Spelthorne Borough Council provides grant funding to Citizens Advice Runnymede & Spelthorne (CARS) for a Core Advice Service and dedicated Spelthorne case worker.
About CARS
CARS aims to ensure Spelthorne residents have access to free and confidential advice encompassing a range of areas including housing, debt, benefits, employment, relationships, legal, health and community care, consumer goods and services, immigration and asylum, travel and transport, discrimination, financial services, utilities and education.
For 2022-23, CARS aim to support up to 2,000 people in Spelthorne with advice and information. This includes providing a safety net for many vulnerable members of the community suffering from increased deprivation as a direct impact of the cost-of-living crisis. At the end of 2021, CARS recognised an increase in demand for their service when they noted that employment and benefit advice had risen to 53 per cent of their overall workload due to the growing deprivation caused by COVID-19. CARS undertake an annual Community Needs Analysis to measure the needs of the community which highlighted that Spelthorne suffers from the highest levels of deprivation in Surrey.
CARS provide an advice service 9am-5pm Monday to Thursday and 9am-4:30pm on Friday. They operate from two office locations including a local library. The local freephone advice line operates 10am-4pm Monday to Thursday. In addition, separate funding enables CARS to offer a ‘Friends of the Court Service’ within the borough every fortnight. CARS deliver support at eviction hearings and a weekly outreach drop-in service at two local foodbanks. The service aims to be as inclusive as possible by offering a hybrid working model which retains a strong physical presence within the community and a sense of accessibility.
Contact
Steph Green, [email protected]