Citizens Advice South Lincolnshire answers a question about volunteering

Every month, South Lincolnshire Citizens Advice answers your questions.

This month the question is: I’m interested in volunteering for Citizens Advice South Lincolnshire, but I’m not sure I have the right experience. Can I still help?

And their answer?

At Citizens Advice South Lincolnshire (CASL), we know that the cost of living crisis is affecting everyone in our local communities. Fuel debt, the cost of essential items and inflation have pushed the most vulnerable into further hardship. People need our help more than ever before… and you can definitely assist us.

At CASL, we welcome volunteers of all backgrounds and experiences. Our training programme enables volunteers with no or limited experience to be continually supported as they develop in their roles. Even after completion, our volunteers are offered the opportunity to continue building their knowledge and updating their skillsets.

There are many volunteering opportunities available. However, we are currently focusing on recruiting telephone assessors and face-to-face advisers. These are both client-facing roles. Being a telephone assessor involves helping clients at first point of contact; identifying what they need support with; helping them at that time; signposting to other organisations or referring them for an adviser appointment.

Advisers explore issues more deeply than assessors and help with things such as making phone calls to government departments, filling in forms and dealing with more complex enquiries.

Volunteering can be flexible to suit you. We anticipate that our volunteers will contribute six hours of time per week as a minimum. How you decide to split the time is up to you. You can even volunteer for longer if you are enjoying your role.

If you are interested in volunteering, please go to www.citizensadvicesouthlincs.org.uk and fill out our enquiry form, which can be found by clicking on the volunteer button in the blue bar at the top of the home page. If you are interested in making a positive difference to people and contributing to your community, please consider volunteering with us.