• Support Wokingham Today
  • Get the print edition
  • Sign up for our daily newsletter
Monday, October 20, 2025
Wokingham.Today
  • HOME
  • MY AREA
    • All
    • Arborfield
    • Barkham
    • Beech Hill
    • Binfield
    • Bracknell
    • Charvil
    • Crowthorne
    • Earley
    • Emmbrook
    • Finchampstead
    • Grazeley
    • Henley
    • Hurst
    • Lower Earley
    • Norreys
    • Reading
    • Remenham
    • Riseley
    • Shinfield
    • Sindlesham
    • Sonning
    • Spencers Wood
    • Swallowfield
    • Three Mile Cross
    • Twyford
    • Wargrave
    • Winnersh
    • Wokingham
    • Wokingham Without
    • Woodley
    • Woosehill
    • Yateley
    Shane King

    Man jailed for multiple theft offences in Bracknell area

    Police

    Man charged with violent and sexual offences in Bracknell

    Wokingham In Need presents a night of opera at Wokingham Town Hall. Picture: courtesy of WIN

    Wokingham In Need counts the days to Royal Opera House visit

    Dussehra and Diwali

    Reading community marks Dussehra with Ravana Effigy, fireworks and cultural festivities

    Looking for a Finchampstead horticulture club to join?

    My Fruit in Reading

    Fruit shop in Reading forced to close after discovery of cockroaches and mice infestation

    Table tennis Picture: Wikimedia Commons

    Table tennis round-up: New season kicks off for 102nd year

    Crowthorne Symphony Orchestra's Autumn Concert will take place at All Saints Church, on Saturday, November 22. Poster, CSO

    Music group will perform a powerful programme of music at their next Wokingham event

    Scouts battled for a place on the international Jamboree to take place in Poland in 2027. PIctures: Scouting organisation

    Scouts battle for international Jamboree selection

  • SPORT
    • All
    • Binfield FC
    • Reading FC
    Bobby Trundley Picture: Peter Markwick

    Wokingham racing star Bobby Trundley poised for championship title

    Table tennis Picture: Wikimedia Commons

    Table tennis round-up: New season kicks off for 102nd year

    Royston Drenthe Picture: Wikimedia Commons, Juan Fernandez

    Former Reading FC and Real Madrid player rushed to hospital after suffering stroke

    Joel Pereira Picture: Luke Adams

    Reading FC: Noel Hunt confirms injury for Joel Pereira

    Noel Hunt Picture: Luke Adams

    Pressure remains on Hunt as Reading FC stay in League One relegation zone after defeat

    The vision for Cantley to become ".. a hub for the community," Pic: Andrew Batt.

    No planned parking charges for Cantley Park

    Ella scores her first. Pic: Andrew Batt.

    Ella hits hat-trick for Sumas

    Yasmin Miller

    Reading RFC President Yasmin Miller honoured as a pioneer of Women’s Rugby

    Padel is the country's fastest growing sport. Pic: LTA.

    Padel court plans for rugby club

  • READING FC
  • COMMUNITY
    Wokingham In Need presents a night of opera at Wokingham Town Hall. Picture: courtesy of WIN

    Wokingham In Need counts the days to Royal Opera House visit

    Dussehra and Diwali

    Reading community marks Dussehra with Ravana Effigy, fireworks and cultural festivities

    Looking for a Finchampstead horticulture club to join?

    Crowthorne Symphony Orchestra's Autumn Concert will take place at All Saints Church, on Saturday, November 22. Poster, CSO

    Music group will perform a powerful programme of music at their next Wokingham event

    Scouts battled for a place on the international Jamboree to take place in Poland in 2027. PIctures: Scouting organisation

    Scouts battle for international Jamboree selection

    Thames Valley Buses services have been subject to driver shortages and the arson attack at Slough Bus Station has had a further impact

    Woodley bus boost

    Members of Woodley and Earley Art Group will be gathering tonight and on Saturday for two workshop events Picture: Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay

    Watch an artist at work

    A range of games and activities will be available for families to enjoy, at FBC's 15th anniversary weekend celebrations. Picture courtesy of FBC

    Playground work in Finchampstead discussed

    An aerial view of the proposed Toutley East development Picture Wokingham Borough Council

    Council spend of £1m on Toutley site

  • LIFESTYLE
    • All
    • Food
    • Health
    • Obituaries
    • People
    Scouts battled for a place on the international Jamboree to take place in Poland in 2027. PIctures: Scouting organisation

    Scouts battle for international Jamboree selection

    Residents can borrow a thermal imaging camera from the library to check for heat loss in their homes. Picture: from WBC information video via Youtube

    Naturally Speaking: Is your home losing heat?

