East Lindsey Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) is celebrating having received a grant worth £40,900 to launch an outreach service, bringing advice and support to towns and villages along the Lincolnshire coast. The three year funding has been made by the Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales through its community programme and will support the bureau to extend its services to communities including Chapel St Leonards, Ingoldmells and the coastal strip. Since 2008 the Lloyds TSB Foundation has made grants worth £580,000 to charities tackling disadvantage in Lincolnshire.
With branches in Skegness, Mablethorpe and Louth, East Lindsey CAB covers an area of over seven hundred square miles and provides advice and information to around 4,000 people every year. The rural locations of communities along the Lincolnshire coast and limited transport infrastructure, particularly outside summer months contribute to high levels of deprivation in this area. East Lindsey CAB identified a lack of advice and information services in these communities, particularly for older people, many of whom find it impossible to travel to larger towns in search of support services.
Funding from the Lloyds TSB Foundation will allow East Lindsey CAB to run outreach surgeries in towns and villages along the coast, offering local residents advice on a range of issues, including welfare rights, benefits, financial health & debt. The charity expects to make personal contact with an extra 150 people per year through the scheme and by raising awareness of their telephone helpline, to access many hundreds more people in need of support.
Jill Scott, district manager at East Lindsey CAB, commented on the importance of the grant, “The people we seek to support cover a very wide area and it is important that nobody who needs help is excluded because they live in a rural area or do not have access to transport. Funding for our outreach worker will allow us to provide advice, information and support to communities up and down the Lincolnshire coast.”
Lloyds TSB Foundation grant manager for Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, Gary Beharrell, added, “East Lindsey CAB have identified a clear need for support and advice for older and vulnerable people in these coastal areas. The Lloyds TSB Foundation is delighted to support their work reaching out to disadvantaged communities.”
East Lindsey CAB is looking for potential volunteers to begin training in the autumn. If you would like to find out more about this opportunity or the support and advice they can offer, please contact the Centre on 01754 761 141. Citizens Advice will be celebrating its 70th birthday in September and East Lindsey CAB will be running a series of events to celebrate.
