfare benefits have markedly affected the people of Maidstone in the past year. Our service has continued to support clients needing advice on all aspects of welfare benefits, particularly relating to Employment and Support Allowance, Personal Independent Payment and Disability Living Allowance claims and issues relating to Housing and Council Tax Benefit.

In the last 12 months, ESA appeals have been complicated by the imposition (in October 2013) of Mandatory Reconsideration by DWP before a client can appeal to Tribunal. The Tribunal appeals process is still taking 6 months or more and before a client gets to this point, many are waiting months for DWP to respond, with all the stress and hardship that this causes in many cases. The bureau is winning over 90% of Tribunal appeals but the number of successful reconsiderations by DWP still appears very small, which suggests that Mandatory Reconsideration is failing to deliver a better service.

In April 2013 Personal Independence Payment replaced DLA for claimants of working age. Although the assessment seems clearer, the inordinate length of time (6+ months) it is taking to process claims is also creating hardship, stress and uncertainty for clients whose circumstances make them among our most

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vulnerable. Further changes to the welfare benefits system including the introduction of Universal Credit have yet to take effect in Maidstone so it’s not possible to say how this may impact on clients.

As clients’ in and out of work benefits are stopped, reduced and/or frozen, the Bureau will see an increase in enquiries relating to debt and housing issues. The introduction of the ‘bedroom tax’ has already brought a lot of people to our service, concerned that they will not be able to pay their rent. A reduction in Council Tax support by Maidstone Borough Council from a maximum 91.5% in 2013 – 14 to 87% in 2014 – 15 could have a similar impact.

On a positive note, the Bureau’s partnership with other local charities through the Advice Services Transition Fund has enabled the Welfare Benefits Team to provide over 300 individual training sessions for front line workers in the partnership and to CAB advisers.

The ASTF partnership has enabled the bureau to reach groups in the community who might otherwise have found it difficult to access our services. It has also given us an opportunity to support our clients in a more holistic way. In the first 7 months of the partnership, 68% of all referrals under ASTF were for Welfare Benefits advice. In addition, we have recently started a new contract with Maidstone MS Society to provide welfare benefits advice to Multiple Sclerosis sufferers and their partners and families.

We are extremely grateful to both our ASTF partners and volunteer advisers in the bureau for the work they do to help our clients negotiate the increasingly complex welfare benefits system. 2014 – 15 and we look forward to providing an even better service in the coming year.

Jeremy Cross, Welfare Benefits Caseworker

Top 6 Issues within Benefits

Outreach and Home Visiting Service

If you build it, they will come – right?

That’s the theory, but in dealing with the reality of building healthier communities, the answer is often “maybe”.

People who might greatly benefit from our service do not always reach us because of their disabilities or health problems, creating a huge gap between people’s needs for a service and their actual use of it.

When a gap like this exists, Outreach is often the next step. Instead of waiting for people to come to us for help, we might need to go to them. In order to serve the “hard-to-reach”, we need to change our way of thinking, Our goal should be to engage the “yet-to-be-reached”.

What is Outreach?

Outreach is a tool to help expand access to healthy/beneficial services and is most often designed to accomplish one of the following:

Directly deliver beneficial services Educate or inform the target population, increasing their knowledge and/or skills Establish beneficial connections between people and/or organisations

When is Outreach needed?

In some fields and with some populations – such as the elderly, sick or disabled – Outreach is the primary method of contact. Outreach in some form can help bridge the gap between the need for services and the provision of those services on one of these goals:

To increase access for service

0

500

1000

1500

2000

EmploymentSupport Allowance

Housing Benefit Working + ChildTax Credit

JobseekersAllowance

Localised supportfor Council Tax

Income Support

To expand people’s willingness to use a service and to help people build a healthier society To increase awareness of services among potential users or those who will refer them

We currently provide the following Outreach sessions:

Marden – once a month

Headcorn – once a month

Fusion Café – twice a month

On average we do two home visits a week

Anna Bobinska, Outreach Adviser

A Volunteer’s Experience

Any experience is personal but I hope this resonates with you. 'Volunteer' was originally a military term but as none of us now feel press-ganged, then 'nothing is troublesome that we do willingly' (not me - Thomas Jefferson) is so much more apt.

