In partnership with the Eye Health Centre, the Diss & Thetford CAB offers a drop-in advice service at the surgery.  A CAB adviser is now available at the Health Centre each Thursday between 9:00 and 11:00.

Providing advice

The Citizens Advice service can advise you of your legal rights and provide help and support across a wide range of issues.  These include, but are not limited to: work, debt and money, relationships, housing, benefits, consumer issues, healthcare, tax, education, immigration and much more.

Last year alone, the service nationally helped more than 2 million people with over

7 million problems.  As well as advice giving, advisers help clients to put action plans together, fill out forms, write letters and negotiate with creditors.
This service is completely confidential, impartial, independent and free.

Influencing policy

The Citizens Advice service is not just here for times of crisis – it also uses clients’ stories anonymously to campaign for policy changes that benefit the population as a whole.
The sheer number of clients seen each year means that if there is a recurring injustice out there, it is inevitably being played out in the interview rooms and recorded on the database of client evidence. This database is analysed by the national policy team, who are then able to bring problem areas to the attention of those who are – often inadvertently – causing them.

One of the current campaigns involved payday loans.  Payday loan companies were not treating their customers fairly. The payday loan industry was breaking its promise to clean up its behaviour. Citizens Advice called for payday lenders to be properly regulated and to stop irresponsible advertising.  What happened?

From the 1 April 2014, the Financial Conduct Authority introduced tough new rules on payday lenders; the Government announced that, by 2015, there will be a cap on the amount of money a loan can cost; and advertising practices have been put under the microscope by the Advertising Standards Authority.

You can contact the Eye Citizens Advice Outreach by ringing 03444 111444 or via our website,  www.cadat.org.uk.  You can also ask the Health Centre Reception staff to set up an appointment with the adviser at the Health Centre, Castleton Way, Eye, IP23 7DD.