With great sadness we need to inform you that, following Coventry City Council’s decision to completely axe our funding, Coventry Independent Advice Service (CIAS) will be unable to take on any new advice cases after 30th September 2024.

We understand that this may create problems for your service users, contacts and the wider community, but without any funding we are unable to commit to future work. We will continue to work with our existing clients and with clients we take on between now and 30th September, but we cannot take new clients after that date unless additional funding can be secured.

You may be aware that Coventry City Council opened a competitive tendering process for a new grant to provide advice services in the city. This process was announced in August with a very short turnaround of approximately 3 weeks. The grant has now been awarded to Citizens Advice (for generalist advice, including welfare benefits and debt) and to Central England Law Centre (for specialist level social welfare work) as part of a new ‘Coventry Advice Service’ strategy.

The new contract is effective from 1st October 2024 with no period of transition or agreements in place for the transfer of work. From that date, you will need to signpost or refer anyone needing advice or support to Citizens Advice or Central England Law Centre, as appropriate.

This outcome may force CIAS to close, ending over 30 years of essential support and guidance from our charity to thousands of Coventry residents alongside the economic benefit of our work to the city.

If you would like to talk to us about how this decision might impact on your organisation, your service users, or how we might work together to secure future funding, please do get in touch.

On behalf of CIAS staff, volunteers and trustees, I would like to thank you for your support and the confidence you have shown in our charity.

Alan Markey
Chief Executive Officer

The Government has recently announced that the Winter Fuel Payment will become means-tested. This means that only those receiving Pension Credit or other means-tested benefits will receive Winter Fuel Payment this year and beyond.

Thousands of people are entitled to Pension Credit but don’t claim it. We encourage all pensioners to check if they could be entitled to Pension Credit. If you are eligible this will secure the Winter Fuel Payment, a tax-free payment designed to help you cover your heating costs worth up to £300. 

Receipt of Pension Credit can also give extra help with health costs, housing costs and council tax. So check if you are eligible! You have nothing to lose and potentially a lot to gain!

You can use an online benefit calculator to help you check if you are entitled to Pension Credit, or to any other benefits. Age UK have a benefits calculator on their website and there is also one on the Turn2Us charity website. Both are free and confidential.

We can also offer advice and information on Pension Credit. Please see our get advice page for details of how to contact us.

Many people are in precarious or unstable work. This includes people on zero-hours contracts and other types of employment.

If you are in this type of work, a new video may help. We have produced this in partnership with students from the Public Legal Education module at University of Warwick. It can be accessed through our advice pages.