Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire Advice Forum is a practitioner forum led by Aberdeen City Council’s Financial Inclusion Team to help local advice agencies respond to the growing needs of people in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.
The network was created in November 2014; and now has more than 40 members. Representation expands across local authorities, housing providers, third sector partners, parliamentary officers, credit unions, health and disability services and many more.
Face-to-face meetings happen quarterly. The discussion topics at the forum focus primarily around money and benefit-related advice matters and is used for identifying and supporting training needs in addition to providing networking opportunities. The chair of the forum will arrange to co-ordinate and deliver training or source training options and make this available for members of the network. Members try to pull training from within the organisations that attend the forum. If a training issue is flagged up at the forum, partners try to accommodate that.
Organisations are overwhelmingly supportive of the forum. The forum does not have a budget so relies on the goodwill of the member organisations to host events. Feedback from members confirms that the forum for information sharing and access to training. Training opportunities in the north-east of Scotland can often be limited and can be expensive so joining resources helps to save money and create efficiencies. This is welcomed by members especially in the current economic climate when budgets are squeezed and resources are more scarce.
If you would like more information or would like to become a member then please contact; stuartreid@aberdeencity.gov.uk
Weekly bulletins have been produced during the current COVID crisis to keep members up to date with current news and changes to money and benefit related matters.
Previous Benefit Bulletins can be found on the Knowledge Hub website.