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Darlington Citizens Advice|Annual Report 2018/19d

ANNUAL REPORT 2018/19

Darlington

Citizens Advice For everyone for 80 years

Company limited by guarantee No. 5562437

Charity Registration No. 1112414


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We are Darlington Citizens

Advice

We aim to provide the advice people need for the

problems they face and improve the policies and

practices that affect people's lives.

We provide free, independent, confidential and

impartial advice to everyone on their rights and

responsibilities.

We value diversity, promote equality and challenge

discrimination.


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Contents Our Service

Chair’s Annual Report 4

Chief Executive’s Report 5 - 6

What we do 7

Aims and principles 7

Our impact on Darlington 8

Our service 9 - 10

Volunteers 11-12

Our work in the community 13 - 16

Client profiles 17

Case studies 18 - 20

Audio case studies 21

Employability case studies 22 - 23

Clients comments 24 - 25

Structure, governance and management 26

Objectives and activities 27

Financial review 28

Data protection 29

Who’s who 30

We have volunteer roles in your area 31


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Chair’s Annual Report

2018 - 19

My report last year opened with the thought that there was an air of

optimism around the town. I think that is continuing, with Darlington

Borough Council working hard to keep things spick and span,

maintaining flower beds, and promoting community events. I

contrasted that with the thought that 2019 and Brexit wasn’t very far

away, with all the uncertainty that this entailed. As I write, in the

summer of 2019, the juxtaposition of confidence and uncertainty

remains. The effective date of Brexit has been put back to October

2019, and we wait for events to unfold.

What is certain is that Darlington is home to many non-UK workers, employed in

agriculture, hospitality and care industries. How will Brexit affect them? At the time of

writing, we ourselves don’t know what is going to happen. So Citizens Advice Darlington

remains on standby, to do what it can when the time comes, to provide guidance and help

to those who need it.

Staying with the theme of uncertainty, we had a little of that ourselves, back in November

2018, when our CEO, Neeraj Sharma, announced that he was leaving to take up the top job

in another charity, based on Teesside. I have to say that Neeraj chose his moment well, in

that he was to leave us with a secure income stream for the current financial year

(2019/20) and a positive outcome for the financial year ended March 2019 which meant

that we did not need to dip into our depleted reserves. The process of finding his

replacement was open and transparent, but in the end, we were pleased to receive and

accept the application of Helen Howson, then CEO at our near neighbours, Citizens Advice

Redcar. Citizens Advice is not funded by central government, and is one of a limited

number of locally funded charities, who nonetheless seek to provide a service to a national

level and standard. It was reassuring to know that Helen had the past experience of

working with Citizens Advice, and the understanding of its workings and standards.

There have been some movements in the composition of our Board of Trustees. During

the course of the year, we have welcomed Mark Redhead, who is employed by Darlington

Building Society. Also joining us is David Egglestone, who comes to us from a career in the

probation service.

As always, a big thank you to all our staff and volunteers. Unpaid volunteers make up the

majority of those workers meeting clients face to face. Despite being unpaid, we rely on

those volunteers to act with professionalism in providing a quality service. Citizens Advice

Darlington remains the only provider of holistic advice in the town. That means our service

isn’t limited by age group, subject matter, or client background. The service is also

unbiased and free.

Robert Murphy

Chair of Trustees


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Chief Executive’s Report

2018 - 19 Looking Back and Looking Forward It is a privilege for me to be writing the Chief Officer’s report for

Darlington Citizens Advice. I started work for Darlington’s Citizens

Advice Bureau in February 2019 following in the footsteps of Neeraj

Sharma and his hard work and passion for advice and support

services in Darlington. Since arriving in Darlington I have received a

very warm welcome from our staff and volunteer teams and lots of

enthusiasm and energy to continue delivering high quality, client

focused services for the people of Darlington. The quality and range

of service provision is impressive and a testimony to the creativity and forward thinking

approach of Darlington Citizens Advice. The annual report contains lots of detailed

information about our services and achievements and I would encourage you to take a

look at these.

At the time of writing, we are seeing out the end of our current business plan for 2018

2019 which has served DCAB very well over the past couple of years. Work is underway on

a new business plan to help us navigate the increasing complexity of client needs and

funding streams. We are entering into a period of collaboration and joint working with a

partner to test new delivery models and maximising use of precious resources. The

Trustee Board and management team are working hard to ensure we remain competitive,

good value and client focused in all of our service delivery.

