CAB celebrates helping over 1,000 migrant workers

Halfway through a five-year project to assist migrant workers to integrate into their communities, Citizens Advice South Lincolnshire is celebrating helping over 1,000 people, with advice in Polish or Russian.

The integration project includes face to face advice funded by the National Lottery, and a helpline funded by the Henry Smith Foundation.

A high proportion of workers have been here for years, with a considerable improvement in their spoken English, but help with form filling and telephone conversations is still widely sought.

This is where Marta, Krystyna and Zara come in. Marta, a Polish speaker, answers the Migrant Workers helpline five days a week

She finds she can either
resolve an issue herself, having carried out an initial
assessment, or in about half of her calls, she refers the person to Krystyna or Zara, for face to face help in Polish or Russian.

Migrant workers face many of the same problems as any client of Citizens Advice, ranging from tax credits and rented housing issues, to employment issues, sickness benefits and pensions and there is an added difficulty in understanding the rules in the UK relating to these. At the moment, many migrant workers are understandably asking for advice relating to settled status.

All three advisors have come to the UK in the same way as their clients and have now put down roots. They are in a unique position to understand the problems that migrant workers encounter and their solid advice has resulted in some fantastic outcomes: a 90 per cent reduction in feelings of isolation, an improvement in workplace relationships (72 per cent) and a 78 per cent improvement in people feeling they are able to solve their own problems in the future.

The Polish speaking helpline is available on 0344 8476128: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 9.30am to 4pm and Thursday noon to 7pm. It is also available on 07516 036653 Tuesday evenings 5pm-8pm.

The Russian speaking helpline is on 07516 036669 Tuesday evenings 5pm-8pm.

• Citizens Advice is looking to increase their number of volunteers in Bourne and Spalding.

Positions include administration, reception, training, marketing, research and campaigns – a description of all roles is given on the volunteer section of the website: www.citizensadvicesouthlincs.org.uk/

Polish or Russian speakers are particularly welcome.

If you can volunteer for a minimum of six hours a week, email training officer Megan Miller on trainingofficer@citizendsadvicesouthlincs.org.uk

Interviews will be held in August for a September
intake and will be part of an
introduction day which aims to give detail about every role in the organisation.