Suspension of face-to-face advice services

In light of the current situation around Coronavirus, and taking into account government guidance alongside advice from our membership bodies and Trustees, we have reached the difficult decision to suspend our face-to-face advice services with immediate effect.

This is not a decision we have taken lightly but we must take steps to protect our staff as well as our clients, many of whom are particularly vulnerable.  Guidance on social distancing, and the need to protect higher risk individuals in particular, means that our face to face advice model is not currently an option.  Face to face advice, with all parties physically present, can no longer be carried out without significant risk to our customers and our advisers.  We also wish to avoid any situation where people at higher risk of infection need to wait together in reception areas and other public spaces.

Please be assured that we are taking steps to ensure continuity of service for existing clients and we are confident that we will continue to deliver an effective, high quality, service to all Coventry residents.  Although we are suspending all of our face-to-face advice services immediately, we will be refocusing our resources on providing advice and support through other channels including telephone and online.

Over the next few days, we will issue new contact numbers for advice enquiries from the public and will share these with you as soon as we can.  In the meantime, people can call our main office number (024 76521100) and our advisers will be able to offer advice and support over the telephone (either immediately or via call-back).  Enquiries can also be sent to our public email address, info@covadvice.org.uk

We will be keeping the situation under continual review. Please look after yourselves and we wish you and your families the very best of health.

Advice session calendar

Please don’t forget to check our calendar before travelling to one of our free advice sessions!

Sometimes we may have to cancel a ‘drop-in’ session at short notice due to staff illness or venues being unavailable during holiday periods, for example. So it is always best to check first!

You can access the calendar using the address www.covadvice.org.uk/calendar. This shows all available sessions for the coming weeks. You can also call us on 024 7652 1100 to check if a session is running.

Christmas closure

Our advice services will close at 4.30pm on Monday 23rd December. We will reopen on Thursday 2nd January 2020.

For details of all our sessions in the new year, see www.covadvice.org.uk/calendar

Citizens Advice Coventry will be open until 12 noon on Christmas Eve. Their national adviceline number is 03444 11144 or visit www.advicebuddy.org

Emergency food help

Coventry Foodbank will be placing Emergency food boxes in the four Fire Stations across Coventry (Canley, Foleshill, Binley and Radford). These will be open 24/7 from Tuesday 24th December until Sunday 5th January for those in crisis and who need food over the Christmas period.

Do you live in Tanyard Farm?

If you live in Tanyard Farm, you are now able to access a new benefits advice service that is exclusive to local residents.

Thanks to support from Orbit, we can now offer all Tanyard Farm residents individual advice in your own home or another suitable location. The service is completely free of charge.

You may like us to check whether you are getting the right benefits, to help you make a claim or to challenge a decision if you don’t think it’s fair.

You do not have to be an Orbit tenant to use the service. We’re open to all tenants of housing associations, private tenants, people who live with family and owner-occupiers as well. The only requirement is that you live in Tanyard Farm.

Over the next few weeks, you should be getting a letter and a leaflet through your door telling you all about the service. But you don’t need to wait! If you would like to get in touch, just drop us an email at tanyardfarm@covadvice.org.uk and we will set up an appointment for you to see our adviser.

And if you don’t live in Tanyard Farm, you can still access our general advice service available at locations across the city.

Service change in Wood End

We are sorry to announce that, in future, we will not be offering a weekly drop-in advice service at the Moat House Neighbourhood and Leisure Centre in Wood End. Our last session there will be on Thursday 19th November 2019.

But don’t worry! We will still be delivering three other weekly advice sessions nearby. These are at:

  • The Moat Family Hub, Deedmore Road
    • Monday’s from 1:30pm to 4:00pm
  • Bell Green Library, Riley Square
    • Thursday’s from 9:30am to 12 noon
    • Friday’s from 1:30pm to 4:00pm

We also deliver many other advice sessions across Coventry. Have a look at our ‘live’ calendar to see where we are offering advice around the city each day. www.covadvice.org.uk/calendar.

We would like to thank all the staff at the Moat House Neighbourhood and Leisure Centre for their support over the past five years.