Charity embraces more online tech to help people

Video calls are being tested by the Newtown-based Citizen Advice Powys to help with enquiries.

The charity, which has been helping hundreds of people throughout the Covid-19 situation with employment and welfare support, in addition to its regular work, had to stop face-to-face meetings at the first lockdown.

In a report to Newtown Town Council, which provides some financial support to the charity, it says the video calling element might be rolled out.

It is in addition to its existing telephone enquiry service.

The report said: "During this quarter we dealing with many complex advice issues such as the complexities of furlough and now redundancies, and keeping up with the legislation changes is crucial for our advisers."

"There really is no such thing as an easy enquiry even benefits check are more complicated and therefore take more time. We are continuing to provide 5 day per week access to advice via our 0345 telephone line, which allows clients to leave their details."

It added: "We then call the client back and are working hard to make sure all clients are contacted back the same day.We have begun piloting our new digital platform for video appointments and hope to roll this out across all of our services.

"We have a new internet telephony system which will mean we can open a dedicated line for open caseclients to call and these can then be passed directlyto caseworkers.

"We do not have any plans to commence face to face service delivery but will continue to build on delivering advice from as many different platforms as possible.

"Our new website is currently under construction and will offer additional access to our advice services including webchat for Universal Credit initial claims, email contact and we have plans to introduce virtual “Drop In” sessions for clients to access our triage volunteers via video platform."