Welsh Government extends funding for debt, employment and benefit advice until March 2021

A fund to enable support services to provide free advice on debt, housing, employment, welfare benefit and other issues has been extended.

In January, the Welsh Government announced that £8.04m will be allocated to a Single Advice Fund to enable support services, led by Citizens Advice Cymru until December 2020. This funding has now been extended until March 2021

The Deputy Minister and Chief Whip, Jane Hutt, said:

“It’s vital that the most vulnerable people in our communities have access to free and impartial advice that they can trust, especially during these difficult times.

Between January and June, more than 52 thousand people in Wales accessed advice services to help solve issues including welfare benefit, employment and debt related problems.

During lockdown, advice services adapted to prioritise telephone, email and webchat support, but as restrictions have eased, some face to face services will be resuming.

It’s really important that people can access free, accurate advice, and the issues people have faced aren’t going away.

I’m therefore delighted to confirm that we’ll be continuing to fund Citizens Advice Cymru and their partners until at least March 2021, enabling them to deliver the advice and wraparound support that residents in Wales need to maximise their income, resolve employment issues, and manage debt.”