Projects & Partnerships 12 February 2022

London Adviceline

At the London CEO meetings pan-London collaboration has been a topic of discussion for some time, and key topic of interest has been how our national Adviceline works for London Citizens Advice and Londoners.  

Adviceline partnerships have previously existed across London, most notably the West & South West London partnership (W&SWL group). The W&SWL group was formed in early 2016 with founding members Hammersmith & Fulham, Hounslow, Merton, Wandsworth and Westminster. Further discussions have led to consensus on exploration of a pan-London Adviceline, and the W&SWL group started an initiative to pilot a new approach to Adviceline delivery in London - the initiative is supported by Citizens Advice national funding. Lambeth joined the group in 2020 and Barnet in 2021, and Islington and Barking and Dagenham are now in the process in the process of joining this year.

The overall objective of this initiative is to establish a pan-London Adviceline group that creates enduring capacity to meet the increasing client demand on Adviceline phone services, and address barriers to access for clients in the London region in both the immediate term and with a view to the future. Metropolitan areas, particularly London, see different issues compared to the rest of the network, and London has a hugely diverse range of communities and languages. If a client is supported by an office outside of their home borough, it should ideally be one within the London region. We have identified a need to improve consistency and access within our London services, and we hope this initiative will help us to achieve that.