An Insight into Citizens Advice Employment Unit Dorset
It was good to welcome Sarah Campbell to the recent open meeting of Dorchester Poverty
Action to talk about the Employment Unit of Dorset Citizens Advice.
Started in December 2020, the Unit covers all of Dorset and already over 200 people have
been supported by specialists and volunteers.
The top four issues have been:
Redundancy
Dismissal
Furlough and Covid
Pay issues.
Sarah Campbell is the Unit’s co-ordinator. She shared:
“Our volunteers are incredibly generous with their time and work very hard on cases, some of which will take months to see through. They are supported by our paid legal specialists.
We have several cases which are with ACAS for Early Conciliation, and others on the long
journey towards Employment Tribunals which due to the pandemic may mean a wait of over
a year.
At a time when many people are finding their employment doesn’t have the stability
expected, we are available to give advice, answer questions, explain procedures, help draft
letters, support in challenging what is happening as well as help to navigate complex legal
systems.
We have an ongoing training programme to keep up to date with the employment laws. In
the future we are looking forward to a HR specialist and NHS Steps 2 Wellbeing
Employment Specialists helping us further enhance the skills we offer Dorset residents.
Citizens Advice provides free, independent, confidential and impartial advice to everyone on
their rights and responsibilities. We also look at trends and issues to improve policies and
practices that affect people’s lives. We value diversity, promote equality, challenge
discrimination wherever we see it and aim to improve the policies and practices that affect
people's lives.”
The Employment section of citizens advice Dorset gives useful information about where to start with employment issues, including dealing with grievances at work.
This can be helpful particularly for people in small businesses with no Union support.
Take a look here.
To contact the CAB: visit https://citizensadvicedorset.org.uk/ , or call the Dorset
Adviceline on 0800 144 8848.
You can also check your local office website for further information,