As part of our service strategy we are starting to work alongside community partners to provide some advice and support services, by appointment only, back in the community. These partners include ‘grub hubs’, social supermarkets, Family Hubs and other community organisations. We are working closely with these services to help ensure that the people who need our help most get help at the earliest possible stage.

Please note that we are not offering public ‘drop-in’ services at the moment. The advice that we are able to offer in the community is strictly by appointment and based on need identified with our partners and our advisers. The first point of contact for advice is still our telephone and online service.

During the pandemic we have learned that a lot of people in the city did not want to, or were unable to, wait in queues to be seen. Often we had to turn people away because of high demand and we didn’t want to do this. Lots of people have told us they would prefer to contact us by phone or online as it was more convenient and appropriate to their needs. But we also know that some people really need help in person, face to face, and so we are focusing that part of our service on the people who need it most.

To help us to offer these services, we have made some changes to the operating hours of our public telephone advice service. Although we have reduced the hours that the service is available, there will be more advisers on the line each day so you should find it easier to get through to an adviser when you call.

If you have any feedback on our new ways of working, please let us know.