    Meetings at Wokingham Quaker Meeting House are on Sundays at 10.30am. PIcture: Michael Ford, Wikimedia Commons

    Church Notes: Does Faith Matter?

    Clive Jnes MP performed the opening of Ranga Lounge.

    Town welcomes new restaurant

    The NHS in Berkshire, Oxfordshire, and Buckinghamshire has administered more than six million Covid-19 jabs since the start of the vaccine programme in 2020, figures show. Picture: Angelo Esslinger via Pixabay

    Six million Covid-19 jabs administered in Berks, Bucks, Oxon since 2020

    Sandra's dogs. Pic: Guide Dogs.

    Can you help Guide Dogs?

    Sunday services at Finchampstead Baptist Church take place at the FBC Centre, at 10.30am. Picture courtesy of FBC

    Church Notes: Deep is not being able to touch the bottom

    Fixers at Woodley Repair Cafe celebrated a year of landfill rescues. Picture: Woodley Repair Cafe

    Naturally Speaking: Woodley Repair Cafe celebrates 700 saved items

    Wokingham Theatre is blessed with a remarkable construction team. Pictures: Emma Merchant

    Wokingham Theatre builders: A ‘bunch of happy bodgers’

  • WHAT’S ON
    • All
    • Arts
    • Entertainment
    An exhibition at the FBC Centre in Finchampstead will highlight the seriousness of domestic abuse. Picture: NoName 13 via Pixabay

    A free exhibition in Finchampstead will highlight domestic abuse

    Tense courtroom drama The Winslow Boy at Wokingham Theatre is based on a true story. PIctures: Simon Vail Photography

    Witness a tense courtroom drama in Wokingham

    This week Kerry Godliman returns to Reading's Hexagon with the second leg of her latest stand-up show, Bandwidth.

    ‘Now I’m worried I am a robot’: Kerry Godliman talks ‘Bandwidth’ ahead of Reading show this week

    Woodley Concert Band?s Autumn concert promises a night of sparking superheroes and jazzy villains. Picture: Andrew Martin via Pixabay

    Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Or is it Woodley Concert Band?

    PAMELA RAITH

    REVIEW: Darkness descends at The Mill at Sonning, thanks to ‘The Shadow in the Mirror’

    London's New Players' Theatre Company, with Tom carradine on pianoforte, will entertain at Wokingham's Whitty Theatre on Saturday, October 4. Picture: New Players Theatre Company

    My lords, ladies and gentlemen, for your delight and delectation, an old time music hall show

    A Fairytale for Christmas

    Irish Christmas concert extravaganza A Fairytale for Christmas returns for 2025 tour, including date at The Hexagon, Reading

    CSI will perform for one night only at Wokingham Theatre, on . Picture: Jayda Fogel

    An absurdly funny murder mystery is coming to Wokingham

    Audiences can see Mozart's The Magic Flute, performed by Park Opera, at Wokingham's Whitty Theatre at the end of October. Picture: A Different Perspective via Pixabay

    Enjoy a night of opera in Wokingham

  • JOBS
  • ADVERTISE
  • CONTACT
No Result
View All Result
Wokingham.Today
No Result
View All Result
Home Featured

CITIZENS ADVICE WOKINGHAM: What does our debt advice supervisor do?

by Staff Writer
August 20, 2019
in Featured, People, Wokingham
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

This week we hear from Sue Cornish, our Debt Advice Supervisor. Don’t forget, we are always welcoming people to join our local charity, supporting people across Wokingham. We are writing columns such as this to connect with people in the area.

I am Sue Cornish, Debt Advice Supervisor and I am the longest-serving member of staff at Citizens Advice Wokingham, with 14 years service!

