Welfare advice helpline gets 6,000 calls in a fortnight

The city council set up a dedicated hotline, 01482 300303, to offer advice and support a fortnight ago and this has now received about 6,000 calls.

The new Hull Advice Service, based at the Wilson Centre, will incorporate the Citizens Advice Bureau and will extend that support to cover areas including law and specialist advice on welfare and benefits.

A range of cuts and changes to state support came into effect this month, including the so-called “bedroom tax”, which sees cuts to housing benefit for council and housing association tenants deemed to have spare rooms, with about 4,700 people in Hull thought to be affected.

Coun Steve Brady, leader of the Labour-run authority, said: “In Hull, while we recognise reduced Government funding to the CLAC (community legal advice centre) service, we are pleased to be able to maintain high quality services thorough a strong voluntary sector partnership approach with the CAB, who will be re-locating to the Wilson Centre in May.

“The new service will be delivered from the Wilson Centre bringing a wealth of knowledge and expertise under one roof to work alongside council services.

“We recognise also that the changes brought by the Government’s welfare reform programme will increase the demand for advice, particularly in relation to debt and benefits and we will support residents with this as much as possible.”

Hull Advice will be open from Monday to Friday, from 9am to 4.30pm most days except Wednesdays when it opens at 11am.

Labour claims the reforms will leave some families £900 a year worse off and critics include charities and a group of leading churches, which claimed the most vulnerable would pay a “disproportionate price”.