We are extremely grateful to all our funders for their continued support of our one stop

shop advice centre and community and health outreach programmes. Their support has

meant we can continue to deliver preventative programmes such as financial capability

and GOLD (Growing Older Living in Darlington), funded by Ballinger Trust and Crisis

support and #Darlomillions funded by Darlington Borough Council, along with

rehabilitative support provided in GP practices (Darlington CCG) and across Darlington

hospitals for residents who are experiencing mental health needs or living with a life

limiting illness (Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Trust and Macmillan Cancer services and

CCG). We continue to provide employability support for young people aged 16-29 leading

to brighter better futures for young people.

Looking forward we will be helping the residents of Darlington to help to claim their

Universal Credit. The next financial year will be key in continuing to consolidate our existing

services and maintain strong viable services.

Helen Howson

Chief Executive


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Economic value of volunteering at Darlington Citizens Advice Bureau

Hitting the headlines

Volunteer Role

Equivalent paid job -

Annual Survey of Hours

and Earnings 2018/19

Hourly rate Annual hours Annual value

Generalist Adviser Associate professional

and technical

occupations

£18.59 6312 £117,340

Trainee Adviser Administrative and

secretarial occupations

£18.59 6594 £122,582

Gateway Assessor Associate professional

and technical

occupations

£18.59 3084 £57,332

Social Policy worker Associate professional

and technical

occupations

£18.59 440 £8,180

Advice Session

Supervisor

Associate professional

and technical

occupations

£22.71 2400 £54,504

Support function Administrative and

secretarial occupations

£11.73 8332 £97,734

Trustee Managers and Senior

Officials

£24.48 280 £6,854

Total 27442 £464,526


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What we do

Darlington Citizens Advice is an independent not-for-profit local charity, located in the

heart of a market town, run by local people for the benefit of local people and managed by

a board of volunteer trustees. It is also a member of Citizens Advice, the national umbrella

body that provides a network of advice services without any direct funding to its members.

We provide a broad range of advice services ranging from generalist to our ever

expanding, in demand, specialist areas: debt, welfare benefits, employment and financial

services.

Each year we endeavour to reach out, with our services, to clients, who can’t access us

directly, around the Darlington area: GP offices, churches, hospitals and partner locations,

maximising service coverage, as funding allows.

Aims and principles

Our aims

We aim to provide the advice people need for the problems they face and improve the

policies and practices that affect people’s lives.

Our principles

We provide free, independent, confidential and impartial advice to everyone on their rights

and responsibilities. We value diversity, promote equality and challenge discrimination.


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Our impact on Darlington

Our 2018 client feedback says that we helped solve 82% of people’s problems and 92% found a way forward with issues.

Top 5 issues

When we can help solve problems and issues, this benefits our clients improving their

health and general wellbeing, but also it improves our clients financially, increasing income.

Top 5 financial outcomes

We supported and empowered clients in managing debts in total of £5,735,404

We helped by challenging these debts, negotiating with creditors for affordable,

sustainable, repayments and assist with any court actions and insolvency options.

The value of our work is in the result of enabling people to pay essential bills such as

mortgage and rent payments and relieving stress, increasing wellbeing.


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Our service

* Darlington Citizens Advice Client Feedback Survey 2018

Research & Campaigns

The power to influence and bring about change of policy is at the core of our services. Our

role is to listen to our clients, learn from their experiences, identify issues and practices,

which have a disproportionate and unfair affect and seek to elevate these issues and bring

about change.

In 2018- 2019 the biggest areas of concern of issues highlighted from staff to the Research

& Campaigns team, were for Benefits Debt and Financial Capability. The top subject matter

was Benefit related, 68% relate to the most deprived areas in the borough.

Our top five achievements in 2018/19 are:

DWP medical Assessments – we provided the National Campaigns team with information

we had collated locally and regionally about client journeys & experiences with the DWP

medical assessments. They used that information when they met with the DWP Minister of

State for Disabled people to try to campaign for change.

DWP challenging a decision – we noted in the press the drop in clients challenging DWP

benefit decisions, our clients stated that the process was too stressful, they thought the

decision wouldn’t be changed or they were too unwell to deal with the situation. We spent

the year working with and supporting vulnerable clients who struggled to act for

themselves. We actively promoted the option of challenging a benefit decision that is

detrimental to a person’s health and ability to cope with everyday tasks. We highlighted

that overall, an extraordinary 70% of social security appeals are successful, with the

claimant getting a better award than they originally received from the DWP.

£6,033,494 Income maximized through our

combined services.

