About CHAI Advice Service
Our specialist Advice Workers can help you to maximise your income, carefully considering each individual and family we work with. We can help you with:
- Benefit checks to maximise income and check benefit entitlement
- Making benefit applications for example for Universal Credit, and sickness or disability benefits like the Adult Disability Payment (ADP)
- Applying for emergency funding such as Crisis Grants and Budgeting Advances
- Applying for Community Care Grants or charity grants to help furnish a home
- Appealing any benefit decisions
- Gathering medical evidence for a benefit appeal
- Providing representation at tribunal appeals
- Difficulties with budgeting
- Debt issues which can involve negotiating repayment plans with creditors, or applying for formal debt solutions like bankruptcy or the Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS)
- Problems with fuel such as electricity/gas arrears or disconnection
- Housing issues like identifying housing options, homelessness, rent and mortgage arrears, evictions, repossessions, disrepair, or disputes with your landlord
- Making referrals to other organisations that include employability and support
Our Locations
As well as our office-based advice services we operate within various city-wide settings including GP practices, council offices, hospitals, schools, Early Years Centers, mental health and addiction recovery hubs and community centers. See our Where We Work page for a full list of venues.
Our Leaflets
You can download our service leaflet here. Our leaflet is also available in Arabic, Latvian, Polish, Romanian, Spanish, Turkish and Urdu. Please get in touch if you require a different language.
We provide advice on welfare benefits and money issues to people in various health settings in the community.
We provide advice on welfare benefits, housing and money issues to families in a range of settings from schools to Early Learning Centres.
Our Appointments System
Demand for the service is high and we can only assist Edinburgh residents (and in some cases, for housing debt enquiries, Midlothian residents). We have an appointments based system. Appointments need to be booked in advance by phoning 0131 442 2100 or can be made in person at the CHAI office.
Our Standards
CHAI is a member of Advice UK. The CHAI Advice Service has also been accredited against the Scottish National Standards for Information and Advice Providers for quality assurance. This means that we have been assessed by external auditors who confirmed that the standards of the service we provide to clients meet the Scottish Government’s quality framework for agencies providing advice and representation on housing and welfare benefits issues.