To have the chance to do something we chose where we feel useful and valued (albeit unpaid) but never unsupported, is for most of us a rewarding change. If I searched for words to describe being part of the CAB team, "warmth" would be followed by "challenge" and "variety" as close runners-up. We have all met volunteers in other bureaux and whilst we are always surprised at the number of ways to achieve the same results, those words do repeat themselves

Once you become part of the furniture there is also encouragement to use or add skills, to 'just do ....' a variety of other needed extras or, as in my case, just to open my mouth and offer! Once again, no pressure; everyone has the option to say 'yea' or 'nay' and fit CAB into otherwise busy lives.

As an adviser, guiding clients to manage or resolve their problems for themselves (fingers crossed) can feel a real success, but so too can hand-holding and fighting their corner - making the judgement is never easy. In between, however, are the most diverse and surprising (sometimes amusing and often distressing) human dilemmas for which not always is there advice to offer. Yet we do all this in the knowledge that we have a permanent "ask a friend" option - and often need it - thank you!

Pauline Wright, Volunteer Adviser and Mentor Co-ordinator

Social Policy

Maidstone Bureau has continued to contribute to social change through participation in local actions and campaigns and, at national level, by providing documentary evidence of unfairness and injustice experienced by our clients. Work during the year has concentrated on improving the quantity and quality of Bureau Evidence Forms (BEFs) that contribute to the evidence base through which Citizens Advice campaigns for change. Following the introduction of a faster and simpler quick evidence procedure for use by hard-pressed advisers, the numbers of social policy issues reported towards the end of the year increased to more than double the previous monthly average. The proportion of advisers identifying and submitting social policy evidence also more than doubled compared to the previous year, suggesting that awareness of social policy issues had greatly improved. On average, the bureau submits one BEF for every 32 new client contacts, compared to a national average of one in a hundred.

The breakdown of BEFs by problem area showed a very similar pattern to that of the previous year, with a slight reduction in the proportion (but not the absolute number) of benefits issues (31%), of which hardship and injustice generated by ESA Work Capability Assessments and mandatory reconsiderations before appeal, sanctioning of Jobseekers’ Allowance, and maladministration of tax credits were prominent. Employment problems increased slightly (26%), perhaps reflecting employers taking advantage of the huge increase in costs to employees of taking cases to employment tribunals. An increase in housing issues perhaps reflects social problems arising from increasingly scarce and expensive accommodation in the rental sector. Evidence submitted by the Bureau was highlighted in Citizens Advice Social Policy Bulletins in May (twice) and December 2013 and nine Local Action Report Forms, describing successful actions by staff following up clients’ problems, were published on the Citizens Advice national website.

The Social Policy Team: Simon Eden-Green, Rhiannon Cox, Judith Higgins, Inge Muggeridge and Deborah Evans

Bureau Evidence Forms submitted by Maidstone CAB 1 April 2013 – 31 March 2014

Training

The past year has been a big learning curve for our Bureau. With Maurice taking up the new role in Healthwatch it became clear that in order to train the number of volunteers we need, we would have to rethink our approach.

To that end in we have introduced group training so that the trainees benefit from interaction with other trainees and the ability to develop together on their training journey. As a Bureau we are quite fortunate that we are able to attract a good number of people who wish to volunteer, and I believe this is partly due to the diversity of roles that we can offer within the bureau., and the training programme.

One development has been that we have trained several university students who have agreed that they will volunteer in their holidays and where possible do more than one day a week. This has on the whole has worked well, and gives us the extra advisors we need in the holiday periods.

We have been fortunate that Pauline Wright, one of our volunteer advisers, had expressed an interest in helping with the training, and now runs the training from week one to week five ensuring that all the trainees are ready for their first interaction with our clients.

We also have had the benefit of Jayne Banister who has helped to run the administration side of the training, and ensures all trainees and trainers know where they have to be and when!

Under the transition fund we have been able to utilise our specialist to train our volunteers to a higher level in each specialism, with each specialist not only running courses for trainees but also offering a wide range of courses to our qualified advisers. These courses have been well received and attended, and I know that the specialists enjoy the chance to share their knowledge with the team.

