OUR National Lottery Community funded, dedicated Mid Devon team at Citizens’ Advice celebrated 18 months of operation in December with some impressive outcomes for households in addition to the already established team in Mid Devon.

The team was set up to focus on debt and energy in Mid Devon, but recognising that these problems are often linked to others, our advisers work with the specially trained debt and energy team so that all round support is available to those that need it.

As at December, 365 additional people were helped with 3,185 problems over and above those handled by our existing Mid Devon office.

So far, the financial gain for people we have helped with this additional team is over £500,000 (in addition to household financial uplifts generated for Mid Devon within the charity), and aside from benefits advice we have been able to issue fuel vouchers, help people reduce their energy bills with efficiencies offered by our energy adviser and help with budgeting and managing debt.

Unsurprisingly, 80 per cent of those we helped reported significant improvement in their mental health.

The National Lottery Community Fund is the largest community funder in the UK with National Lottery players helping to raise over £30million a week for good causes.

Thanks to the funding, in addition to the services provided in our town hall offices in Tiverton, we have been able to increase our face-to-face services to outreach offices within the Mid Devon community at Crediton in the Age Concern offices, Cullompton at the Community Centre, Lapford at the Lapford Ark Community Café, Uffculme at Warm Spaces and Hemyock at the Blackdown Support Group.

Appointments will be available but currently we are operating drop-ins. Through these outreaches we will build relationships with the local community as they get used to seeing our advisers and volunteers as trusted and familiar faces.

Full details of opening times are on our website: https://citizensadvicetnmwd.org.uk .

Chief Executive Officer Vicki Rowe said: “I am delighted that we are able to expand the services in Mid Devon. We are making a significant difference to peoples’ lives in a particularly challenging economic climate.

“This funding has enabled us to extend our services over and above that which we have achieved through our existing resource in Mid Devon and our goal is always to help more people.”

Citizens Advice Torridge, North, Mid and West Devon is part of a network of independent, local Citizens Advice charities across England and Wales, supported by more than 19,000 volunteers.

Anyone interested in volunteering for CA TNMWD is urged to email: [email protected] .

For free, confidential, independent and impartial advice call the freephone Adviceline: 0808 2787999.

If you need help with bills mounting up and are worried about debt, please visit: https://citizensadvicetnmwd.org.uk/debt-and-money-advice/ .

If you are unsure that you are getting the correct benefits, please visit: https://citizensadviceruraldevon.entitledto.co.uk/home/start .

You can also visit: www.citizensadvicentnmwd.org.uk .

Rosanna Teale

CEO, Citizens Advice Torridge, North, Mid and West Devon