Information and Advice

Information and Advice

We wanted to take this opportunity to let you know a little more about our Information and Advice Team that works across Cheshire West and the South of Cheshire East, or as we like to call them, our Incredible and Amazing Team. Why do we call them this, well…..

1 – Outreach worker who operates in Crewe and Nantwich to support the identification of benefits and form-filling

2 – Part-time Information and Advice supervisors on hand daily to support with a range of queries and issues that impact the lives of older people

3 – Days turn around for all inquires received by email and phone

4 – Selfless volunteers who give their time, free of charge to support our service and our clients

950 – Hours of impartial and quality support provided since April 1st 2023

1170 – Referrals managed and supported since April 1st 2023

£711,412 – Is the value of benefits that have been identified for clients we have supported since April 1st 2023

Age UK Cheshire has been offering an Information and Advice Service for several years but 2023 marked the dawn of many changes to the support we give and crucially how we give that support.

In the Summer of 2023 the team began to change with a new Coordinator, Laura coming on board to help the growth and development of the team. Since then we have recognized and realized many opportunities that have helped to make our Service the best it can be and we continue to make great progress

We have a dedicated and knowledgeable team with two experienced supervisors, Tracey and Linda who work across the week to field queries that range from benefits inquiries to support with domestic agencies and from chimney sweeps to guidance around lasting power of attorney, you can be assured that if they don’t know they will know someone who will. They also support email inquiries and work closely with the National Age UK Service to support clients in the local area

Since COVID face to face support has been hard to come by and we know that older people often favour this method of support so in September 2023 Helen joined the team as our Outreach Advisor. She is based in Crewe and Nantwich and brings a wealth of knowledge and provides support at community venues and for those clients who need it, she can offer a home visit. Her role is to support those who have benefits needs from identifying eligibility to completing forms

In 2023 our volunteers also joined our team they are helping with our resources which are issued to clients to make sure they are all standardised and suitable for our clients’ needs, as a service we cannot recommend providers but strive to ensure that information we provide is up to date and accessible for all to use. Two of our volunteers also support with benefit eligibility checks and have contributed to the incredible amount of over £700,000 of benefits that have been identified for our valuable clients this year alone.

I hope this gives a little insight into this fabulous service that Age UK Cheshire provides and illustrates why they really are INCREDIBLE and AMAZING, if you have a query or feel like you would benefit from support from our team you can contact them by phone Monday to Friday 9am – 1pm on 01244 401500, if you call outside these times you can leave a message and the team will come back to you or you can email informationqs@ageukcheshire.org.uk and we can support you this way too.