95% Darlington clients were happy with our

Quality of Advice *

4,992 clients accessed our services last year

£464,526 financial contribution of volunteers’

time last year


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Scam Awareness – is an issue that is constantly changing & becoming more sophisticated,

due to the digital age and vulnerable clients. Across the year we worked with different age

groups, we attended events and networked with partner organisations. We used social

media platforms to highlight current issues affecting our community and promoted tips to

deal with different types of scams.

Universal Credit – Darlington went full service and we highlighted to partner organisations

and the local JCP the problems other Citizens Advice services had encountered to ensure

we were prepared and could deal with this in Darlington. We worked in partnership with

our local JCP to support vulnerable clients with digital support and access. The information

Citizens Advice collated locally and nationally led to the Help to Claim Project, launched by

Citizens Advice to support people from start to first payment with Universal Credit.

Loneliness and isolation for vulnerable groups – we have utilised the GOLD team, growing

older living in Darlington, to connect people in the community and cascade information

and support networks via the quarterly newsletter and activities. We have collated

information on the close link between loneliness and social isolation and the effect on

consumer issues, scams, digital exclusion, cold homes, disrepair and peoples’ physical and

mental health. Clients who have been highlighted by the local services have been

supported by the # DarloMillions project and the Advocacy project ensuring people have a

voice and support. We will continue to promote services and support for vulnerable clients.


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Volunteers

Volunteer profiles

Cristina

I wanted to volunteer with Citizens Advice

because I wanted to improve my English,

meet new people and build up my skills in

administration work.

Working with a group of dedicated volunteers on the

reception desk has exceeded my expectations. Together we

worked as a team to learn new skills that we can take forward

in life and I have enjoyed working as part of that team and

made friends along the way.

I have more confidence as my English has improved with reading and writing and this extra

confidence has improved my life and social circle. I would recommend working at Citizens

Advice Darlington as a volunteer, it lifts your spirits and makes you feel as if the help you

are giving others is worthwhile, but at the same time building up your experience to take

into your working life.

Ian

I originally decided that I wanted to change

my work focus in life and I wanted to help

others in the community. Citizens Advice

Darlington seemed the ideal opportunity to

gain the skills needed alongside further

education at college.

I had no expectations of the volunteer role as a telephone

gateway assessor, but after receiving support and training, I became more confident and

my self-esteem improved.

It was nice to be part of a team of volunteers with a like- minded approach to helping

others. I have made some new friends and gained new interpersonal skills that will

continue to improve the quality of my life.

I would strongly encourage people to volunteer at Citizens Advice Darlington, take

advantage of the training and life skills you will learn. The experience has opened my eyes

on what problems the community of Darlington are facing and how giving a few hours

volunteering a week can help improve someone else’s life.


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Volunteer comments

“I enjoy working for my

local Citizens Advice, who

are progressive and

forward thinking and feel

that I am a valued member

of the team. There is a

good framework and

structure for both

volunteers and paid staff

with opportunities and

encouragement to learn

and progress.“

“Interesting and

stimulating work and

great colleagues that I

get on very well with.

Also there are some

clients that we help

that I know would

have nowhere to turn

if we weren't here.”

“Helping people

in my local

community,

increasing my

knowledge and

learning new

skills.”

“Working in unison as a

team with volunteers,

management and paid

staff. Regular worker

meetings that ensure

we are all kept up to

date. The service is

holistic and we are able

to support vulnerable

clients at outreach and

in-house.”

“Helping others

and working

with a group of

committed

people who all

want to make a

difference.”

“Learning

new skills

and being

able to grow

as a person”


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Our work in the community

The impact of our Projects

As an organisation we have projects that are specific to a legal issue or they target those

people who are most vulnerable and in greatest need. However, our multi- channel

approach to interlink and refer clients between other projects, allows full support for

clients to deal with the presenting, underlying and impact issues. This ensures we meet all

the client needs, to prevent further problems arising later. The projects complement the

‘core’ Citizens Advice service and increase the numbers of people who can access our

service as a whole.

Our projects

Debt Advice

We continue to give face-to-face debt and telephone advice. This is extremely important to

the community, because there are no other providers who have intermediary distinction in

Darlington.

The specialist service meets strict quality of advice benchmarking as they utilise their skills

to support residents to maximise income, apply for relevant benefits and deal with multiple

debt problems and court representation. They have the added bonus of being able to

refer to other projects within the service to ensure the client gets full support with all

aspects and the impact that debt can cause.

YEI- Youth employment initiative.

