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Our Services

You can access our service in the following ways:

AdviceLine – 0808 278 7985

(Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri 10am to 3pm)

 

General Enquiries Line – 01744 737866

(Mon to Fri 9am to 4pm)

To arrange to speak to a Welfare Benefits or Debt advisor 

 

Universal Credit Help to Claim

0800 144 8444 / 01744 737866

 

or Email 

helptoclaim@casthelens.org.uk

 

Email Advicewww.sthelenscab.org.uk

 

General Advice – www.citizensadvice.org.uk

 

Drop-in

(Wednesday 10am- 12pm)

Please note the drop-in service is for information only.

No benefit checks or form filling will be undertaken.

 

Please see below for more detailed information of the services we currently provide and how you can make contact with each section:

Money and Debt Advice

Our Money Advice team provides advice on personal debt issues including household bills (rent, Council Tax, utility bills) consumer credit (credit cards, loans, Hire Purchase) and most other type of personal debt (parking charges/penalties, fines)*.

You can contact us for debt and money advice in the following ways:

(1) By telephone

Telephone our General Enquiries Line on 01744 737866 and we can arrange an initial phone triage to assess your case. Advice can then be provided over telephone or in person at our office.

(2) In the office

Our Money Advice Drop In session at our office is every Wednesday 10am-12pm.

The door will be open for you to attend in person, without an appointment, and speak to an adviser for an initial assessment.

(3) Newton-le-Willows Outreach

Our Money Advice Drop in session at Crownway Community Centre in Newton-le-Willows is held every 1st and 3rd Friday of the month, from 10am-1pm. The centre will be open for you to attend in person, without an appointment and speak to an adviser for an initial assessment. Please see our Outreaches page for further information.

(4) Via email

By using our email enquiries forms, an adviser will then contact you via telephone to provide advice:

https://sthelenscab.org.uk/debt-money-advice/

*Unfortunately we cannot advise on business debts or disputed amounts but you are welcome to speak to us for guidance on this.

Our office is a member of the Greater Merseyside Money Advice Partnership, funded by Money Advice Service, please see these links for further information:

https://www.gmmap.org.uk/

https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en

 

Information and Advice Service 

The service provides assistance to St Helens residents with a range of issues including:

  • Accessing care and support 
  • Advice on housing and homelessness  
  • Accessing local groups within the community  
  • Advice on welfare benefits 
  • Employment and training  
  • Signposting to services 

The service has a particular focus in helping to direct you to the most appropriate statutory, voluntary and community organisations. By adopting a person-centered approach  we can offer support and guidance to empower and enable you to make informed choices to progress to a positive outcome. 

You can contact the Information and Advice Service on 01744 758034 for initial advice over the telephone or alternatively to make an appointment if necessary.

Alternatively, you could email us via sthelenstsc@gmail.com 

This service is provided as part of St Helens Third Sector Consortium and funded by St Helens Council.

 

Financial Resilience Project

Our Financial Resilience Team can support you in:

  • Improving your financial capability and financial resilience
  • Help and advise with debt problems, welfare benefits issues and energy bills
  • Prepare and progress you into sustainable employment
  • Advance into training and education opportunities which will enable you to become more work ready and more digitally skilled

You can contact our BOF team by telephoning our General Enquiries Line on 01744 737866 and we can then arrange for an adviser to speak to you or via our email enquiry form on this website.

Advice and assistance can then be provided over telephone or in person at our office.

This is a new project working with Liverpool City Region and The Women’s Organisation, further details here:

https://www.liverpoolcityregion-ca.gov.uk/mayor-steve-rotheram-launches-2million-scheme-to-support-hardest-hit-through-cost-of-living-crisis/

 

Help to Claim

This service supports people to make a new claim for Universal Credit, from opening a Universal Credit account to receiving the first full Universal Credit payment.

This includes checking eligibility for Universal Credit, explaining the process and helping with problems in receiving the first payment.

Help to Claim is provided by telephone and webchat only.

You can contact our team on 01744 737866 to request a call back or email us directly at helptoclaim@casthelens.org.uk.

Alternatively, to use this service you can telephone on 0800 144 8444 or speak to us via webchat by following this link:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/contact-us/help-to-claim/

Please be aware Help to Claim is a national service and you will be connected to any adviser across England and Wales.

 

Trussell Trust Financial Inclusion Officers

We have Financial Inclusion Officers who are based in St Helens Trussell Trust Food Banks every day of the week and aim to provide financial wellbeing advice to food bank users.

Please see our Outreach list for details of food bank venues and opening times for each.

 

Welfare Benefits Advice

Our welfare benefits team can help with issues including checking entitlement to benefits, assisting with forms and helping with appeals.

Welfare benefits appointments are made on a weekly basis and our clients are asked to telephone us on Monday mornings, from 9am, on our General Enquiries Line 01744 737866. Advice can then be provided via telephone or in person.

Appointment slots are filled quickly and if you are unsuccessful in securing an appointment, you will be advised to try again the following Monday when the next batch of appointment are released. It can be difficult to make an appointment at our office because of the high demand for benefits advice and we apologise for the inconvenience this may cause. Our General Enquiries Line has a queuing system.

 

Consumer Advice

Specialist advice on consumer issues is provided by the Citizens Advice Consumer service, instead of local offices.

Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline is 0808 223 1133

More contact information can be found here and webchat is also available:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/contact-us/consumer-service/

 

Our Outreaches

We have a presence across the borough at different outreaches where you can meet with an adviser face to face. Please check for updates on our outreach page for further details

 

General Enquiries

If you require advice and assistance with an issue which is not listed above, you can contact Citizens Advice in the following ways:

 

Telephone

You can receive advice over the phone by telephoning our free Adviceline on 0808 278 7985  open from 10am-3pm. This service is provided by Citizens Advice St Helens and other partner offices

Email

Please see our email enquiry form on this website https://sthelenscab.org.uk/e-mail-advice/

Webchat

Contact us to receive instant advice via webchat by following this link:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/contact-us/web-chat-service/

Please be aware webchat is a national service and you will be connected to any adviser across England and Wales.

Online

Citizens Advice website has a vast amount of information on different advice issues online and the site can be found here.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

Drop-in

We provide an open-door drop in service on Wednesdays 10am-12pm at our office where general information can be provided. Please note more complex advice issues and in particular, form-filling, cannot be dealt with at a drop-in.