Advice Centres For Avon

ACFA is the umbrella group representing the interests of advice centres and like-minded organisations from within the former county of Avon and its surrounding areas.

Full members of ACFA have got to have:

1. An Equal Opportunities Policy
2. Third party insurance (professional Indemnity)
3. Membership of a nationally recognised body
4. A complaints procedure.

History & Development

ACFA was set up in the early 1980s. One of its main aims was to lobby Avon County Council on behalf of independent advice centres and to assist the Council in setting up a Welfare Rights Take-Up Campaign. ACFA representatives worked in partnership with the local authority to determine on how best to develop a county-wide network of advice centres. ACFA was instrumental in securing better resources for advice centres and were influential in developing an Avon-wide advice service.

ACFA’s membership has grown to over 40 agencies and as a long-established umbrella organisation it has become an influential body in trying to improve the provision and quality of advice services across the four unitary authorities of Bristol, North Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

Aims and Objectives

ACFA aims to support advice agencies who provide free, independent and confidential advice services and who are based in the area formally known as Avon.

In particular ACFA aims to:

• Represent the interest of advice agencies
• Provide a forum for information exchanges
• Lobby for adequately funded and resourced advice services
• Organise training for advisers
• Organise and support campaigns covering a range of advice related and policy issues
• Publicise the work of advice agencies
• Facilitate the development of policy and best practice
• Aid the development of comprehensive advice provision throughout the region

Activities

ACFA is represented on a variety of Forums:

• The Voluntary Sector Advisory Forum
• The Debt and Benefits Liaison Forum
• Bristol City Council’s Advice Centre’s Review Working Group
• The Benefits Liaison Meeting
• VOSCUR (Voluntary Organisations’ Standing Conference on Urban Regeneration)
• SWAT (South West Advice Training)

ACFA has produced leaflets publicising important changes to the benefits system and have set up sub groups challenging social policy and trying to improve local practice.

ACFA is keen to promote affordable local training courses, below are examples of some of the courses we have organised:

• Incapacity Benefit
• Writing submissions for your clients’ tribunal
• Social Security Fraud Act
• Developing services from a disability equality perspective
• Social Security Act 1998
• Benefits Updater 1999
• Deaf Awareness

Through networking with the South West Advice Training, ACFA plays a key role in organising an annual conference for advisers. We have held four annual conferences offering a range of workshops and social activities, members come from across the whole of the South West and the annual conferences are becoming extremely popular.

Meetings

ACFA meetings are a forum for:

• Information exchange
• Planning training events
• Development of policy and best practice
• Discussion of campaigning issues
• Raising issues of equality and access
• Support and encouragement

Structure

ACFA is an unincorporated body governed by a constitution. It is independent and is directly accountable to its membership. We have no paid employees. We are mainly self financed through membership fees, however we have received grants in the past from Bristol City Council’s Equalities and Social Justice Committee and we successfully applied to The National Lottery Charities Board for specific project work.