The project users between the ages of 16-19 have fantastic outcomes. The team supports

them to access skills, training, placements and real life opportunities to a pathway to

sustainable employment.

We provide:

Essential skills and digital learning

Opportunities to explore education and

training

One-to-one money mentoring – in order

to take control of their finances, track

money and set financial life goals

Financial support with travel and training

Support to access external training

Support with employment opportunities –

CVs, applications, interview techniques

Bespoke accredited business administra-

tion and call centre training and volunteer

placements


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Health Services - Macmillan , GP Benefit Advice &

West Park Mental Health Hospital

Macmillan service is based at Darlington Memorial Hospital

and the GP Project is available at local GP venues for all

residents of Darlington. Funding has continued and it has

enabled us to provide vital support to residents and their

families.

Our Macmillan Benefit Advisor now has two volunteers to

support her with face-to-face, telephone and home visit services. They ensure a client has

full support when they face a diagnosis of cancer or a long-term condition.

GP Advisors sessions are booked up to 2 weeks in advance as people try to deal with the

Benefit systems when at their most vulnerable

West Park Advisor based on individual wards deals with a spectrum of problems. They

ensure people living with mental health issues are supported for discharge into the

community and have support networks in place.

All the health based projects help to deal with the impact and underlying issues that a

health diagnosis can cause. This can become complicated as it affects each area of their

life: benefits, housing, employment, debt, family and health.

Older People’s Programmes – GOLD

Growing Older Living in Darlington - champions to improve

the quality of life for people over 50 living in Darlington, with

older people at the heart of planning, development and

activity.

Leads on meetings to keep members up to date on changes that may affect them. This

platform enables members to raise issues they feel may be of concern to them and the

wider community.

Attends and represents the over 50’s at a wide range of networks, forums, local

government and partnerships meetings.

Develops and leads on local issues by running scam awareness campaigns, ensuring older

people are better informed of how to keep financially safe and be scam aware.

GOLD Key achievements work towards preventing loneliness and isolation in 2018/2019

Annual tea dance social includes events attracting over 700 residents

VIP event

Christmas Party

Older people’s advocacy support programmes.

Public health and CCG consultations


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# DarloMillions

Benefits can be complex and hard to chart your way through, as is the

case for most of our clients, individuals are also coping with health

problems and disabilities. We help people to manage benefit problems

from claims through to tribunal and appeals against tribunal decisions.

Over the last year we have had the good fortune to deliver the DarloMillions benefit take

up and support campaign.

DarloMillions concentrates on helping people who have the most difficulty accessing

advice and progressing their cases, working alongside community organisations and

groups to provide help to those in the greatest need. We also work with Darlington

Borough Council who provides publicity for our e-mail and phone line.

Over the last year we exceeded our £1M take up target realising £1.5M of new benefit

entitlement to Darlington Residents in need.

Over 50 Advocacy service

We undertook 68 items of work for 25 new to the Advocacy Project over the last financial year.

Naturally most issues relate to Community Care, with the largest number of clients raising issues regarding Community Care and physical disability.

Though one of our volunteer advocates, Karen, had to leave during the year we have also recruited Emma who continues to provide an excellent service to her clients

As well as working closely with a range of groups in the town, we have also provided advice relating to Community Care to local organisations like Creative Support and 700 club

The cases are often complex and clients’ problems multifaceted and our support can greatly assist clients to manage what can seem like insurmountable problems if they have to face them alone.

Trailblazer- homelessness

Early interventions at preventing homelessness. We support the 700 Club early intervention project to give timely benefit and debt support to vulnerable clients to prevent or avoid homelessness. The team utilise the other services within Citizens Advice Darlington to ensure the client is fully supported.


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Step Forward Tees Valley

We support the

project provider

with timely debt and

benefit advice to

support vulnerable

clients who have a

barrier to work. These barriers could include physical or mental ill health, a lack of self-

confidence, a gap in skills, a conviction, or an addiction. The project helps people to build

on their strengths and aspirations, using the skills and expertise of partners and local

employers to achieve their goals. We do this by one-to-one sessions and group activities

within Darlington.

Crisis Support & Community Care Support

The project provides emergency crisis support with utilities, essential products and access to: alternative awards, financial capability support, support with benefits, housing and employment issues, debt advice and all generalist civil legal advice.

#CancerWeCan

This project aims to provide people who are living with

or beyond cancer, the opportunity to have a non-clinical

Holistic Needs Assessment (HNA). Using this tool,

concerns are identified, a care plan developed that includes actions to help manage those

concerns, as well as explore additional support and services available that can offer further

support and information.

