Citizens Avice Hounslow provides free, confidential, independent, impartial advice. Our service is open to all, but we particularly support the more vulnerable people in our community.
We operate our services from two main offices, one in the Chiswick Town Hall just off of Chiswick High Road, and the other on the 2nd floor of The Centre on the Feltham High Street, where we answer phone calls to our Adviceline number 0808 278 7830 and see clients during drop-in sessions and by appointment. We also do outreach work at different locations across the borough. The address of our offices and outreach venues can be found in the Contact us section.
Service Updates
Our Mobile Advice Unit has been refurbished and converted into a fully functional mobile interview room – designed to provide a welcoming space for both advisers and clients. Each month, we travel throughout the borough of Hounslow, stopping at key locations to offer free advice and support sessions for local residents. To find out when and where you can visit us, please check our current schedule here: Outreach Locations.
See the Outreach Locations section on our Contact page for new Outreach Locations information.
We have a new project in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support:
See our Macmillan Welfare Benefits Support page
Our Advice Services
CORE Advice Services
Advice services are delivered by our amazing team of staff and 30+ volunteers including Advisers, Initial Assessors, Caseworkers, Receptionists and Administrators, supported by Supervisors, two Service Delivery Managers and Head of Advice Services.
Most of our CORE work involves helping residents with welfare benefits, debt and housing cases. We also help with issues encompassing relationship, employment, immigration and consumer law.
Clients can access the service in person, by phone or through digital channels. We also receive numerous direct referrals from local organisations with whom we collaborate to better support vulnerable residents. On their first contact with the service, all clients receive an initial assessment. The purpose of the assessment is to briefly explore the client’s problem and find the best way forward suited to the case and the client’s capacity to take action. Following this, we may give clients information and advice, or we may book an appointment with one of our advisers.
We regularly advocate for those who are vulnerable through physical or mental health issues, language barriers, digital exclusion or other adverse personal circumstances. However, sometimes we may require to signpost or refer to an external organisation better placed to deal with a specific issue or a particular area of the law.
The pandemic brought millions of households to a crisis point. Our intervention in applying for welfare benefits and challenging Benefits Agencies disputing negative decisions has been a lifeline for many residents in a critical situation. As a result, the demand on our service has more than doubled since Covid and it continues to increase as Hounslow residents are hit by the cost of living crisis. Due to the recent surge in energy prices and high inflation rates pushing up the cost of food and everyday items, more and more low income households have been seeking our advice and support, as many are facing hardship and more indebtedness.
Welfare benefits cases can be very complex and we are proud to be able to offer our clients full casework support including tribunal representation. We are also uniquely placed in the borough as a Debt Relief Order (DROs) Intermediary service, which has transformed people’s lives for the better, relieving them of the pressure and mental stress caused by debt.
Our team operates from two offices in Chiswick and Feltham as well as various outreach locations across the borough. We are delivering services in person as well as remotely, offering both face-to-face and telephone appointments to better suit our clients’ circumstances.
Our Projects
Trust for London
The project stems from the increased demand for complex welfare rights casework and representation locally. As more people fall ill, become carers or face redundancy in the pandemic, welfare benefits claims have soared, which has resulted in many negative decisions that require a legal challenge from a specialist caseworker, due to complex circumstances linked to immigration status and other benefits issues.
Macmillan Project
Citizens Advice Hounslow and Macmillan Cancer Support are working in partnership to provide free welfare benefits advice to residents living with cancer and their family or carers. This service helps people to maximise their income, access grants, and get support to afford costs related to their cancer care.