Community Development & Project Director:

Jhon Marulanda

During this financial year, we had 92 drop-in days, in which we dealt with 1615 enquiries from our users and members. We also had 965 appointment days in which the advice service followed up the casework of 1158 members. We dealt with issues regarding benefits, health, and housing. We are currently still increasing our services and the organisation is growing and providing an excellent service. 

Throughout this year we supported around 76 appeal process in which 70 were successful and 6 were declined by the claimant due to lack of supporting evidence for their appeal. We are expecting this service to grow as there is a need for legal advice and appeal support for those that are failing their limited capability for work assessment.
The main concerns clients have are regarding Universal Credit, Housing and Housing Benefit issues as well as PIP-DLA and AA application and renewal forms, Council Tax Benefits, Income Support, Employment and Support Allowance, Jobseeker Allowance and Tax Credits, as well as support in their welfare benefits appeal representation process.
We delivered 20 workshops where 450 users took part and 79 users benefited from the freelance service in total 3378 users benefited from the project and services.
​Our Community Support Workers have been assisting and supporting the advice & representation services, working towards community integration for the Spanish and Portuguese speaking community living in London. Through this project we provide the befriending project, which assist people who are less able to participate in our activities due to their disabilities or mobility difficulties. With the help and support of the NHS Refugee Health Team Lambeth, we have been able to launch pain management services and the complementary therapy project. We provided monthly nursing sessions. We have been providing alternative ways in which users can manage their health and disability as well as offering mental health support for users suffering from anxiety as health advice and information 1550 users benefited from this project and the services.