THE CEO of Citizens Advice Wokingham is encouraging anyone in need to reach out for support.
With the energy price cap set to rise from Saturday, October 1, the charity is seeing unprecedented demand for its services.
Jake Morrison is urging people to contact the charity in their moment of need.
“I know from all of my mental health work that people often just want to be heard,” he said.
“Someone acknowledging their struggles, that it’s difficult, and that someone cares.
“It validates their experiences. It’s why we’ve had that focus on early triage to ensure as many people get through.”
Despite seeing an increase of 59% year-on-year for the month of July, the team of volunteers are still responding to as many people as they can.
In 2020 and 2021, 95% of calls to the advice service were answered.
In July 2022, the charity received 1,433 calls and answered 959 – 66.9% of calls – with the same level of staff.
Mr Morrison wants people to contact by phone and email as they will address as many residents’ issues as possible.
He said: “I still encourage people to reach out to us.
“We’ll likely take a little longer to get back to people – but I’d rather people reach out and ‘be in our system’ than not get support at all.”
The charity is working to increase its capacity and has recently launched its volunteer adviser recruitment campaign so people can continue to receive advice.
“We’ve supported people across Wokingham borough for over 45 years now with free advice, information and support,” said Mr Morrison.
“But we’ve never been more in demand than we are at the moment.
“Our staff and volunteers are working flat out to help people, but there’s still a lot of people out there who find it difficult to get through to us. And we need to make sure they have somewhere to turn.”
Last month, the charity received two separate emails from individuals who were without electricity in the same weekend.
Mr Morrison said: “We’re in 2022, and it’s the summer.
“I am so worried about the winter months.”
The charity works with residents to ensure they receive specialist advice and support.
Mr Morrison said it’s more than “just about getting people vouchers in a quick call”.
He added: “Our work, going back to the two people with no electricity, will include benefit entitlement checks, debt support, looking at any other housing issues and any other charitable support needed.”
Citizens Advice Wokingham offers free advice, information and support services to residents.
To contact the charity’s adviceline call 0808 278 7958 or email contact@cawokingham.org.uk.
The adviceline is open 9AM to 5PM Monday to Friday and there is an answer machine service out of hours.
There is also an option to enquire through the charity’s enquiry form.
For more information, visit: citizensadvicewokingham.org.uk
