We are a local charity providing free, impartial, independent, high quality, confidential advice to those that need it most.
by Laura at Dacorum Citizens Advice in Hemel Hempstead, England, United Kingdom
Citizens Advice has been the people’s champion since we were established in 1939. This year we are ‘celebrating’ our 85th anniversary but sadly the need is more critical than ever; the cost of living crisis is hitting us from all sides - we are receiving increasing numbers of clients seeking help and finding it challenging to raise the funds needed to meet the demands of our work.
Our mission is simple yet powerful: to provide free, impartial independent high quality confidential advice which empowers people and is accessible to all across Dacorum.
Our vision is for a community where people have access to the advice they need in order to find their way forward and the confidence to act upon it; whoever they are and whatever their problem.
We provide qualified advice on subjects ranging from benefits, debt, housing and homelessness, energy, consumer, immigration, work, relationship and family.
Clients are coming to us with ever more complex issues that are taking longer to resolve, stretching our capacity even further. They may initially want help on housing matters but the total extent of their problem may include their approach to financial management and it will more than likely be having an impact on their health and wellbeing and that of their family.
Helping to prevent homelessness
The most pressing need across Dacorum and one that's increasing year on year is to be able to support housing needs and prevent homelessness and debt management.
We now have a situation where we’re seeing significant increases in clients seeking support regarding housing issues - primarily due to the Cost of Living Crisis, mortgage rate increases, increase in rental costs, plummeting rates of new social housing and frozen local housing allowance. The strain on local housing resources is evident: clients fleeing domestic abuse have been (illegally) “encouraged” to return to their abusive situation; and unsuitable temporary accommodation has been allocated to families.
With your donation it will help us to provide a dedicated Housing Specialist to address the growing number of people contacting us with housing difficulties.
Help us to help others
The number of people seeking help increases month on month
This project offers rewards in return for your donation.