Overall we have managed to train 32 advisers and 3 gateway assessors in this last year and hope this trend will continue.

Maria McFarlane, Advice Manager

Benefits, 30.9%

Health and Community Care,

3.0%

Housing, 10.0%

Relationships and Family, 0.7%

Employment, 26.0%

Other (Discrimination),

0.7%

Consumer, 11.2%

Immigration, 0.4%

Utilities, 4.5%

Tax, 0.4%

Financial Services, 4.1%

Debt, 3.0%

Legal, 2.6% Travel ,

1.9% Education, 0.7%

Maidstone Mela

We have taken part in Maidstone Mela every year for some years now, with the exception of this past year when changes taking place within the Bureau made this difficult to manage. However, we will be back this year and will once again run a raffle at our stall with a prize every hour. Please come and see us and find out how the Bureau works to help the Community of Maidstone and, if you are looking for something to do with your spare time, how you can help us by becoming a volunteer. Have a go in the raffle too – it could be your lucky day.

Mela 2012

Fundraising

A number of fundraising initiatives have been held during the past year (and continue into this one), for example:

A former Chair of our Bureau Trustee Board, Richard Raymont, invited a concert pianist, Jean Phillips, to give a recital at his home in September, with all funds raised from ticket sales to be donated to the Bureau. Our grateful thanks to them.

Pete Sayonas, our Welfare Benefits Adviser who left the Bureau at the end of May, undertook a

sponsored trek to the Everest Base Camp in August 2013, having spent some months in training to get fit for the journey.

One of our Advice Managers ran a competition to name her new chicken. A charge was made to

enter and a small prize was given to the winner.

We are currently running the Cheeky Monkey, where we pay to take monkey out for a day or on

holiday and take a photo to enter into the competition. Votes will be cast (in secret) for the best photograph and a prize will be given at the Christmas Lunch at the end of the year.

At Easter, we ran a ‘Guess the number of Sweeties in the Jar’ competition.

In October, we will hold our annual Quiz Night – always a popular evening where we have a lot of fun and test our brains to the limit! If you would like to join us, please contact the Admin Team on 01622 750770 – the Quiz will be held at 7.30pm on Saturday October 11th, at Invicta Grammar School. Tickets are £8 a head, which includes a very good ploughman’s supper. Tables of 8, but if you don’t have a full table, don’t worry, we can always fit you in with others.

Money raised from all these initiatives is used in a number of ways to increase the service we can give to the community of Maidstone and to improve working conditions for our staff and volunteers.

Pete’s Everest Base Camp Trek

Pete’s Route Day 2, passing the Thyangboche Monastery at 3,680 metres

Sadly, the last part of the footpath to Base Camp had been washed away and was impassable. Pete’s

climb ended at Kala Patthar, the black rock which, unlike Base Camp, affords a view of the peak of

Everest.

It was disappointing to be foiled only 200 yards from Base Camp, but Pete said it had still been the most

fantastic experience!

Healthwatch Kent

Healthwatch was set up April 2013 to be the new ‘Consumer Champion’ for NHS and Social Care services. The Information & Signposting Team is a joint effort utilising the skills of Maidstone and Shepway CAB’s, Shepway is the lead bureau on the project but Maidstone had the telephone helpline skills to hit the ground running. The Staff at Maidstone are Evelyn, Michelle, Maurice and Tina. During the first year many calls have been dealt with, from ‘How to find a NHS dentist’ to complaints about GP’s, hospitals, and care homes: The chart below shows the types of calls received.

Complaints by Service Type (MH = Mental Health)

The Team has also attended events and given presentations or manned stalls to promote the Helpline; they have also taken on a lot of the administration work for the core Healthwatch Kent management. Tina took and passed a course on Understanding the Health and Social Care environment, and also helps with the statistics and reports. As Healthwatch covers all of Kent (excluding Medway) the charts below shows the demographics of calls from each postcode area and if complaint is about NHS or Social Care Service.

