Information & Advice Community Volunteer

What does the role involve?

Volunteering in the community, you'll visit older people and their carers in their own homes, or complete telephone appointments from your own home, to assist them with completing disability benefit forms - the main one being Attendance Allowance. 

Attendance Allowance is a non-means-tested disability benefit from the government for people over State Pension age to help pay for the extra costs of having long term disability or health problems. 

Visting someone at home is a good opportunity to understand any other issues the person may be experiencing, which can then be passed back to an office adviser to support them.

Last year, our team helped increase the income of older people in Wiltshire & Swindon by over £2 million and supported with almost 400 disability benefit forms.

What skills suit this role?

• Enjoy chatting to people
• Good written communication skills
• A good listener
• Empathetic and patient
• No experience of benefits is needed as full training is provided

What time commitment is expected?

Approx 2-4 hours per month, or more depending on your preference. Typically an appointment takes 2 hours. We ask for your volunteering to be completed within office hours Mon-Fri

What are the practical considerations?

You will need to be over 18 and be prepared for us to apply for a DBS check on your behalf.  Your own transport is preferred.

What you will get out of it

• Chance to make a real difference to older people
• Flexible time commitment
• Seeing first-hand the difference that you can make
• Helping your local community
• Regular Information & Advice team meetings, training and support
• You will be part of a wider Age UK Wiltshire team, hearing about, and working with, staff and volunteers from other Age UK Wiltshire services.

Would these roles suit me?

These roles would suit someone who has had previous experience providing information and advice or anyone looking to increase their knowledge and experience to apply this to directly supporting local older people.