The Advice and Support Hubs have been delivering  a bespoke, personalised  service to the Council’s customers since the  first  hub opened in Grangemouth in 2016.

The area now has three Hubs providing assistance to the area’s  most vulnerable customers, those at risk of poverty and affected by welfare reform changes.

Now the way the Council is tackling social inclusion has been recognised as a model of best practice and is in the running for a national UK award in the ‘Excellence in Social Inclusion’ category.

The winner will be announced this month at the Institute of Rating, Revenues & Valuations(IRRV) annual conference held on 9th October 2019 in Telford.

The IRRV is the professional organisation covering all aspects of Revenues, Benefits, Council Tax, Non-Domestic Rates and the Valuation of Properties.  The institute has over 3,500 members from most of the Local Authorities across the UK  

Lorna Chisholm, Benefits Manager said: “We have made wide ranging improvement to the services we deliver to our customers most at risk of poverty through the new Advice and Support Hubs.

“It’s great that the work we are doing has been recognised as a model of best practice, at a national level, especially as this is the first time that we have entered a submission to the Performance Awards”

“Over the last three years we have been successful in improving the ability, opportunity and dignity of those customers who are disadvantaged on the basis of their current situation. The Hubs are  providing access to appropriate advice and support at that first point of contact so the customer only has to tell their story once, delivering a more focussed and targeted service.”

“Shortly after opening the East Hub in Grangemouth, we carried out a survey of those customers who had used our service and the responses showed that the Hub had helped people to improve their circumstances and we are continuing to seek feedback from all 3 Hubs to ensure that we deliver a high quality service that meets our customers needs”.