Southwark Advice CentresClick here for a  map and description of advice services in Southwark (1.8mb). To view this document, you need Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer. Download Adobe Acrobat for free.
Southwark Advice Centres are places where you can get advice, information and guidance on your legal rights, entitlements and responsibilities. Some are generalist centres, providing advice and information on issues such as welfare benefits, housing, employment, consumer rights, health, money and debt issues; others are specialist services that provide advice on just one issue such as immigration and nationality.
On these pages you will also find details of where to get advice by telephone. This can help to identify what level of advice you need and which centre is the right one for your needs.
Each centre provides a combination of information, advice, signposting, referrals to specialist agencies, casework and advocacy. Some, but not all, also provide representation at hearings and tribunals.
Service access
- Walk in advice surgeries
- Telephone help lines
- Appointments sessions
- Outreach session
- Letter writing
- Home visits
- Help with filling in forms
Service standards
- A service that is free, confidential and impartial
- Advice and information that is accurate, up to date and reliable
- Access to translation and interpretation facilities
- Access for people with physical disabilities
- Fully trained friendly and helpful staff
- Help for you to plan what to do next
- Sufficient time to discuss your query
- An appointment with another agency if you need specialist advice
- A confidential record of your enquiry that you can see at any time
Where can I get advice and information on a particular subject?
Select from the links on the left hand side of this page if you want to know where you can get advice on a particular issue.
Download the You and Your Money leaflet (pdf 2mb).
What is the difference between advice centres and One Stop Shops?
Southwark Council One Stop Shops provide an instant access enquiry point for all council services.
The advice centres, apart from the Housing Options Advice Service, are funded by the council and other funders, but run by independent organisations.
If you call into a One Stop Shop or ring one of the advice centre's telephone advice lines, you will be able to talk to a trained, helpful and courteous member of staff who will provide the information that you need, or advise you that you need to attend an advice centre in person if appropriate. If they are unable to deal with your enquiry, they will direct you to somebody who can.
Free phones
The One Stop Shops are equipped with free phones that will allow you to ring any council service free of charge.
Volunteering
Some of the advice centres listed will offer training and valuable advice work experience to volunteers. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer advisor, please contact us at the address below.
Customer feedback
To help us improve the advice services in Southwark, we welcome feedback and suggestions. Each centre has a complaints procedure if you are not happy with the standard of the service. Of course it’s good to know what you like as well as what you don’t like and we hope you will tell us this too.
If there are any particular points you would like to make about the services, or if any of the centres are not meeting the standards referred to, please let us know.
Contact us
Andrew Matheson
Social Inclusion
Tel: 020 7525 7648
andrew.matheson@southwark.gov.uk |