A large number of voluntary and charitable organisations in Darlington have already linked

with this project and can offer a wide range of support, advice and information.


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Client profiles

Profiles of 3,782 Clients we have seen

Age

Gender

Disability


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Case studies

Health Based Outreach Support

John attended a GP surgery outreach after receiving an

eviction notice due to the local authority stopping his

housing benefits, causing rent arrears, and advising him to

claim Universal Credit.

While already suffering several health issues, this caused John undue

distress at the thought of losing his home.

We helped John by making him aware that the decision to stop his housing benefits was

incorrect; that from January 2018 an existing claimant with qualifying benefits, and severe

disability premium, is prevented from transferring to Universal Credit.

We empowered John to dispute this decision with the Department for Work and Pensions,

and further advised him to make an official complaint with regards to the poor standard of

public sector service consisting of maladministration.

After our intervention, the local authority reinstated John’s housing benefits and provided

back dated payments which will clear his rent arrears.

John was thankful for our support in his issue, and stated: “he would not be able to do this

himself”.

Over 50s Advocacy

“Arthur” was the father of a young adult with Learning Disability and

physical disabilities who was in a wheelchair football team which was

doing well in the region.

The client who was a pensioner was helping his son with

costs but he was finding support increasingly difficult as

Social Services had reduced his care package.

We helped Arthur by providing him information which empowered him to challenge the

decision.

We also suggested that the same result could be obtained if the Financial Assessment was

amended to treat the extra costs associated with wheelchair football since the Local

Authority are required to disregard “Disability Related Expenditure” when considering the

amount of contribution to care costs.

We also advised him that his son was likely to be entitled to a reduction in council tax due

to his disability and that he was entitled to a Carers Assessment in his own right, discussing

with him potential areas of entitlement and eligibility criteria.

We also referred him to the local Carers Centre that run a discount scheme in association

with local services.


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Health Based Outreach Support

Nisha attended a Macmillan outreach appointment

originally with us in July 2018 after she had been diagnosed

with non-Hodgkin lymphoma – she was an inpatient on the

ward at the time and attended with her partner. She was

worried about her financial situation because she was employed part-

time in one job and self-employed via other work but was too poorly

to carry out any work at all and wanted to give her notice in for the employed job.

Nisha was not eligible for new style ESA because she didn’t have sufficient NI contributions,

so we identified her eligibility for Universal Credit and establish her exact entitlement. We

advised her on the full claiming process and offered to help her with the online claim.

We also identified Nisha’s eligibility for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Council

Tax Reduction (CTR) to maximise her income – we helped her with the online claim for CTR

and complete her PIP claim form.

We also applied for a Macmillan grant for Nisha’s daughter to identify eligibility for Carer’s

Allowance – increasing the overall household income to help Mary (and her daughter)

while she undergoes intensive chemotherapy treatment as an inpatient in hospital for a

significant amount of time due to recurrent infections.

Money Management

Megan is a single parent with a dependent daughter aged

11. She is unable to work due to her health as she has

Fibromyalgia. Megan is in receipt of Employment & Support

Allowance, child tax credits, child benefit and Personal Independence

Payments. Megan’s housing benefit had been stopped for several

months after she was deemed to have had a change in

circumstances, resulting in her falling in to rent arrears and a notice being served by her

landlord.

In addition, to the rent arrears owed she was in arrears with her council tax. She had non-

priority debts of £11,400. Megan asked for advice on her options for dealing with her

debts overall but she was particularly concerned about the action her landlord was taking

and feared she would be made homeless.

Due to the strong relationship we have with the Council, we were able to take action with

regards to her housing benefit and have it reinstated and backdated. Resulting in her rent

arrears being cleared and allowed Megan to become a secure tenant which gives her the

reassurance of secure accommodation for herself and her daughter for the future.

We discussed available options to deal with her overall debts, Megan decided she wanted

to apply for a Debt Relief Order as it would take 32 years to repay her debts based on her

level of available income.

We also provided in-depth budgeting advice so Megan was in a position to maintain her

current bills and manage her finances in the future which would enable her to have a fresh

start following the Debt Relief Order.


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Specialist Benefit Service

Sarah had had to give up work a couple of years ago due to

deteriorating mental health. Due to extreme anxiety the claimant had

been unable to attend a medical and her benefit had been stopped.

Due to the fact that she was isolated in her home she had been

unable to challenge the decision leaving her living on only her small

pension. Her housing benefit had also been stopped.

