Increasing success in averting homelessness for Barnsley advice service

Staying put: Advice service helps those threatened with homelessness to keep their homes

Figures for a three month period show the advice service, open to residents of communities across the north of the town, show situations which could have resulted in residents becoming homeless have been defused as a result of guidance given by experts offering the service, operated by an organisation called DIAL and the Citizen’s Advice Bureau.

It is financed by the North Area Council, a body made up of 12 councillors who represent the Barnsley Council wards in that area of the borough, who have an annual budget to spend on services their neighbourhoods need most.

That includes the advice service and the Area Council’s manager, Rosie Adams, told councillors the figure of 11 families prevented from becoming homeless was the highest recorded since the service began.

It also provides guidance for benefit claimants, being credited with securing £618,000 for people which would have otherwise been lost and for helping people manage debts to the value of £246,000.

A new energy switching service has also been added to the advice team’s remit, clocking up an estimated £12,000 in savings for those who have changed to better value tariffs.

It is expected that figure may rise significantly as more people start to clock up larger bills over the winter and begin looking for better value.

Coun Phillip Lofts said he believed a borough-wide advice service should be available for all residents, rather than localised services which vary from district to district.

All of the town’s area council districts have some kind of advice available, but in some areas it has been provided by smaller bodies called Ward Alliances, covering only part of the wider Area Council map.