Scarborough and Whitby MP visits Citizens Advice partnership helping with the cost of living

The MP met local staff from the Society and advisers from Citizens Advice, who told him how important the partnership is proving in offering assistance to households in the area.

Yorkshire Building Society funds advisers from Citizens Advice to hold free, confidential appointments at least one day a week across 46 locations, including the Scarborough branch on Westborough and the Whitby branch on Flowergate. The appointments are open to everyone, not only Yorkshire Building Society customers.

The Citizens Advice advisers offer independent and impartial advice in private meeting rooms to assist people with a wide range of issues including accessing welfare benefits, energy issues, and debt advice to name a few.

Each hour-long appointment is free, confidential and can be booked directly by contacting a participating branch.

Sir Robert Goodwill, Member of Parliament for Scarborough and Whitby said: “This is a fantastic partnership between Yorkshire Building Society and Citizens Advice. Both are trusted and well-established organisations in the area.

“Already, scores of people have been helped with budgets and given advice to discuss benefits they may have been entitled to but not aware of.”

Dean Mace, customer consultant and community champion at Yorkshire Building Society in Scarborough, said: “By partnering with Citizens Advice, we’ve increased the availability and accessibility of independent support for people facing any number of issues in our community.

“Through our national partnership, Yorkshire Building Society and Citizens Advice have so far supported over 5,900 people in local communities like ours across the UK.”

Carol Shreeve, CEO at North Yorkshire Citizens Advice and Law Centre said: "People come to Citizens Advice for help with a wide range of issues. In recent years we’ve seen a huge demand for our services, as the pandemic, then cost-of-living crisis has made things incredibly difficult for people.

"That’s why our partnership with Yorkshire Building Society is key in helping us to increase the support we can offer to people in the local community.”

For more information on this innovative partnership and details of participating branches please visit www.ybs.co.uk/citizens-advice.