Mayor of London funding for advice services

The Mayor of London has provided £3.5 million for advice services to support low-income Londoners.

The funding will be used to extend free legal, financial and employment advice and support services that are helping Londoners claim the financial support that they are entitled to.

There will be £2.7 million for London Citizens Advice and London Legal Support Trust to continue providing support at their network of advice centres and law centres.

A further £810,000 is to be given to 10 community advice partnerships through the Mayor’s Advice in Community Settings programme.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “I’m dedicated to doing all I can to help Londoners in need and am pleased to be able to extend free advice and support services across our capital for another year. These impartial services have helped more than 60,000 Londoners claim more than £25m over the past two years – ensuring those who are struggling are getting the help that they are entitled to. It’s vital that we continue to work together to give these Londoners the helping hand they need, as we build a fairer city for everyone.”

Raj Kapoor, chair, London Citizens Advice Steering Group and CEO Citizens Advice Brent, said: “We are delighted that the Mayor is continuing to support this important partnership to extend the reach of London's advice services into the community. Whilst we no longer talk of a ‘crisis’ in the cost-of-living, the impact of the past few years has caused so many problems with increased debt, higher energy costs, housing insecurity that it is essential that Londoners experiencing financial and other hardships can access help. Our 'Advising Londoners Partnership', working alongside specialist legal advice agencies and different community groups, enables our local services to extend support to those who need it the most. We can see from the data that this collaborative approach is having a big impact, and we are hugely grateful for the Mayor's continued investment in London's advice sector as demand and unmet need for support in the community to continues to increase at all levels."