Number of Phone Calls from Postcode Areas Complaint about NHS &/or Social Care

Tina Bryan, Healthwatch Kent

Hospital Services (non MH), 8%

Hospital Services (MH), 4%

General Medical Practice, 10%

Residential Care, 1%

Community Care (non MH), 3%

Community Care (MH), 1% Dentists, 9%

NHS Costs/Charges, 2%

Healthwatch NHS General, 18%

Healthwatch Hospital Services, 19%

Healthwatch Social Care services, 7%

Healthwatch Other services, 11%

Healthwatch Children's services, 1%

Other Health and Community Care

Issues, 5%

N/A, 1%

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12 22 24 26

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7

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18 20

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Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

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25

36

44

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7 8 8

24

28

21 21

NHS Social Care Not Complaint/Others

Statistics

New Clients 7,208

Existing Clients 2,514

Advice Issues 41,114

Client Contacts 30,027

Activities 42,575

Breakdown of Issues

Clients by Ward

23%

13%

15% 14%

13%

11%

11%

Benefits

Debt

Relationship

Legal

Housing

Employment

Other

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Unique Clients

Client Profile

Ethnicity of clients Clients by Gender

Clients by Age Range

Clients by Disability

4% 2% 1% 2%

91%

Asian or Asian British

Black or Black British

Mixed

Other

White

Female 58%

Male 42%

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

0 – 16 17 – 24 25 – 34 35 – 49 50 – 64 65 – 74 75 – 84 85 +

1% 0% 2% 2%

20% 21%

2%

38%

2%

12%

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Cognitive Impairment

Deaf

Hearing Impairment

Learning Difficulty

Mental Health

Physical Impairment (non-sensory)

Visual Impairment

Long-Term Health Condition

Multiple Impairments

Other Disability or Type Not Given

Linear (Learning Difficulty)

The following statistics demonstrate the impact of volunteering, the effectiveness of the work of our volunteer advisers and the value of volunteering.

Each week our volunteer team spent 221.94 hours helping clients seeking advice and assistance.

129.55 hours were spent advising clients face to face

31.67 hours were spent on advising clients on the phones

8.41 hours were spent on correspondence with 3rd parties

After having advised our clients, advisers needed 52.31 hours writing up their case records.

Each week our volunteer advisers gave 744.69 hours free advice to our clients. The advisers were supported by volunteer admin workers who gave 149.31 hours each week. The team of paid and voluntary staff were supported by our volunteer trustees who on an average gave 20.54 hours each week.

On the whole a staggering amount of 47,556 of free voluntary time was given by the teams to the community of Maidstone. Working on figures provided by the Office of National Statistics (2011) this works out to a colossal sum of £722,464

Face to face interviews took 58.37% of our Bureau volunteer advisers time and on an average they would have spent 41.58 minutes with their client.

Telephone enquiries took 14.27% of our adviser’s time and on an average they would have spent10.16 minutes speaking with or on behalf of each client.

3.79% of our adviser’s time would have spent writing letters to or on behalf of our clients and each would have taken 2.70 minutes.

Writing up case notes after each interview took 23.57% of each adviser’s time; each enquiry would have taken them 16.79 minutes.

Our advisers dealt with a total of 9,722 clients, 7,208 of these were new unique clients and 2,514 were

existing ones. The advisers had a total of 30,027 contacts with our clients and these contacts generated 42,575 activities on their behalf. Finally 41,114 issues were recorded on behalf of all our clients.

On an average each client would have 71.23 minutes spent on their behalf. They would have

Contacted the Bureau 3.09 times (averaged)

Raised 4.22 issues such as Debt, Benefits, Housing etc

4.38 activities would have been carried out on their behalf

Face to Face Telephone

Letters

Case Notes

Breakdown of Advisers' Time

Client Satisfaction Survey 2013

How easy was it to find out about us? % Was the information you received easy to

understand? %

Very easy 88 Very easy 82

Fairly easy 11 Fairly easy 15

A bit difficult 1 A bit difficult 2

Very difficult - Very difficult -

No answer - No answer 1

How often have you used our service in the past three years?

How useful was the advice you received?

Once 52 Very useful 85

Twice 20 Fairly useful 12

Three times 9 Not very useful 1

Four or more 10 Useless -

No answer 9 No answer 2

How did you contact us this time? Do you now feel more confident about dealing with your problem in the future?

