Last week was another busy week for us at Citizens Advice Wokingham.
Our Board of Trustees met for their regular meeting and discussed items including setting our budget for 2019/20.
After a period of transition the Trustees formally appointed Tim Abbott as our new Chair of the Board.
Tim has been a member of the board for a number of years now and is Head of External Affairs at Sovereign Housing Association.
We are looking forward to working with Tim more closely in his new role.
Paul Adams has served as chair for many years and has guided the organisation through changes including, a rebrand, moving offices and the selection of a new Chief Executive.
We thank Paul for his hard work in the role and are grateful that he will remain as a Trustee.
Mike Drake was also formally appointed as Treasurer and has already been hard at work preparing our 2019/20 budget and latest accounts.
Last, but not least, our latest trustee Jeremy Best was appointed as Research and Campaigns Lead for the Board. He has taken a keen interest in the work of our volunteers and attended a number of research and campaign meetings and events, including our successful Big Energy Saving Week.
n Campaigning on issues that affect our clients is the dual aim of Citizens Advice. While we provide advice and information to anyone who needs it, we also take lessons from this work and use that to influence policy makers to make appropriate changes.
Our Research and Campaigns group is made up entirely of volunteers, led by our co-ordinator Ros Croy and supported by our Trustee Lead, Jeremy Best.
They meet bi-monthly to review trends in cases that we see and decide on any appropriate next steps.
As priority campaigns for 2019/20 at Citizens Advice Wokingham we are working on:
n Universal Credit, with the launch of our Universal Support project which we will talk about in the coming weeks. We are working to ensure that Universal Credit works for our clients and will help guide and support them through the process to receiving their first payment
n Council Tax, this is our biggest Debt issue that we see and there are a number of changes we are calling for the Council to make. Including simplifying Council Tax letters and looking at the use of bailiffs. We are having productive conversations with Wokingham Borough Council on this issue
n Mental Health, the biggest health problem our clients have is mental health. We need to ensure not only do they receive the support that they need externally, but that our charity also is accommodating and responsive to those needs as much as we possibly can.
Citizens Advice makes a huge difference in communities right across the UK and we could not do it without the support of our volunteers, small staffing team and through working with partner organisations – including The Wokingham Paper which give us an even bigger voice in the Borough.
Jake Morrison is the Chief Executive at Citizens Advice Wokingham
You can get help, information and advice from your local Citizens Advice or visit www.citizensadvicewokingham.org.uk or contact Citizens Advice Wokingham at Second Floor, Waterford House, Erfstadt Court, Wokingham RG40 2YF. Tel: 0300 330 1189. email: public@citizensadvicewokingham.org.uk
