EAS Services Commitment

• The Ealing Advice Service is committed to making sure that advice in the community needs are met. We are looking to work together with:– community groups to help deliver advice to their users– other advice organisations to ensure we identify and

work to meet gaps in in service provision– Statutory providers to look at social policy and

highlight structural failures in order to enable preventative work

• The Ealing Advice Service will be embedded within the community.– We will deliver our services at community

outreach points– We will recruit and train volunteers from within

community groups – We will work together with community groups

and other advice providers within the borough to signpost clients to the most appropriate forms of support and advice.

Website

• We will publish core information on our website to enable individuals to self-resolve their issues where appropriate.

• The website will consist of self-signposting resources on a national as well as local scale.

• The Ealing Advice Directory listing local services information (created by CAIA) will be used for the main body of the web content.

Website Design

Phone Advice Line

• EAS will operate a telephone triage system which will:– Act as the first point of contact for clients in need of

advice.– Use the advice team (some of which will be

community based volunteers) to help callers on a wide range of problems

– Use the advisors to identify the key issues and form a brief case plan.

– Help callers locate self-help resources to help address their issues.

– Signpost and refer callers to community based advice services, including EAS appointments.

EAS Outreach Appointments

• We are operating several outreach advice services throughout the borough.1. Mondays: 1.00pm-4.00pm The Community Shop,

Havelock Estate, Southall2. Tuesdays: 10.00am-2.00pm Oak Tree Community

Centre, South Acton Estate3. Wednesdays: 10.00am-2.00pm EASE Copley Close,

Hanwell4. Thursdays: 10.00am – 2:00pm Grand Union Village,

Northolt

These services operate at established community organisations to ensure the advice given is embedded in the community, readily accessible and available to those who need it most.

Delivery Method

Website

Seminars on benefits, debt, housing and immigration

Help identify problems earlyBuild community capacityBuild sector resilience

Telephone Advice

Diagnosing, identifying key data and creating case plans Directing to self help solutionsSignposting / referring

Form filling Advice on supporting evidence i.e. medical

Casework for emergencies, vulnerable clients or complex cases

• Evictions

• Disconnections

• Crisis

Helping Clients to Take Control

ACCESSTelephone advice

lineAppointments

Seminars

HOLISTICWide range of

subjectsExpert helpClientcentric

PREVENTATIVE

Join with clientPractical solutions

Preventative action

EAS Ethos• We strongly believe that to be effective advice must

be:– Independent– Holistic and client centred– Preventative

• We recognise that for some of our users, self help will only develop over time and an element of help may always be needed.

• We believe community advice should be embedded in the community. We plan to train community group workers in areas of law which affect their client group.

• We want to work along side well represented community groups and together identify possible or future legal issues, provide preliminary help and support to vulnerable people.

Meeting Future Need in Ealing

• The cuts in Legal Aid and the not for profit sector, taking effect in April 2013 will make access to advice ever more vital.

• The Ealing Advice Service is dedicated to working collaboratively with other organisations in the sector to deliver more effective service provision.

• We have the ability to work pre-emptively to help clients to self help and prevent issues escalating.

• We also aim to use the whole person approach when helping clients in order to not only help with the prevalent legal issues but also any underlying issues.