Earlier this year our Research & Campaigns volunteers identified council tax as a priority campaign.

This is because council tax arrears is the most common debt issue we see — as the Debt Supervisor for Citizens Advice Wokingham I’m all too familiar with the reality of the situation. People with council tax arrears often have other debts and will only contact us once the bailiffs are at the door.

Once the priority campaign had been identified, our CEO, Jake Morrison, met with the leader of Wokingham Borough Council to raise the issue. This began a number of meetings with senior officers at the council to look at what we could do.

Since April this year, as well as working as Debt Supervisor, I lead our council tax arrears project. It is a small pilot project at the moment, funded by additional funds from the council.

Related posts

Energy awareness event in Wokingham town centre on Thursday

Charity Trustee – part time voluntary role

We hold monthly drop-in events jointly with officers from the council’s council tax team. This means that people in Wokingham can receive our free, independent and impartial advice — whilst also instantly knowing that bailiff/collection action will be put on hold while they receive our help.

Together, we set out to agree an action plan, that the resident (along with ourselves) and the council agree on. This may be a repayment plan, once we have assessed income and expenditure, or it could be us supporting them with a debt relief order or bankruptcy, if appropriate.

We recently helped a client with high levels of both debts of council tax and credit cards and debts to the bank. The client had been trying to deal with the debts themselves for several years, after the breakdown of the relationship with their partner. The interest and charges of some of the debts continued to accrue and the client was unable to pay the minimum payment on their credit cards. The bailiffs had been involved with recovery of the council tax debts. The client advised us that they were feeling stressed and anxious and had been struggling to open their post due to feeling overwhelmed by their situation. They were taking medication for depression and reported that they felt unable to leave their home, due to the pressure of their debts.

We were able to explain their position to our contact at the Council Tax Collections Department at Wokingham Borough Council and they agreed to our request for a temporary hold on collection activity whilst we gave our client detailed advice. We helped our client with opening their post so we could see the whole picture, performed a benefit check, and helped our client to send holding letters to their other creditors, asking for a month to finalise a financial statement. We were then able to explain to our client what their priority payments should be and negotiated with the creditors on our client’s behalf. We suggested small appropriate payments for the client’s creditors based on their financial statement and having received acceptance from the creditors, the client was able to commence the repayments. With the new payment arrangement in place, the interest, charges and bailiff visits became a thing of the past.

The client reported that their health had improved significantly since working with Citizens Advice, and that they had even felt able to start looking for a full-time job. They had been wanting to do this for a long time but did not have the confidence to do so before, due to the pressure of the debts. The client advised that they were able to look forward to a debt-free future for the first time in several years.

We will continue to look at how we can work with our communities and the borough council to reduce the number of people in arrears with their council tax.

We want people to know that we are here to help — if they are unsure how much money they owe, whether they are on the right benefits or have an issue with a payment — contact us as soon as possible and we will assess your situation.

My other duties at the office include supporting volunteer advisers with their clients. Today, one of the advisers asks me to pop in to the interview they are conducting with a client, to have a chat to the client, as they may be a good candidate for Debt Relief Order.

The client is unsure of the process and they are very concerned that the application may involve freezing their bank account, and that they will have to face the Official Receiver (OR). I am able to reassure the client that as Debt Relief Order Intermediary, subject to the usual checks we have a duty to perform, I will be able to submit their application electronically. There will be no court hearing, nor a visit to the OR.

The client says that they are relieved to hear that the process is straightforward and that they can deal with us to achieve this. I answer the client’s concerns concerning their banking and make some suggestions. I provide them with more detailed information about the Debt Relief Order process to take away to read at home, before their next appointment with us.

I then turn to help an experienced adviser who is interested in becoming more specialised in debt casework. They have several questions concerning a case they are dealing with and substantial repayments of debt which are being deducted from client’s Universal Credit.

We do a little research together using Advisernet, and reference books, and I suggest a couple of options as a possible way forward. We agree that our client may benefit from a Foodbank voucher, and we complete the paperwork for this.

