Who We Help

Supporting People in Need

All of our services provide free advice and casework, we reserve the right to charge for some types of immigration work. We do our best to ensure our Service is here for all, but as we are a charity the services we can offer depend on the funding we receive. For example, some of our services are only for people living in a property with a Northamptonshire postcode or who live in a specific District of Northamptonshire.  Our triage workers will assess all of this when they speak to you, they can then confirm whether there are any constraints on what we can offer.

For our Housing Advice services you will need to be eligible for Legal Aid funding. We will complete the application for you, but to enable us to do so, we will ask you to provide evidence of your income and capital, and that of your partner if you have one.  We do this before we take your case on so we are confident we are able to provide the service you need. If you are in receipt of Universal Credit and/or other benefits or on a low income it is likely that you will be eligible for Legal Aid funding. We will assess your eligibility when we speak to you to book an appointment, but more information about the criteria is available here.

Our services are in high demand with current waiting times varying from 10 days for housing advice to 5 weeks for benefits advice. This is exactly why we encourage people to ‘Sort It Sooner’ – the earlier you contact us, the more likely we are to help before your situation becomes urgent. Don’t wait until you’re facing court action or enforcement – contact us at the first sign of difficulty.

If you can’t wait for an appointment, check our outreach events which may allow you to see an adviser sooner and bypass waiting lists.  Sometimes this means we have to prioritise more complex matters and cannot help everyone who needs it. If this is the case, we will always signpost you to other sources of help or may be able to provide you with some initial advice to help you take the steps you need to solve your problem.

Remember: early help = better outcomes. Whether you’ve just lost your job, received an unexpected bill, or noticed your first missed payment – that’s when to call us, not when you’re in crisis.