Flexible support key to helping young people

Providing flexible support when, where and how they would like is key to helping young people tackle the challenges they face, according to one charity.

Citizens Advice Hertsmere has recently finished a programme engaging specifically with people aged 25 and under.

Chief Executive Officer, Carolyn Buller, has worked with Citizens Advice since the late 1990s and recognises that engaging with younger people has always been a challenge.

Carolyn said:

“We are not an organisation that under 25s necessarily see as a go-to option when they have an issue.

“Most young people will access support digitally, but although we know we have a lot of under 25s in our area, we don’t know if they’re accessing our support through our website. There’s a lot of very good information on the National Citizens Advice website, so they could be savvy enough to find the information and act upon it.

“However, we also know that this age group features some of the most vulnerable people in our community. They can claim fewer benefits and often work unfavourable work patterns in the gig economy.

“We found that it’s quite hard to engage with them in the first instance, but when we do, they come back for more advice.

“What works best is going to places they’re more likely to be, and being flexible with the support we offer. We work with the local job centre, local foodbanks and because many of them have young children too, we have worked with after-school foodbanks to engage with them as they pick up their children.

“The biggest problem is overcoming the engagement hurdle. We ran a project with care leavers recently, who obviously have a lot going on in their lives. For the 50 clients that we saw, only around five or six stayed with us to receive the full support on offer. You have to keep them engaged and make sure the support on offer is as flexible as possible – wherever, however and whenever they want it. If they want to receive advice through Instagram, do it.”

Young people supported by Citizens Advice Hertsmere include Leigh* – a 24-year-old woman living with long-term health issues which means she is admitted to hospital every few weeks. She cannot work, has been on Universal Credit for four years and was in £8,000 in energy debt.

The Citizens Advice team worked with Leigh to maximise her income through benefits she was entitled to and liaised with her energy supplier to switch to another supplier and created a payment plan to pay off her debt. Leigh was also supported with energy saving advice and provided with draught excluders and an electric blanket to keep warm in the colder months.

Looking wider, Carolyn expects the charity to experience a surge in the need for advice ahead of winter, with many people already ‘living on empty’.

Carolyn added:

“A lot of people we see are in what’s called the ‘Red Index – people living in a negative budget. Their outgoings are more than their income. Some 40% of the people asking us for help with debts are in a negative budget. What people are spending on has changed, though. We’re seeing fewer people worried about their energy bills, but more worried about things like rent, mortgages and insurance.

“We’re expecting things to get worse as we approach winter and we get less warm weather. And now we have less financial cost-of-living support for the people who are living on empty.

“We’re getting some support from our local council, but we’re having to ration some of that support, so we are able to help people in the winter. There’s a fair amount of support for families during the summer holidays, but we’ll definitely see a spike in activity from September onwards when children go back to school and the energy price cap rises again.”

*name changed to protect identity.

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