Community Advice Ards & North Down

Community Advice Ards & North Down will be closed from Monday 23 December and reopen on Thursday 2 January 2020. If you require urgent advice please contact the Welfare Changes Helpline on 08088020020.

Community Advice Ards & North Down will be closed from Monday 23 December and reopen on Thursday 2 January 2020. If you require urgent advice please contact the Welfare Changes Helpline on 08088020020.

Advice NI warning for workers claiming Universal Credit at Christmas
Employees who are paid early at Christmas may be affected by a flaw in the Universal Credit (UC) system whereby claimants may be treated as receiving two monthly wages in one assessment period, resulting in a dramatically reduced or even nil Universal Credit award.
Advice NI states that this is a fundamental flaw which could inflict hardship on claimants and cause further damage in terms of public confidence... in the Universal Credit system. Bob Stronge, Advice NI Chief Executive said:
“Government says that it’s all about work, making work pay and that Universal Credit will help make sure people are better off in work. However we are highlighting a fundamental flaw which could inflict hardship on claimants and undermine public confidence in Universal Credit.
For example if someone receives their monthly wage on the last Friday of each month then they will have been paid on Friday 29th November and ought to be paid on Friday 27th December. However many people will be paid early for Christmas, some as early as Friday 20th December.
Universal Credit assessment periods run for a calendar month, so for example if a UC claimant has an assessment period which runs from 25th to the 24th, they will in fact find that they have received 2 monthly wages in this assessment period (29th November & 20th December) and so may receive little or no Universal Credit at Christmas.
Whilst there may be months with no wage packet and other months with one wage packet which will lead to an increased Universal Credit award, Advice NI believes this issue will undoubtedly lead to claimants having a lack of certainty about finances and will undoubtedly cause distress and hardship for some at Christmas.”
Advice NI believes that it is irrational that income for a period other than the monthly Universal Credit assessment period is taken into account and this flaw actually undermines the purpose of Universal Credit. A Judicial Review on this issue has found that Government:
"wrongly assumed that where salaries for two different months were received during the same assessment period, the combined salaries from the two months were to be treated as earned income in respect of that assessment period."
Advice NI is aware that HMRC provide the monthly salary information to Universal Credit and that there is now an easement on employers reporting PAYE information in real time. However Advice NI is concerned that neither employers nor employees are fully aware of this easement in terms of HMRC reporting requirements. If you are worried about Universal Credit or any other aspect of welfare reform, please contact the independent welfare changes Helpline on Freephone 0808 802 0020.
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IMPORTANT NEWS - ARDS OFFICE RELOCATION
Due to the damage caused to our building, the CAAND Ards office has moved temporarily to Ards Community Network, 43-45 Frances St, Newtownards, BT23 7DX. We wil be open from 10am tomorrow - Tuesday 3rd December - we will have our normal opening hours for appointments and drop-ins. We will be based here until further notice. Please remember that our Advice Line - 0300 123 9287 - is open from 10am to 4pm - Monday through Friday. If the line is busy please leave a message and an adviser will get back to you. We apologise for any inconvenience.

IMPORTANT NEWS - ARDS OFFICE TEMPORARY CLOSURE
On Saturday night a drunk driver crashed into the CAAND Ards office. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt. Our advice is never drink and drive.
The Ards office will be closed for a few days to allow repairs to take place.
... The Bangor and Holywood offices will be open as usual and the Advice Line - 0300 123 9287 - opens from 10am to 4pm Monday through Friday. If you call and find we are busy please leave a message and an adviser will get back to you.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
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Community Advice Ards and North Down
Opportunity to serve as a Trustee and help the community
Community Advice Ards and North Down provides free, confidential, independent advice to people in the community who require help and assistance.
... This important local charity is governed by a board of trustees, drawn from the community. Can you give time and commitment to help run this charity, which provides a vital advice service to people throughout Ards and North Down.
We are seeking to co-opt new members to the Trustee Board willing to contribute to ensuring continuing high standards of governance and the future development of the services provided.
People from all backgrounds and from across the Ards and North Down area will be welcomed. We would particularly welcome people with experience and skills in any of the following areas Finance/Accounts, Information and Communications Technology and Human Resource/Personnel.
If you are interested, please do contact us and we will arrange to provide further details of the role.
By email: email@caand.co.uk
By phone: 028 91 310475
Website: www.caand.co.uk
By post: CAAND, 39a Hamilton Road, Bangor, BT20 4LF
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"IMPORTANT MESSAGE - TELEPHONE ADVICE LINE"
We are having difficulties with our Advice Line - Calls are going straight to voicemail - If you call could you please leave a message and we will get back to you!
We apologise for any inconvenience this is causing, we have contacted our telephone service provider to try and resolve the situation.

Extremely useful information...

The Ards, Bangor and Holywood offices are now shut for the Christmas and New Year holiday period. They will open again on Wednesday 2nd January 2019. We are unable to make appointments or give advice via Facebook. Please call us on 0300 123 9287 when our offices reopen. Many thanks for your support throughout the last year.

Universal Credit has now rolled out throughout all areas of Ards and North Down. If you are affected or have any queries, you can contact us on 0300 123 9287.

We are taking part in The World's Biggest Coffee Morning this Friday (Sept. 28th) and would love if you could join us. Come along and help make a difference over some tea and buns!

Citizens Advice Ards and North Down will close today Wednesday 11th July at 2pm and will reopen on Monday 16th July. This applies to the Ards, Holywood and Bangor offices.