We helped her put in a late challenge which was accepted and the

benefit backdated. Her housing benefit was also restored. We are supporting her to

request a home visit for the next assessment.

The DarloMillions worker also helped make a claim for personal independence payment,

which will qualify her for further benefit in the form of a severe disability premium.

All together she will see an increase in her annual income of more than £13000 a year

which will increase her mobility by allowing her to use taxis and hopefully be instrumental

in helping her reconnect with society

Sarah was in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance, having moved back into the

community after a stay in residential accommodation. She lived in a house shared with

another joint-tenant. She had been granted the higher Support Component because of

her extra needs due to her learning disability and already received the Daily Living

component of Personal Independence Payment.

We were asked to see if there was anything else we could help her claim in order to reduce

some of her costs.. We identified that she would be entitled to an exemption from her

share of the council tax and also £64 more per week thanks to the Severe Disability

Premium.


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Audio case studies

Sarah

John

Julie

Scan these QR

codes, they will

take you to

SoundCloud

Listen to what our clients have to say about our

service


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Employability case studies

Progression into employment - Sophia

Sophia had a negative experience with a past employer resulting in her having

low confidence, self esteem, anxiety and doubt over her ability to work.

Our Learning and Skills Coach met with Sophia on a regular basis and worked with her on

a one-to-one basis to explore the type of work Sophia would like to do, creating a strong

CV; doing lots of job searches and applications together.

Sophia went for an interview with Premier Inn as a cleaner; we spent time going over how

to make a good first impression, how to prepare for interview & going over interview

techniques. Sophia was successful and went onto the next stage; which was a day’s work

trial. Our Learning and Skills Coach spoke with Sophia prior to the trial to support her, to

boost her confidence and belief in herself and her ability to do the job.

After the trial Sophia was offered the job at Premier Inn.

‘Before starting the YEI programme at CAB I was lost and didn’t know what I wanted to do

or even whether I was capable of working as my self esteem was very low. Having my

Coach there to help was just what I needed. She helped build my confidence and belief in

myself. I would definitely recommend the YEI programme’ - Sophia

Progression onto a Routeway - Paul

At the initial assessment Paul presented as shy, low in confidence, low self-

belief and he rated his chances of progressing into volunteering as very low.

Paul started volunteering providing admin support.

Paul has grown in confidence and self-esteem as a result of his volunteering. Although still

shy, Paul has the confidence in his own abilities and although socially reserved, can

converse with members of the general public proficiently to find out their needs and help

them to get the necessary support.

Paul was kept busy on the programme and whilst volunteering also studied towards his

business administration level 2 and AAT.

Paul gained so many personal and professional skills whilst on CAD’s YEI; gaining work

experience and relevant qualifications. He has progressed onto ITEC North East’s

Routeway programme where he will receive sector specific support in finding a suitable

Apprenticeship.


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Progression to education - Charlotte

Charlotte is a young carer for her mam, who was home-schooled for the last

6 months of her secondary education.

From the outset Charlotte knew that she needed to develop her maths and English and

finding a suitable training provider that would develop her to a level 2 standard was set.

We were mindful of the fact that Charlotte did not cope well in formal education settings.

A functional skills Maths and English course was sourced and she has been working

towards her level 2 since.

Our Learning and Skills Coach has been working with Charlotte to create a strong CV,

preparing for interviews, exploring and practising how to carry out job searches efficiently

to minimise time wasting.

Charlotte’s confidence has grown over the duration of the programme as well as receiving

regular feedback on her performance on the functional skills course.

As a result of the regular reviews with our Learning and Skills Coach and the work done in

exploring possible sectors that Charlotte would like to work in, she has been for an

interview for a Level 2 Childcare course at Stockton and Riverside College and has been

accepted onto the programme starting in September this year. In the mean-time she

continues to study towards her Level 2 English and will take her exam shortly.


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Clients comments

“Without this

support I would

still have had no

money from ESA”

“one phone call”

“and they have

repaid and

backdated my

money.”

“Thank you so much for

your patience and

understanding when

dealing with my PIP

application. I have finally

been given the standard

rate on both counts and

am happy with that. I

couldn’t have done this

without your knowledge

and support. You do an

amazing job.”

“I’ve used your service

on many occasions and

have found it very

helpful and have found

out about different

organisations and

services available to me

which have helped on

many occasions.”

“Thank you so much for

all your help! .”