Visit Bower Terrace 20 Yes 93

Visit Maidstone Gateway 55 No 3

By telephone 23 No answer 4

By email -

No answer 2 Overall, how happy are you with the service that you have received?

In the future how would you like your query/problem to be dealt with?

Very happy 87

Fairly happy 10

By appointment 35 Unhappy 1

By drop-in 44 Very unhappy -

By telephone 17 No answer 2

By email 1

Home visit 1 Do you consider you have a disability?

No answer 2 Yes 26

No 70

How happy are you about the time we are open?

No answer 4

Very happy 74 If yes, were reasonable adjustments made to deal with your disability?

Fairly happy 24

Unhappy 1 Yes 11

Very unhappy - No 4

No answer 1 None required 27

No answer 58

How long did you wait?

Up to 30 minutes 63 Would you recommend using the CAB service to others?

30 minutes to 1 hour 21

1 – 2 hours 11 Yes 97

2 or more hours 3 No -

No answer 2 No answer 3

How happy are you about the time you had to discuss your problem?

Would you use the CAB Service again?

Very happy 91 Yes 95

Fairly happy 9 No 1

Unhappy No answer 4

Very unhappy

No answer If you have had an occasion to complain, was the complaint dealt with to your satisfaction?

- Yes 9

- No 5

- No answer 89

Client Comments

POSITIVE COMMENTS NEGATIVE COMMENTS

Thank you for the service and advice.

Information very useful- had been unable to find it on the internet.

Keep CAB open. Desperately needed.

Wanted appointment but you were able to answer all my queries on the phone.

Help was professional and friendly, thank you.

Very helpful service and explained how to address problem.

Adviser was very patient, helpful and understanding. Thank you.

Appreciated support given with situation.

Hope the service continues.

Leonie was very helpful and thorough.

Thank you for your ongoing help.

I thought the service was excellent.

Always been very friendly helped me a lot.

Very happy! Brilliant advice and customer service. Thank you!!

Very friendly and attentive. Good level of language and resource. Much appreciated advice from Sue.

Great help and thanks for listening.

Advice given was very useful.

Citizens Advice Bureau have always been very helpful, be it by phone or visiting Gateway or Bower Terrace and relieved me of a lot of stress in the last few months.

Pleasant and helpful staff. Nice office.

Everything dealt with patience, very pleasant staff, all around.

Staff are very willing to help with matters that I would have not dealt with in the correct manner, through information and guidance.

Fantastic! Very useful.

Very helpful, understanding and friendly.

Thank you for your help. It meant I could carry on knowing the advice I received was sound and I liked that I could use your name to help negotiate better arrangements.

Very grateful for time received and advice given. Would be useful to be able to book appointments online.

Good service and of benefit to me.

The people here are amazing, it is very daunting having to deal with certain things and each time have come here they are so helpful and understanding.

None, apart from phones constantly engaged.

Had to redial 100 times!!

It should be made possible, within reason, to book an appointment more than 24 hours beforehand.

Phone service doesn’t have a waiting line.

Rang at 4.50 one day!

A great amount of time needed for drop in service and amount of time waiting to get through on the phone.

It is difficult to contact by phone.

How do people working 9-5 get help? Good website. Issues thoroughly discussed.

Difficult to find telephone number-website not useful.

Had to look at a few websites to find phone number.

Poor phone connection the week prior to coming to bureau.

The adviser was helpful, friendly and clear. He was a bit critical of my paperwork/filing system, which offended me as he doesn't know my full circumstances. It was a bit unwise to advise me to threaten to make a complaint against my solicitor.

I am Nepalese and found some difficulty in understanding. You weren't able to help with my children's immigration.

I tried to get through for a couple of days.

2 1/2 hour wait at Gateway just to see receptionist to secure appointment.

A little confusing as sign suggests Bower Terrace will make appointment.

Open on Saturday would be good.

Need waiting time improvement.

