Advice Services
Age UK Somerset's Financial Resilience Advice Service provides free, independent and confidential information, advice and welfare benefits support for people aged 60+ across Somerset. The service aims to help older people maximise their income, improve financial wellbeing, build resilience and access the support available to them.
The team will take the time to understand each client's wider circumstances and identify practical solutions, including support with rising bills, debt, housing, care costs, loneliness, and accessing local services.
What does the Advice service offer?
Support is delivered through two pathways. Our office-based Advice Officers provide telephone advice, benefit entitlement checks, income maximisation support, and assistance with welfare benefit claims. In addition, our Chat & Map Home Visiting Service offers holistic, person-centred support for older people who are on a low income, experiencing financial hardship, or facing complex circumstances that would benefit from a home visit.
Together, the service provides advice on welfare benefits, debt, housing, Council Tax, social care, and related issues, helping older people maintain their independence and improve their quality of life.
We are providing help for older people in financial need in a number of ways. This could be through help with benefit claims for example, or with small amounts of financial assistance depending on an individual's circumstances.
We're a Somerset Crisis and Resilience Alliance partner.
Help With Benefits
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Age UK Somerset’s Advice services team provide an independent, confidential and free welfare benefits service for older people. We offer advice on benefits for people over 60. In the first instance we would talk with you about whether you are eligible to claim benefits. We can arrange a Benefit Entitlement Check over the telephone to check your eligibility for Attendance Allowance and for means-tested benefits eg, Council Tax reduction, Housing Benefit, Pension Credit.
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If you do qualify for any government welfare benefits we can support you in making your claim.
Age UK Somerset has a large team of trained Advice Support Volunteers who donate their time to help to deliver this service. Our volunteers work within their own communities to provide face-to-face help to complete some Benefit claim forms, eg, Attendance Allowance. Our Volunteers would usually visit you at a mutually convenient time in your own home.
The Advice Services Team can also arrange a Benefit Entitlement Check over the telephone to check your eligibility to means-tested benefits eg, Council Tax reduction, Housing Benefit, Pension Credit.
If you are receiving a State Pension we can help you with:
- Attendance Allowance
- Disability Living Allowance/Personal Independence Payments
- Carers Allowance
- Pension Credit
- Housing and Council Tax benefit
The Chat and Map service
This is a free programme offering an individually tailored approach to solving the wide variety of issues that may be affecting the quality of life of an older person.
Once a client requests the service, if they are eligible, a member of the Age UK Somerset Advice team will visit them at their home.
It starts with a chat and ends up mapping what daily life is like for individuals. Solutions can then be found to make daily life so much better.
The service treats everyone as individuals and the issues uncovered could range from struggling with rising bills, feeling isolated and lonely, or having trouble coping in their homes. Solutions may be provided through connecting the client with other services provided by Age UK Somerset, and sometimes the client might be referred to services provided elsewhere.
Who is Chat and Map for?
Our Chat & Map service is designed to support older people (60+) in Somerset and North Somerset who may be struggling financially or worried about money.
Because our funding is specifically for people experiencing financial difficulty, we prioritise those who:
- Are on a low income.
- Receive means-tested benefits.
- Are struggling with rising bills or debt.
- Are worried about paying for care or housing.
- Have limited savings.
If you are unsure whether you qualify, please contact us, we are happy to talk it through confidentially.
If you are financially secure but need general information, legal or financial planning advice, we may be able to signpost you to other appropriate organisations.
We are a member of the Somerset Crisis and Resilience Fund Alliance.
The Crisis and Resilience fund is a UK Government program that provides grants to English local councils, including Somerset Council, to help low-income households handle financial shocks and build long-term financial resilience. In Somerset this is achieved via a unique model of an Alliance of organisations working together across the county.
Are you looking for other Information or Guidance?
Our Information and Guidance team provides free, confidential, and impartial guidance and signposting for people aged 60 and over, as well as their families and carers, on a wide range of issues that may be affecting an older person's wellbeing, including health, care, housing, social support, loneliness, community services, and planning for later life.
How to get in touch with Age UK Somerset's Advice Service Team
You can call our Helpline to speak to one of our experienced Advice Officers. Our phone lines are open Monday-Friday, 9am to 1pm.
By Telephone
01823 345613
Online Enquiries
If you would like to make an enquiry online or receive a callback we have different routes depending on whether you are in Somerset or North Somerset.
Please click the button below depending on which area you live in - a page will open in a new window.
| If you are in Somerset click here to use Frontline to Request a Callback or Reply | If you are in North Somerset use this Form to Request a Callback or Reply |
Attendance Allowance Professional Referrals
This form is only for Professionals who want to refer a client for help claiming Attendance Allowance.
We are now asking professionals and other agencies to submit a request for our Attendance Allowance service via Frontline for Somerset (if you don't already have an account you will need to register as a Professional and then click the Professional tab in the top right of the page), or by completing a referral form (North Somerset only), rather than contacting us by email or telephone. This is to ensure we can provide the service required, and that we have all relevant information when the referral is made.
Please click the button below depending on which area your client lives in.
| Somerset - use Frontline to make a referral | North Somerset - use this Form to make a referral |
Chat and Map Professional Referrals
This form is only for Professionals who want to refer a client to the Chat and Map service.
We are now asking professionals and other agencies to submit a request for Chat and Map via Frontline for Somerset (if you don't already have an account you will need to register as a Professional and then click the Professional tab in the top right of the page), or by completing a referral form (North Somerset only), rather than contacting us by email or telephone. This is to ensure we can provide the service required, and that we have all relevant information when the referral is made.
Please click the button below depending on which area your client lives in.
| Somerset - use Frontline to make a referral | North Somerset - use this Form to make a referral |