“Employment and

Support Allowance forms

has been placed in the

support group, and didn’t

have to attend a medical

which as you know would

have been too stressful. I

can’t thank you enough.”

“Without this

help and

support I

would not be

able to live

financially”

“Coming to

citizens advice

has been really

helpful and

supportive”


25

“My problems

are only minor

problems but

can get out of

hand without

advice from

Citizens Advice”.

“The only place to

have given me the

best and complete

advice. No other

organisation could

help with my

situation at CAB all

in one.”

“I really want to say

thankyou, without CAB,

I would not have been

awarded Personal

Independence

Payment and

Employment and

Support Allowance I

would have struggled

financially when I went

home.”

“Excellent service

and advice given.

Very happy as I

have never used

Citizens Advice

before and all staff

have been very

welcoming and

professional”.

“Very helpful

service will be

recommending

to friends and

family.”

“Ongoing help to

sort out my

Benefits, family

problems I don't

know how I could

have dealt with

this without

support from

CAB.”


26

Structure, governance and management

Governing document

Darlington Citizens Advice Bureau is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee. Darlington Citizens Advice Bureau is also known and referred to as Citizens Advice Darlington. The maximum liability of each member is limited to £1.00. Darlington Citizens Advice Bureau is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association as amended on 13/03/2013.

Wider network

Darlington Citizens Advice Bureau is a member of Citizens Advice, the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux. It adheres to the principles of the national network, and is audited on the quality of advice and its organisational structure.

Risk management

The Board has conducted a review of the major risks to which the charity is exposed, and where possible has established systems to mitigate these. Internal risks are minimised by the development and implementation of policies and procedures, including those on health and safety, cash handling, IT, complaints and grievances. These are reviewed periodically to ensure that they meet the organisation's needs. A statement on reserves is included in this report: the Trustees recognise this is a significant area of risk for the organisation.

Organisational structure

Darlington Citizens Advice Bureau has a Board that consists of up to 15 members. This meets quarterly. There is a finance committee and an operations committee, which make up the Board; from time to time, working groups are established to address specific issues: for example, health and safety, tendering, building and equipment. Membership of such groups may include staff, volunteers and others who can assist the Bureau. The Board may also establish consultation forums and focus groups. Responsibility for implementing the strategic development of the Bureau is delegated to the Chief Executive, who ensures that the organisation delivers the services specified and that it meets its key performance indicators. The Chief Executive manages a team responsible for the day to day running of specialist and generalist advice provision.

Recruitment/appointment of new trustees

The directors of the company are also Charity Trustees for the purposes of Charity Law. Under the requirements of the Memorandum and Articles of Association the members of the Board are elected to serve for a period of three years after which they must stand for re-election at the next Annual General Meeting. The directors have drawn up a set of role descriptions and person specifications to cover the varied requirements of a balanced board. In order to achieve this broad skill mix, candidates are asked to indicate their areas of expertise and complete a skills assessment. A Board recruitment panel considers all applicants and invites them to a panel interview. Appointments to the Board of Trustees are by co-option or election.

Induction/training of new trustees

The organisation runs a programme of training, which all board members are expected to attend. New Trustees are taken through an 'induction pack' to ensure that they are fully aware of Darlington Citizens Advice Bureau principles and their responsibilities to the organisation.


27

Objectives and activities

Funds held as a custodian

Darlington Citizens Advice Bureau also manages a client account for the Local Authority as a custodian.

Public Benefit of Citizens Advice

The charity's aims and achievements set out have been undertaken within this report. The activities set out in this report have been undertaken to further the charity's charitable pur-poses for the public benefit. The Trustees have complied with the duty under Section 4 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to public benefit guidance published by the Charities Commission and the Trustees and have paid due regard to this guidance in de-ciding what activities the charity should undertake. The Bureau's main objective is the pro-motion of any charitable purpose for the benefit of the community in Darlington and Dis-trict by the advancement of education, the protection of health and the relief of poverty, sickness and distress.

Statement of Purpose and Strategic Objectives

The Citizens Advice service provides free, independent, confidential and impartial advice and counsel to everyone on their rights and responsibilities. It values diversity, promotes equality and challenges discrimination.

Darlington Citizens Advice Bureau aims to:

Provide the advice people need for the problems they face;

Improve the policies and practices that affect people's lives;

Train all workers to provide an accurate, high quality client centred service;

Darlington Citizens Advice Bureau provides services that work to:

Inform people about the law and how it affects them;

Advise people of the possible options available to them and the potential consequences of different courses of action;

Listen to and support people as they consider and decide what to do;

Assist people in pursuing their chosen course of action;

Influence those responsible for policies and services by recommending changes based upon people's experiences.