Maidstone Citizens Advice Bureau Income and Expenditure Account Year ended 31st March 2014

31.3.2014 31.3.2013 INCOME Maidstone Borough Council: Annual Grant 185,000 185,000

Welfare Reform Initiative 15,693 - Legal Service Commission 39,411 185,767 IDVA Grant (Community) 40,000 49,933 Citizens Advice Grant 18,300 10,138 Advice Services Transition Fund 134,085 - Advice Services Fund - 70,000 Kent County Council Children’s Centre 6,000 12,000

Donations 2,934 1,783 Deposit Account Interest 944 2,663 Golding Homes Grant 3,000 3,000 Fundraising 9,607 5,030 EDF Trust Project - 27,652 Britannia Foundation - 16,500 HealthWatch 85,768 - Other Projects 20,338 - 561,080 569,466 EXPENDITURE Grants Payable 19,676 -

Establishment Expenses 36,304 30,963 Administration Expenses 512,596 539,865 Sundry Expenses 13,638 13,037 582,214 583,865 SURPLUS/(DEFICIT) FOR THE YEAR (£21,134) (£14,399)

CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES Costs directly allocated to activities Grants Payable 19,676 -

Staff Costs 387,929 410,268 Travel 10,774 10,548 Training Costs 434 4,389 Support costs allocated to activities Staff Costs 52,899 72,400 Premises Costs 36,304 30,963 General Office Costs 65,459 44,886 Bank Charges 334 320 Depreciation 3,124 4,823 £576,933 £578,597 GOVERNANCE COSTS Auditor’s Remuneration 3,858 3,270 Meeting Costs 1,423 1,998 £5,281 £5,268

TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS 2,962 2,908 CURRENT ASSETS Debtors & Prepayments 25,585 27,294 Cash in Bank & Hand 210,508 139,859 236,093 167,153 CURRENT LIABILITIES

Accrual/Deferred income (146,474) (51,380) Other Taxes etc. (616) (5,582)

TOTAL ASSETS £91,965 £113.099

UNRESTRICTED FUNDS £75,108 £89,841 RESTRICTED FUNDS £16,857 £23,258 £91,965 £113,099

The financial statements above have been extracted from the audited accounts of the Company as at 31st March 2014. We are

once again grateful to Messrs Day, Smith and Hunter for their help and support in the preparation and audit of the accounts.

Aims The Citizens Advice Service provides free, independent, confidential and

impartial advice to everyone on their rights and responsibilities. It values

diversity, promotes equality and challenges discrimination.

The Service aims:

to provide the advice people need for the problems they face

to improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives

We give GENERALIST ADVICE in

Benefits Consumer Debt Education Employment

Finance Health Housing Immigration Legal Relationships Tax Travel Utilities

and

SPECIALIST ADVICE in

Debt Housing Employment Welfare Benefits

Acknowledgements

The Trustees, Management, Staff and Clients would like to thank the individuals and organisations who have assisted and supported the Bureau in the past year.

Our special thanks go to: Members and Officers of Maidstone Borough Council Legal Services Commission Kent County Council John Paul Getty Jnr Trust Citizens Advice Central Office staff Citizens Advice South Region staff Berry and Berry for arranging the Solicitors’ rota All Solicitors who participate in the rota Day Smith & Hunter for arranging the Accountant’s rota Accountants who participate in the rota

Financial Support was received from: Chart Sutton PC Cobtree Charity Trust Hesling Henriques, Solicitors MBS Invicta U3A Southern Water Staplehurst PC West Kent Housing Association Maidstone Lions Club Donations from client, staff and trustees

Tax

Legal

Health

Housing

Education

Employment

Debt & Finance

Welfare Benefits

Consumer & Utilities

Immigration & Travel

Relationship & Family

Free Impartial Confidential Independent

Challenging discrimination

Valuing diversity Promoting equality

2 Bower Terrace, Tonbridge Road, Maidstone ME16 8RY

and

Maidstone Gateway, King Street, Maidstone ME15 6JQ

Advice Lines: 01622 752420 and 01622 757882

Email Advice: advice@maidstonecab.org.uk

Website: www.maidstonecab.org.uk

MAIDSTONE ADVICE SERVICES

PARTNERSHIP

WORKING TOGETHER MEETING YOUR NEEDS

Citizens Advice Maidstone is supported by Maidstone Borough Council