Advisor

Advisor

Posted for Citizens Advice East Lancashire

Posted by Hyndburn & Ribble Valley CVS

Register your interest

You will be redirected to the Hyndburn & Ribble Valley CVS website to express your interest.

• Complete an introduction to Citizens Advice and training for your role
• Talk to clients over the phone, face to face or online to explain what problems they've come for help with.
• Find information about clients' problems and help them understand their options.
• Support clients to take action to resolve their problems. This might include drafting or writing letters, making phone calls or referring the client to another organisation.
• Write a summary of the clients' problems and what action you've taken.
• Look out for problems' that are common, or are unfair, and write a short report about the problem or a letter to an elected official like an MP, AM or local councillor.

Some examples of what you could do:

• Help a client with debts work out a reasonable amount to pay back, and make a phone call to an organisation to who they owe money.
• Explore what benefits a client is entitled to and help them complete a benefit application form.
• Help a client who has problems with their landlord to understand their housing rights.

No prior experience is necessary in these areas as you’ll receive full training.

For individuals who are doing advice giving roles, and who are also training to be a solicitor, if you started training to be a solicitor before 1st September 2021, you may be able to get up to six months reduction in your training contract.

If you started training to be a solicitor after 1st September 2021, you may be able to include time spent volunteering (or working) in advice giving roles as part of (or all of) your qualifying work experience. See Solicitors Regulation Authority for more information.

What skills do I need?

You don’t need specific qualifications or skills but you’ll need to:

●      be friendly and approachable

●      be non-judgmental and respect views, values and cultures that are different to your own

●      have good listening skills

●      have excellent verbal and written communication skills

●      have good maths and IT skills

●      be able to understand information and explain it to others

●      be willing to learn about and follow the Citizens Advice aims, principles and policies, including confidentiality and data protection

●      be willing to undertake training in your role