Menu
Get Advice
Our team can help with:
General
Drop In Services
We offer drop in services of 30 minutes initial advice on a first come, first served basis as follows:
- Tuesday 9.00am – 12.00 noon at Kilmarnock Road Centre
- Wednesday 10.30am – 12.30 am Telephone Advice Drop in
- Friday 9.00am – 11.00am at West View Advice & Resource Centre
We offer a form filling drop in service on a first come, first served basis as follows:
- Wednesday 9.00am – 12.00 noon at Kilmarnock Road Children & Young Peoples Centre
If your issue or query will require longer than 30 minutes or if you require help filling in a form please telephone 01429 271294 to book an appointment or to find out when and where the next form filling drop in will be held.
Benefits
- Checking for eligibility
- Applying for benefits
- Form filling
- Challenging benefit overpayments
- Requesting a mandatory reconsideration
- Preparation for your Tribunal
- Requesting a Statement of Reasons if you disagree with a First-tier Tribunal result
Debt
- Rent arrears
- Utility debts (eg. gas, electricity and water)
- Council Tax arrears
- Unsecured loans (eg. catalogues, credit cards, payday loans)
- Long-term options for your debt problems
- Short-term options for your temporary debt problem
- Problems affording your essential bills
- Working with you to maximise your income
- Switching and saving so you know how to get the best deals on essentials
Here’s a step-by-step guide of what to expect when you contact West View Advice and Resource Centre for debt advice:
- A trained support worker will do a brief initial assessment over the phone. Through this we will establish the nature and urgency of your debt.
- We’ll book you in for a face-to-face appointment or a telephone advice session if required
This is an essential part of the process and it allows us to give you a detailed analysis of the help available. We will need you to bring all the relevant documents relating to your debt, these could include:
- Correspondence relating to the debt such as bills and bailiffs demands
- Proof of income
- Proof of ID
- A list of your daily living expenses. If you don’t have a list, we can help you to create one.
Once we have established the appropriate solution, we can support you to resolve the debt
This could include advocacy, representation, and negotiation on your behalf with creditors, or it could be assisting you with letter writing and offering ongoing support throughout the debt resolution process. Every year, we help hundreds of Hartlepool residents to become debt free.
Employment
- Unfair dismissal
- Unpaid wages
- Notice or redundancy pay
- Breach of contract
- Grievances
- Discrimination
- Holiday pay
Housing
- Homelessness and re-housing, transfer, allocation, harassment requiring re-housing
- Possession/Repossession
- Representation, Housing Benefit
- Referral to progress disrepair, possession, homelessness
- Referral to a solicitor for judicial review proceedings
We can also help with Housing Benefit, Local Housing Allowance and help towards rent charges within Universal Credit & Council Tax Support.
If you are on a low income and have savings or investments of less than £16,000, either working, unemployed or retired, you may be able to claim help with your rent and council tax payments.
The amount of benefit you receive will depend on your income and savings. We can carry out ‘Better Off’ and ‘Back to Work’ calculations to help you see how any changes of circumstances will affect your finances.
Macmillan Advice Services
The Macmillan advisor provides priority appointments to those whose lives have been affected by cancer, this includes family members and the recently bereaved. Advice is provided in a location suitable to the clients’ needs such as at our main centre, in the clients home or at the hospice or North Tees hospital.
For assistance with:
- applying for Personal Independence Payments, Attendance Allowance and/or Carers Allowance
- applying for social security benefits and in and out of work benefits
- appealing against benefit decisions
- issues with your benefits claims, such as overpayments
- health costs, such as prescription and travel to hospital
- accessing charitable grants
- applying for transport concessions, such as a blue badge, bus pass, railcards
- applying for housing and council tax support
- completing applications for Macmillan Grants
The West View Advice and Resource Centre is a member of the Asbestos Support and Campaign Group (ASCG). We are members of this partnership with Northern TUC, various trade unions and Macmillan Cancer Support.
As part of this service we offer free, impartial and confidential information, advice and support to anyone with an asbestos related industrial disease in the North East and North Cumbria.
For those suffering from: Mesothelioma, Asbestosis, Pleural Thickening, Lung Cancer or any other occupational cancer we are here to help with:
- Welfare benefits and support including applying for benefits, appealing against benefit decisions, health costs such as prescriptions and travel to hospital, applying for local authority financial support and charitable grants, requesting a blue disabled parking badge
- Independent legal advice and representation
- Information about other related services
For more information about this service, or to book an appointment or home visit, please contact the West View Advice and Resource Centre on 01429 271294.
Your energy costs may increase if you or a member of your family is affected by cancer. There are a lot of ways to keep the costs down if you are using more heating and electricity at home.
If you, your family or a Carer have been affected by cancer and live in Teesside, we are here to help with free, independent and impartial advice.
- Advice on keeping warm
- Energy company and tariff switching
- Fuel debt support
- Access to energy discounts and trust funds
- Referral onto home heating and insulation schemes
- Referral for a benefit entitlement check
- Access to emergency grant funding
This service is provided by the West View Advice and Resource Centre in Hartlepool, in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support. To arrange an appointment to see how we can help please contact us on 01429 271294.
Join our community activities
Are you looking for social groups, practical support or leisure activities in Hartlepool? Then you’ve come to the right place! We have a number of group activities available.
West View Advice and Resource Centre
The Community Centre
Miers Avenue
Hartlepool
TS24 9JQ
© WVARC 2022 – Company Registration No. 2994776 – Charity No. 1084632
Website Built by In Studio