Kent Law School students are providing cost-of-living advice to the public after securing paid jobs with Citizens Advice Canterbury District.
The students have been appointed by the free advice service to offer both energy advice to those struggling with the payment of energy bills and wider financial advice to pregnant women and parents of young children.
The five Law students Emilia Dumitriu, Harry Whiteway, Holly Vigor, Dilara Alim and Sybil Asa will offer debt and welfare benefit advisory support to clients after impressing trainers at Citizens Advice Canterbury District during work experience with their genuine desire to help people and make a difference.
Emilia, Harry, Holly and Dilara are working as part of the Citizens Advice Energy Advice Programme (EAP) offering one to one Energy Advice with clients on the phone and face to face. This includes advice on energy efficiency, income maximisation and energy grants with the aim of reducing their bills. As well as energy advice, the students offer the clients benefit entitlement checks and non-monetary debt assistance as part of the EAP appointment. As most clients supported under EAP are vulnerable, often the students will speak to suppliers on behalf of the client to solve issues with billing, negotiate payment plans and ask about grants available to reduce fuel debt.
Within their roles the students are also running sessions on energy awareness in Community settings on a group and one to one basis. So far, they have completed a group training session with the Herne Bay Macular Eye Society and have sessions lined up with the Children’s Centre and The University of the Creative Arts.
Sybil has been appointed as part of Citizens Advice Canterbury District’s Kent Perinatal Project: Money and Mental Health. Sybil will be offering telephone or face to face advice to clients who are pregnant or have a child under the age of one, primarily to help with welfare benefit applications and debt advice. Sybil could also provide housing, employment and family law advice to clients.
Kent Law School has been working in partnership with Citizens Advice Canterbury District for the past two academic years, with law students able to apply for Student Trainee Advisor volunteer roles alongside their studies.
Emilia Dumitriu, who is studying LLB Law at Kent Law School, said: ‘I am delighted to have secured a paid position with Citizens Advice after volunteering for seven months. As an adviser my role is to help members of the public with challenging financial situations in their lives and offer support and guidance accordingly. Working at Citizens Advice alongside my studies is setting me up with vital skills for my future career as a barrister.’
Darren Weir, Director of Lawyering Skills at Kent Law School, said: ‘Working in partnership with Citizens Advice has enabled students at Kent Law School to get vital work experience that can make a real difference to their employability skills. It is great that Emilia, Harry, Holly, Dilara and Sybil have deservedly been offered paid roles and we hope that more of our law students follow in the same direction.’
Simone Field, Chief Officer of Citizens Advice Canterbury District, said: ‘The students we appointed as advisers for both projects connected with the aims of the Citizens Advice Service and we are delighted to have been able to offer them paid work while they continue their studies. They have a great understanding of the need for data protection for our clients and genuinely care about supporting them through challenging personal circumstances.’