Services A-Z
Ferndown Town Council is acutely aware of the inconvenience to our residents and visitors because of the ongoing traffic and parking issues. We are working closely with stakeholders to try to improve this situation for the benefit of our community.
Citizens Advice in East Dorset and Purbeck
We remain very busy across all of our outreaches and offices, with people coming to us for help with a range of different issues. The demand on our service is such that we continue looking to recruit volunteers for a number of different roles including Advisers, Admin workers and Research and Campaign assistants.
We’d love to hear from people who have some spare time, or perhaps are looking to gain some work experience. A high percentage of our paid staff started life as a volunteer!
We continue to strive towards responding to all calls to the Dorset Adviceline telephone service and continue to work hard towards achieving this target.
The East Dorset and Purbeck Advice Bus was officially launched during this quarter. It has enabled us to reach rural communities who may have difficulty accessing our existing services (see ‘Advice Busupdate’).
For up to date opening times and outreaches visit our website
www.edpcitizensadvice.org.uk
Advice Bus
We are excited to announce that our Advice Bus is on the road! We have been visiting Colehill, CorfeMullen, Verwood, West Moors, Bovington and Swanage on a weekly basis. The bus has proved to bevery popular with residents. In April-June we helped 217 people. The income gains are just under£24,000.
The main issues are benefits, charitable support, debt and housing, with people often coming to usfor help with more than one issue. Our Advisers act as a triage service providing initial support then ifthe issue is more complex they refer to our specialists. Wessex Water help fund an Adviser who canhelp with water bill issues and can advise whether additional grants and support is available.
We are working towards adding additional monthly locations to our existing timetable. Keep an eyeon our website
www.edpcitizensadvice.org.uk/get-advice/advice-bus for up to date information.
Our bus is funded through grants and donations. If you are interested in supporting us please contact katrina.ford@edpcitizensadvice.org.uk.
Dorset Energy Unit – continued response to the energy crisis
Referrals to the Dorset Energy Unit which provides advice across the whole of the Dorset county area have remained consistently high this quarter. Our energy caseworkers have been working hard to keep up to date with the changing advice and energy situation. We continue to make urgent referrals for Fuel Bank Foundation vouchers to help households who have reached a crisis point and are off supply or in emergency supply on the gas/electric prepayment meters. Residents can call the Energy Line on 01929 775500 to arrange to speak to an energy specialist or alternatively email energy@edpcitizensadvice.org.uk
Date For Your Diary
Our charity afternoon tea is at Wimborne St Giles Village Hall on the 27th August 3-5pm. All funds raised will go to Citizens Advice in East Dorset & Purbeck. We hope to see you there!