Our Projects

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Citizens Advice Bridgend (CAB) collaborates with local and national funders to provide advice through a range of projects.

Learn more about the services we provide by exploring the information below.

Financial Advice & Support Services

The types of cases that can be seen by FASS:

  • Debt problems
  • Financial difficulty
  • Unemployment (claiming benefits)
  • Inability to budget or manage finances effectively
  • Those experiencing “work poverty”
  • Benefit calculations/better off
  • Maximise income
  • Reduce expenditure and support with budgeting

People

FoodBank

Advisers attend Foodbank Outreaches in Bridgend, Porthcawl and Maesteg.

The Project aims to reach out to those who are experiencing financial hardship, at risk of fuel poverty, living in crisis, or vulnerable to ill health and depend on Foodbank Vouchers as their only means of getting food.

The service will deliver and offer support with:

  • Complete a full comprehensive benefit check
  • Support with benefit applications
  • Manage debts and maximise income
  • Assistance with grants and other one-off support
  • Improve their health and well-being.
  • Support with housing issues.

 

Bridgend Foodbank

Warmer Wales

Warmer Wales supports clients who are living in fuel poverty and to support them in:

  • Understanding tariffs & bills
  • Providing advice on energy efficiency measures, thermal efficiency measures and identifying grants available under NEST.
  • Providing benefit entitlement checks and/or assistance in claiming benefits. This includes checks for eligibility for Warm Home Discount (WHD), rebates available from energy suppliers and the priority services register (PSR)
  • Support with complaints or customer service issues with an energy company
  • Advice on dealing with and reducing fuel debt, including accessing financial support to pay off fuel debts through charitable grants, and ongoing payment plans. This is aimed at giving clients long-term relief from fuel poverty.
  • Providing financial assistance to be spent towards energy bills, including rebates, to households that are particularly at risk of fuel poverty or in emergency situations.

Mugs

Advicelink Cymru Generalist Advice Service

Supporting clients in the following groups

  • Learning difficulties/additional needs
  • Carer (including young carers)
  • Child(ren) with complex needs
  • Physical impairment
  • Sensory impairment
  • Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)
  • People with mental health issues
  • People accessing Integrated family support

 

Core Advice Service

Our Core service provides initial advice in consumer, debt, welfare benefits, employment, housing, relationships, taxes, immigration, health, education and discrimination

Initial contact will be either via the routes: in-person ‘drop-in service’, in-person appointment at an outreach venue, or by telephone via our main telephone service, whose telephone handlers will arrange either a digital or in-person appointment depending on the client’s circumstances and availability. Ongoing work will include access to appointments via a range of channels e.g. in-person, telephone. We will ensure wherever possible to work out of community venues and partner venues.

Help To Claim

Help to claim

Claim What’s Yours

  • This is a national project that we support to deliver in the office through telephone advice.
  • Claim What’s Yours can help you apply for welfare benefits and help with debt and personal finance.
  • Here is a link to a webpage explaining the service and a YouTube video www.gov.wales/here-help-cost-living
  • As a local office, we will receive referrals from this service and a client may mention that they spoke to someone on the phone before they came into the office for further support. This service is open Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm by calling  0808 250 5700.

Specialist Debt

  • This project allows us to support clients with debt solutions specific to the needs of a particular client.
  • The debt team will determine these needs by completing a full debt assessment, identifying ways to maximise income and reduce spending, to arrive at a suitable solution.

Specialist Benefit

  • The specialist benefit team work with clients that are going through the tribunal service, in order to be awarded a welfare benefit that they believe they are entitled to, but have been declined.
  • Working with the client directly, the benefits team help clients to put their appeal submission into the tribunal, and prepare them for what to expect from the tribunal itself.

People

Multiply

Multiply is a government funded project to help adults with their numeracy skills and confidence around maths. Citizens Advice Bridgend are doing free sessions on things like budgeting, understanding banking, bills, pay, pension and debt management.

Sessions are two hours each, and can be accessed as stand-alone sessions or the learner can choose which sessions to build into a scheme of learning. They are aimed at people who have low maths skills and would like to gain some confidence.   We can also give the learner further support with maths skills so they can complete an essential skill qualification in application of numbers if that is something they are interested in. Some people just want to complete sessions to gain confidence and skills, some like the idea of being able to do a qualification to support with future job prospects and further study.

The learning is available across 4 unit themes:

Unit 1 – Budgeting and Income Maximisation

Unit 2 – Understanding Banking, Credit and Bills

Unit 3 – Pay and Pensions

Unit 4 – Debt Management

 

If you are interested in having help to understand how to use maths to increase your confidence in money management please complete an expression of interest form (attached), we will then contacted you and invite you to attend a sign-up session (ID will be required) and after that a date and time will be arranged for the teaching session/s.