I also look through my emails, and note that confirmation has been received from a charity that they will pay a client’s bankruptcy fee. This is great news for the client, who has not been able to afford the £680 fee to apply for personal bankruptcy.

I telephone them to let them know and to arrange for the correct paperwork to be completed in order to submit this as soon as possible.

I also have several adviser write-ups to check -I give feedback, make suggestions and ensure that any follow-up tasks have been done.

This could mean writing or emailing a client, or contacting their support worker, if the client has given us permission to do so. I also complete a quality assessment on a case, which we are required to do every month, which involves a detailed check on the quality of the advice we are giving.

Throughout my day, there have been lots of telephone calls from clients, questions from advisers, research to be done, completion of online applications forms, financial statements to be signed off and numerous cups of tea and biscuits. It is a varied role, and a very rewarding one. It is a privilege to be a part of a client’s journey towards a debt-free future.

To find out more information about Citizens Advice Wokingham and opportunities to support us, visit www.citizensadvicewokingham.org.uk

Keep up to date by signing up for our daily newsletter

We don’t spam we only send our newsletter to people who have requested it.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Tags: Citizens AdviceCitizens Advice Wokinghamdebt help wokinghamdebt supervisorsue cornish citizens advice
Previous Post

JAMBUSTER: Council leader launches project to tackle Wokingham’s traffic woes

Next Post

Make a date to help save Reading Gaol by giving it a hug

FOLLOW US

POPULAR THIS WEEK

Members of Woodley and Earley Art Group will be gathering tonight and on Saturday for two workshop events Picture: Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay

Watch an artist at work

October 19, 2025
Ella scores her first. Pic: Andrew Batt.

Ella hits hat-trick for Sumas

October 18, 2025
An exhibition at the FBC Centre in Finchampstead will highlight the seriousness of domestic abuse. Picture: NoName 13 via Pixabay

A free exhibition in Finchampstead will highlight domestic abuse

October 16, 2025
Padel is the country's fastest growing sport. Pic: LTA.

Padel court plans for rugby club

October 17, 2025
uReach directors (from left) Charlie Hiscox, Jo Iremonger and Steph Hiscox, after receiving the keys to the new uReach SEND centre in Sindlesham. Picture: uReach

New SEND centre opens in Sindlesham

October 14, 2025

Looking for a Finchampstead horticulture club to join?

October 20, 2025

ABOUT US

Wokingham Today is dedicated to providing news online across the whole of the Borough of Wokingham. It is a Social Enterprise, existing to support the various communities in Wokingham Borough.

Wokingham.Today is a Social Enterprise and aims to ensure that everyone within the Borough has free access to independent and up-to-date news. However, providing this service is not without costs. If you are able to, please make a contribution to support our work.

CONTACT US

[email protected]

Keep up to date with our daily newsletter

We don’t spam we only send our newsletter to people that have subscribed

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

  • Support Us
  • Book Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Get the Print Edition
  • Sign up for our daily newsletter

The Wokingham Paper Ltd publications are regulated by IPSO – the Independent Press Standards Organisation.
If you have a complaint about a  The Wokingham Paper Ltd  publication in print or online, you should, in the first instance, contact the publication concerned, email: [email protected], or telephone: 0118 327 2662. If it is not resolved to your satisfaction, you should contact IPSO by telephone: 0300 123 2220, or visit its website: www.ipso.co.uk. Members of the public are welcome to contact IPSO at any time if they are not sure how to proceed, or need advice on how to frame a complaint.

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • MY AREA
    • Arborfield
    • Barkham
    • Beech Hill
    • Binfield
    • Bracknell
    • Charvil
    • Crowthorne
    • Earley
    • Emmbrook
    • Finchampstead
    • Grazeley
    • Henley
    • Hurst
    • Lower Earley
    • Norreys
    • Reading
    • Remenham
  • COMMUNITY
  • LIFESTYLE
  • SPORT
  • READING FC
  • OBITUARIES
  • WHAT’S ON
  • JOBS
  • PHOTOS
  • ADVERTISE WITH US
  • CONTACT US
  • WHERE TO GET THE PRINT EDITION
  • SUPPORT US

© 2022 - The Wokingham Paper Ltd - All Right Reserved.