Citizens Advice Exeter awarded £25,000 through Martin Lewis Fund

Leading local advice charity, Citizens Advice Exeter, is celebrating being awarded £25,000 through the Martin Lewis Fund that will help make a real difference to local people’s lives.

The funding award announced this week will help to deliver a project that will provide more tailored support to people living with long-term health conditions in new ways which could be rolled out across other parts of the country.

The charity will use the money to work with a cluster of local GP surgeries so that the underlying causes of ill health, such as poor housing, problems at work and money worries can be tackled alongside the medical impact of such problems.

Citizens Advice Exeter will be able to share its learning, and potentially encourage other local Citizens Advice to launch similar projects so that more people across England and Wales benefit.

Steve Barriball, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice Exeter, said: “We are delighted to receive this award through the Martin Lewis Fund.

"This grant gives us the opportunity to run a project we have already tested with some clients and found that our services have a significant impact on improving health and well-being. By now linking directly with local GP surgeries we will be able to evaluate the impact of this project more closely.”

Martin Lewis said: “Few realise Citizens Advice, which is at the bedrock of British society, is a charity not a government agency – a shame as the work it does is truly life saving. I’ve met many people who were suicidal over legal or money life challenges they couldn’t cope with, yet a visit to their local Citizens Advice put them on the path to dealing with it.  As a huge fan of the organisation, I wanted to do something to help it pioneer new ways to reach out and improve people’s lives, and I’m excited to see where this takes us.”

Citizens Advice Exeter is one of 25 local services across England and Wales to receive £25,000. The funding follows an initial award of £1,000 in September 2016 to test initial project ideas.

The funding comes from a £1 million donation from Martin Lewis to Citizens Advice across the UK in 2015.

Projects had to fit into categories including making people more digitally skilled, working closely with health and social care providers, and future opportunities for volunteers.