Access to Advice

The Access to Advice (A2A) project is a four year BIG Lottery funded initiative delivered by Advice Derbyshire. The project has three key aims:

To improve access to advice services across Derbyshire
To improve the quality of advice
To identify and address the social policy issues that affect our clients

What does it do?

The project seeks to increase access to advice through the use of a telephone advice service for the whole of Derbyshire. Launched in 2010, and operating with a single number (08444 111 308), the Citizens Adviceline is staffed by a combination of paid advisors and volunteers. Open six days a week, including evening and weekend times, the Adviceline has some key features, including:

A County-wide enquiry management system with one generic diagnostic interview process
A virtual call-centre model (VCC) with advisors based across our member organisations
The provision of self-help materials, sign-posting and faster referrals for specialist advice
A more streamlined customer journey, clients get access to the right advice sooner
Web-based advice access platforms including email and type talk via our dynamic and interactive website

Who is it for?

welfare benefits, housing, relationships and consumer rights. Many people experience issues accessing face-to-face advice, and with demand increasing all the time the telephone service compliments the services our members currently offer. We aim to handle between 5,000 - 7,000 extra enquiries per year and ensure that an additional 600 advice seekers get access to specialist help.

For information contact Maxine Pearson, A2A Project Manager maxine.pearson@advicederbyshire.org

What are we doing?

Advice Derbyshire are already involved in the delivery of OCN Level 2 accredited training in Diagnostic Interviewing; aimed at volunteers the course focuses on key skills, interview structure, managing client expectations, effective use of resources and record keeping. In addition to this we are providing advisor training through the Access to Advice project; we're undertaking a partnership-wide training needs analysis and our members work closely together to develop joint offers.

We are exploring ways to extend this activity and offer a broader programme of accredited training to our network, and we're beginning to build a database of sector specific training providers and courses. We will work with key stakeholders to develop and deliver training and where this isn't possible we will plug gaps by signposting our members to alternative provision.

Quality

Advice Derbyshire are committed to quality and improving the quality of advice, our lead agencies all possess a range of relevant quality marks and utilise processes and procedures to ensure clients get the best possible support. Upon joining Advice Derbyshire our network members must demonstrate their commitment to providing quality advice, and we work with them to ensure they meet this commitment.

How do we help?

Advice Derbyshire puts the advice seeker at the heart of our activity, and in doing so we work with our members to provide support and capacity building opportunities aimed at improving the quality of advice. Our programme of activity includes:

Providing a quality framework and support resources for our Members

Offer training opportunities for paid advisors and volunteers

Work with our partners and key stakeholders to raise concerns and provide peer support where required

Who do we help?

The support we provide is aimed at the wider advice sector, which is broad and includes larger providers of advice as well as smaller organisations that may not have the resources, knowledge or skills to develop their own capacity. We can draw on the collective experience and know-how of our members to provide support that is tailored to the needs of those organisations and help them improve what they do and the services they provide.

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