Darlington Citizens Advice Key Objectives:

The maintenance and development of high quality client-centred service

Increased partnership working as a means of meeting client expectations

The provision of support and advice, particularly for clients with the greatest needs

To maintain effective governance and increase the reputation and profile of the Bureau in Darlington

To build upon the commitment of the staff through effective recognition and personal development strategies

The development of a finance strategy that supports the aims and aspirations of the Bu-reau and its long-term viability


28

Financial review

Reserves policy

We hold contracts/Service Level Agreements with a range of statutory bodies that recognise the value of advice in improving health and wellbeing. We are grateful for the investment in the Bureau outreach providers, which continues to ensure that we provide a more co-ordinated service for vulnerable hard to reach clients. The number and range of sources provides us with a diversified financial base to ensure the Bureau is robust and not over dependent on any one source of funding. We are committed to robust financial planning and to this effect we maintain a projection of income for at least three years ahead and will ensure that this continues to be derived from as wide a variety of sources as possible.

The Trustees recognise that the greatest single area of risk lies in the Bureau’s lean reserves which were exhausted in the last decade.

We are also conscious that there is no such thing as a secure funding source. The Board’s view is that an organisation such as Darlington Citizens Advice should aim for free reserves equivalent to 3 months trading currently estimated to be £126,100 excluding disbursements. The trustees have a reserves policy which is reviewed annually and takes a risk based beneficiaries focused approach. The trustees can report an improved position on reserves from last year with free reserves at 31st March 2019 being £109,131. The trustees are committed to improving the reserves position over the next three to five years.


29

Data protection

Information Assurance - Statement of Internal Control

The Bureau Trustee Board has approved a new Information Assurance Strategy, having identified the risk presented by the significant amounts of client data held in the Bureau. An Information Assurance Management team exists to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of all our sensitive data assets is maintained to a level which is consistent with the requirements of our clients, our funders and our strategic partners.

The Bureau aims to achieve an appropriate level of compliance to the Data Protection Act, the Cabinet Office’s Security Policy Framework and to industry best practice, as defined by the ISO 27000 series of standards.


30

Who’s who

Reference and administrative details

Charity name: Darlington Citizens Advice

Bureau, also known as Darlington Citizens

Advice

Charity Registration: 1112414

Company Registration: 5562437 (England

and Wales)

Registered Office:

The CORE

Church Row

Darlington

Co. Durham

DL1 5QD

Chief Executive: Helen Howson

Company Secretary: Mrs Hazel Thompson

Senior statutory auditor

P W Lamb FCA DipPFS

Auditors

Allen Sykes Limited

5 Henson Close

South Church Enterprise Park

Bishop Auckland

Co. Durham

DL14 6WA

Bank

Barclays Bank Plc

27/31 High Row

Darlington

Co. Durham

DL3 7QS

Solicitors

Latimer Hinks

5-8 Priestgate

Darlington

Co Durham

DL1 1NL

Trustee Board

Date of appointment within the given year (DA)

Date of leaving within the given year (DOL)

Councillor W Newall

Mr L McLeman (Vice-chairman)

Mr R Murphy (Chairman *re-election)

Mr D Byers

Mr P Pimm

Mrs C Flintoft-Smith

Mrs B Buckle (DA 13.09.18)


31

Thank you

We have volunteer roles in your area

All sort of people volunteer with us and for many different reasons, but one

thing that unites them all is that they find is challenging, rewarding and varied.

It’s a chance to make an active difference to people’s live in your community.

Volunteering with us offers you:

a chance to meet new people

new skills

an opportunity to contribute to your community

full training

enhanced employability skills.

We have roles including:

telephone assessor

adviser

charity fundraising

trusteeship

customer service

campaigning

publicity

administration

Contact details:

[email protected]

01325 266888 Ext 110

© Darlington Citizens Advice

Darlington Citizens Advice is an operating name of Darlington Citizens Advice Bureau

Company limited by guarantee No. 5562437

Charity Registration No. 1112414

Authorised & Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority FRN: 617578

We provide free, independent,

confidential and impartial advice to

everyone about their rights and

responsibilities.

We value diversity, promote equality

and challenge discrimination.

Documents

Annual Report 2018/19d Darlington Citizens Advicedarlingtoncab.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/... · Darlington Citizens Advice|Annual Report 2018/19d 3 Contents Our Service Chair’s