Happy polling day from Citizens Advice North Lancashire!

And from Jack and Anna from Lune Rose Magic! Just one of the many amazing dogs we've met today whilst out and about in Morecambe!

#Election2024
#MorecambeFestivalMarket

At Citizens Advice North Lancashire in April 2024, 69% of our clients are either disabled or have a long term health condition. The largest area of our benefits work is helping people with PIP applications, mandatory reconsiderations and appeals. 🧵

Our Chief Executive Joanna Young has written a blog for Carnegie UK about the work she's doing with the Poverty Truth Network. Joanna is on the national board of Trustees and has been working closely with Carnegie UK. You can read Joanna's blog here:
carnegieuktrust.org.uk/.../deep-liste…

We really did have a fantastic day at the National Conference, celebrating the incredible work of the charity across the country. Very proud of our schools adviser Jeni Meadows who was nominated for the Outstanding Impact award for her work with local schools. 💪

We're at Kings Community Church on Phoenix Street in Lancaster all day today! Pop in for a brew and speak to one of our advisers between 10am-4pm.

Please note our offices will be closed all day on Friday 29th March and Monday 1st April for Easter. We'll be back open from 10am on Tuesday 2nd April.

From all of us at Citizens Advice North Lancashire, have a very happy Easter and a peaceful long weekend!

It’s easy to get blasé about statistics but the reality for thousands of families is so tough and we should all be outraged by the levels of hardship people are living with. It is not inevitable, it stems from policy choices that are damaging people.

We are very proud of our Schools and Family Adviser Jeni Meadows who spoke at a meeting of Lancaster City Council this time last week.
Jeni talked about how some local residents on Universal Credit are being underpaid due to a 'computer flaw' caused by 53 Mondays in a year.

💬 “Voters up and down the country want to hear what the next government will do to tackle plummeting living standards.'

Falling inflation doesn’t mean this problem is over.

Read more from our Clare Moriarty in the The Guardian ⤵️
theguardian.com/money/2024/mar…

In February the final Cost of Living payments hit people’s bank accounts and it clearly made a difference.

We saw a 20% drop in the number of people who needed help with a food bank referral each day.

But the impact has been short-lived, as numbers have gone up in March 🧵 ⤵️

Lancaster Citizens Advice champion speaks out over 'unfortunate and unfair' Universal Credit glitch beyondradio.co.uk/news/local-new…

Well done, Jeni for raising such an important issue!

DWP Universal Credit 'flaw' compared to Post Office scandal to hit 1,000s lancs.live/news/lancashir…