12th May 2011

DORCHESTER: RBL and CAB partnership success

A JOINT project by the Royal British Legion (RBL) and Dorchester Citizens’ Advice Bureau (CAB) to help serving and former service personnel is being hailed a success.

The project is a partnership funded by the RBL and the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund and run with several CABs to provide money and benefits advice to serving Armed Forces personnel, veterans and their dependants.

The project funds a team of advisors in CABs across the country for three years. Dorchester-based RBL Benefit and Money Advisor, Christine Land, said her caseload has doubled as a growing number of eligible clients turn to the CAB and the RBL for help with problems.

Caseworkers Christine and Suzy Cooke, who are based in Christchurch, offer a dedicated service for clients all over Dorset who are entitled to help from the RBL.

Christine, a trained member of the Dorchester CAB staff, said former and serving members of the Army, Royal Navy or RAF face more problems than ever before. Since the launch of the project in October, 2008 she has seen 394 separate clients and achieved £568,658 in benefits for them and had £1,291,032 in debts written off.

Christine said: “My target for last quarter was to take on 27 new cases – in fact, I had 59. If we had the funding I think we could do ten times the work.

“We deal with a wide range of clients from soldiers serving in Afghanistan to widows of Second World War veterans.

“They have problems including debt, benefit claims and housing that CAB experts can help with and the RBL can offer additional support and advice.”

She added: “We tend to think of Dorset as a fortunate place to live but underneath the beautiful setting, life can be very hard indeed for many people.

“There is poverty and deprivation as well as wealth in this county. It’s also an area that has a lot of service personnel and their families. Many of my clients are in Weymouth and Portland though my patch stretches from Lyme Regis to Shaftesbury and across to the Purbecks.”

Dorchester CAB manager Daniel Cadisch said: “This project has been a great success. Current funding continues until September and I am confident it will continue.

“It is a good example of two charities teaming up to provide an extra service to people who badly need help to solve their problems.”

“The CAB would welcome donations which would allow us to further expand the services we already offer to the community. You can contact us on 0845 2310400 for a donation form or go to our website at www.dorchestercab.org.uk.”

Christine can be contacted at the Dorchester CAB on 01305 259358 or by email at [email protected] by people who are eligible to be helped under this project.

Case study

Christine Land was contacted by a 33-year-old soldier who had returned from duty in Afghanistan.

His youngest child suffered from a medical condition and needed special treatment.

The soldier wanted to know what help Christine – as the RBL benefits and monetary advisor and a trained member of the Dorchester CAB staff – could offer to his family, especially when he was next re-assigned for active duty.

Christine visited the family and discovered they were entitled to additional benefits which would greatly ease their financial pressures and the stress that this causes.

She was able to provide information about local support groups that could assist the family further in their understanding of their child’s condition.

She was also able to assist in arranging for a Royal British Legion grant to help with the family’s travel costs to the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in London for the child’s treatment.

With the father now on duty, the mother is less burdened by the strain and worries she had experienced before her husband turned to Dorchester CAB to ask for help.

Dorchester CAB is a registered charity that has been running since 1968.

It is based at Acland Road in Dorchester. Its services are free to clients and it relies on grants and donations for income.

The Bureau hosts the Dorset Macmillan Cancer CAB Service to help anyone affected by cancer and their families and carers. It also has a partnership with the MS Society.

The Bureau gives advice face to face, over the telephone or via email inquiries.

It has outreaches at GP surgeries in Puddletown, Bere Regis, Crossways and Maiden Newton and Chickerell Town Hall.

PICTURE: THIS mother doesn’t have to worry now the RBL and CAB have helped sort out medical support and benfits for her son while her husband serves in Afghanistan

DORCHESTER: RBL and CAB partnership success

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