HIVE Directory: Money advice

Advice Portsmouth provides free, independent, impartial and confidential advice to people living in Portsmouth. Our Purpose is to give the right advice and appropriate support to help clients solve their problems

Our team of qualified professionals, support staff and dedicated volunteers provide general and specialist advice in social welfare advice in the fields of debt, welfare benefits, employment, housing, family and consumer law.

We provide free, independent and confidential information and advice on a wide range of issues affecting people over the age of 50 in Portsmouth and the local area.

Our Information & Advice service is open from 8.45am to 5.00pm on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at the Bradbury Centre. We can offer telephone advice or face-to-face office appointments and even home visits if necessary.

Our aim is to provide you with the facts so that you can make choices and decisions knowing that you have reliable information.

Issues we can help you with
• Welfare benefits and entitlements
• Housing choices
• Money matters
• Blue Badge applications
• Health and social care
• Staying independent at home
• Residential and nursing care
• Leisure and social activities
• Family and personal matters
• Legal issues
• Your rights

Welfare benefits
Benefits enquiries are one of our most common requests, and last year we were able to help claim over £1.3 million in benefits for older people living in the Portsmouth area. It is estimated that every year over £3.5 billion of benefits goes unclaimed across the country, with three million older people living below the poverty line.

Many people are put off claiming either by the complexity of the benefits system, or they assume they cannot claim anything because they have a private pension or have some savings or own their home.

We have a team of trained staff and volunteers who can check to see if you are entitled to claim any welfare or disability benefits, and can help you through the claims process from start to finish. If needed we can give you assistance filling in all of the forms.

Legal issues
Every two weeks legal advisors from Biscoes Solicitors offer free 20 minute appointments at the Bradbury Centre to provide advice on matters such as Wills, Power of Attorney, Probate and other legal issues.

Our Chances for Children grants are targeted at those living in financial hardship, and dealing with multiple challenging social issues.

They are made directly to children and young people who are facing a range of complex issues. They are tailored to their particular needs, in order to prevent them from falling further into crisis and help them to transform their lives. The grants pay for a range of items and costs, many of which are those we would expect any child growing up in the UK to have, but which their parents or carers cannot afford. In a small number of cases, where home is not the best place for a child to be, the grant pays for them to attend boarding school.

What makes our Chances for Children grants different is that they offer a holistic funding package designed to meet the multiple needs of vulnerable children and young people. The grants meet immediate practical needs by paying for household items, but also meet a child’s longer-term educational and emotional needs. As such, we have found that they can have a disproportionately positive impact compared to their monetary value; in some cases, they are transformational. There is nothing else like them available within the social care sector.

Armed Forces Covenant – This is a service providing broad help and support to veterans, serving members of the armed forces and their families.

Citizens Advice Portsmouth has operated in Portsmouth for more than 83 years. They offer free, impartial and confidential advice in person, on the telephone and online to the people of Portsmouth.

Citizens Advice Portsmouth has operated in Portsmouth for more than 85 years. They offer free, impartial and confidential advice in person, on the telephone and online to the people of Portsmouth.

Citizens Advice Portsmouth has operated in Portsmouth for more than 85 years. They offer free, impartial and confidential advice in person, on the telephone and online to the people of Portsmouth.

Frontline has helped people like you with their debts successfully for over thirty years.

Frontline is a charity, and our services are free. We hold a license with the Financial Conduct Authority.

Frontline delivers its services in different ways – each to meet the needs of the local community and the resources of local volunteers.

We rely on funding through grants and donations from companies, churches and individuals, as well as our own fundraising efforts.

The Money Advice Service website allows you to save and print out your budget, and make arrangements and plans on that basis

Portsmouth Water offers assistance to people struggling to pay their water bills.