Citizen Advice Wiltshire Surviving Winter campaign even more important this year
It's the 11th year the project has run
Citizens Advice Wiltshire and Wiltshire Community Foundation have teamed up once again to support vulnerable people in the county.
Their £90,000 'Surviving Winter' campaign looks to help older people and those with additional needs that are struggling with the cost of heating their homes.
They're also joining forces with Warm and Safe Wiltshire and Age UK with an aim to help around 900 people and to prevent the deaths of 400 elderly people across the county.
It's estimated by the government that more than 30,000 people in the county live in fuel poverty - meaning they cannot afford to heat their homes properly.
Citizens Advice will be using some of £90,000 to train advisors to identify people at risk from fuel poverty and help them claim benefits such as Attendance Allowance for those over 65 and Personal Independence Payments for those under 65.
Wiltshire Citizens Advice CEO Suzanne Wigmore said the partnership with Wiltshire Community Foundation means it can increase the support it offers:
"It is a huge help to us.
We are able to increase the number of clients we can help but it has also made us more aware and brought to the forefront the conversation about heating and additional cost. It has helped us to identify people we might not have flagged up before.
The good thing is that the two main benefits we are helping with are not mean-tested. Some people worry that claiming the extra payments will affect other benefits, but it doesn't affect them at all. In fact, they can even act as a gateway for you to get extra money if you do get means-tested benefits."
The charity's offices have been closed due to the pandemic, so all their work has been done remotely.
They've also seen an increase the number of people getting in touch with fears about their finances.
Suzanne told Greatest Hits Radio:
"the campaign is even more important this year for two reasons, firstly there's lots of people who have been furloughed or lost their jobs or had their income affected in some way but also a lot of us are just in a lot more, whether we would have been at work or in community centres or day centres or with friends or in cafes or shopping, we're just not going anywhere so having heating on, especially during the day, has become even more vital."
So far the campaign has raised over £26,000.
Wiltshire Community Foundation joint chief executive Fiona Oliver said:
"The generous support Surviving Winter is already receiving is helping us fund targeted and expert advice and guidance that can make a real difference through our fantastic partners like Citizens Advice.
The Surviving Winter Campaign is an excellent way for people to redirect their government Winter Fuel Payment if they don't need or want it and would like to help someone who would really benefit."
You can donate to Surviving Winter by visiting the Wiltshire Community Foundation website.