Health and wellbeing of residents to benefit from closer partnership

17 Apr 2025

The health and wellbeing of residents is to benefit under a new agreement and closer partnership between Citizens Advice West Suffolk and West Suffolk Council.

The council will invest £600,000 over three years in Citizens Advice West Suffolk and work together on joint campaigns and initiatives to help and support residents.

The agreement is part of the council’s strategic priority for Thriving Communities and will support Citizens Advice West Suffolk in delivering free, confidential advice to people struggling with money, their home, health, work, loneliness and more.

It will also see some of Citizens Advice’s work link up directly with support and services provided through the council and its partners. 

That will include debt advice to prevent and reduce homelessness, working with our environmental health team to reduce fuel poverty through Warm Homes Suffolk to help people heat their homes for less, and helping low-income families referred to Citizens Advice through the council with financial advice to help them maximise their income, including benefits, and managing debts.

It will support people so they can remain independent in their own home by providing advice on money, relationships, social care, legal issues, benefits, and work closely with council’s housing teams to prevent issues from escalating. 

Citizens Advice will work closely with the council’s housing teams to support tenants with advocacy and advice on their rights in dealing with issues such as poor-quality housing, and end of tenancies.

It will also direct people to our Disabled Facilities Grants which provide adaptations to people’s homes so they can keep their independence and dignity, are less likely to have to go into care or be admitted to hospital and which reduces the impact on health and social care costs, freeing up critical bedspaces.

It will assist us in helping people who are out of work gain the skills to gain employment which can also benefit their confidence and self-esteem.

On top of this it will be supporting the council and its partners in tackling social isolation and loneliness through work alongside the council’s Families and Communities team and local community organisations.

And it will be helping people improve their health as part of the West Suffolk Alliance and discussing the Feel Good Suffolk programme with relevant people and referring those that are interested to help them quit smoking, lose weight and/or get more active.

Cllr Donna Higgins, Cabinet Member for Families and Communities at West Suffolk Council, said: “Citizens Advice West Suffolk provides an invaluable service to so many people in our communities and so I am delighted that we will be working even more closely to benefit and support our residents. 

“This builds on the existing work of the council and its partners in helping people who are struggling with their finances, supporting people so they can carry on living safe and warm in the enjoyment of their own home, preventing homelessness and developing people’s skills for employment. 

“Through these services and support we are aiding the health and wellbeing of our residents and delivering part of our strategic priority for Thriving Communities.”

Mary Porch, Chair of Trustees for Citizens Advice West Suffolk, said: “Everyone at Citizens Advice West Suffolk is incredibly grateful for the grant funding that we continue to receive from West Suffolk Council.  

“While we apply for funds from a range of other sources, the majority of these are short-term and project based. In contrast, the money we receive from West Suffolk Council underpins the core services that we provide to those who need our help and support across our geographic patch covering Bury St Edmunds, Haverhill, Newmarket, Mildenhall and Brandon and all the villages in between.  Put simply, we couldn’t provide the services that we do without the Council’s involvement and financial support.  

“We welcome the opportunity to work even more closely with the Council to help people who are struggling with aspects of their money, their home, their health and wellbeing and more.  Joint initiatives of this sort will be of benefit to people who live in West Suffolk.”

People can contact Citizens Advice West Suffolk on freephone 0808 278 7868 from 9.30am to 3.30pm Monday to Friday. For details of reception opening hours or other ways to contact Citizens Advice visit the Citizens Advice West Suffolk website.

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