Citizens Advice in North & West Kent Information

Citizens Advice in North & West Kent (CANWK) is an independent charity affiliated to national Citizens Advice. We give people the knowledge and confidence they need to find their way forward - whoever they are and whatever their problem. We provide free, independent, confidential and impartial advice to people with a wide variety of issues, including debt and money matters, benefits, employment, housing and immigration. Serving a population of over 600,000, we usually provide face-to-face advice from our 6 advice centres in Dartford, Gravesham, Sevenoaks, Swanley, Tonbridge & Malling and Tunbridge Wells; several outreaches together with a 5 day/week telephone advice service, Adviceline. Since the lockdown restrictions began, we have closed all face-to-face services but continued all our advice via telephone and email. Whilst we help anyone, we target our services towards the most vulnerable in our community, including older people, those on low incomes, people experiencing domestic abuse and those with health problems. Advice is delivered primarily by trained volunteers drawn from our local community, supported by experienced supervisors and specialist staff to support clients with particularly complex cases. Last year, we helped over 12,000 clients to find solutions to their problems, build the knowledge needed to avoid problems in the future and feel empowered to resolve issues on their own.