The Salvation Army operates from dozens of churches in the UK, many of which are listed below. The faith based, Christian Charity provides many social services to people living in poverty as well as the vulnerable. While they do offer emergency assistance to struggling families, the exact type of help offered will vary by centre. Each location in the UK, whether northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, or England, operates their own support services.
The financial help from the Salvation Army centres in the United Kingdom is very limited. Some local centres will offer help for paying electric or heating costs, and this is available as part of their utility-top-up service. But this form of direct financial aid for paying bills is not common. Instead most of the financial support from the Salvation Army is available in the form of advice. The workers from a centre will meet the client and assess the following.
-Free budgeting advice is for people living on a low income or in poverty. There are locations that offer debt assistance services, advice on payday loans or predatory lenders, and more.
-Employment issues are covered in an effort to end poverty or homelessness. Staff will meet with the client to go over employment needs.
-Homeless drop in centres can provide clothes, food, toiletries, information on council deposit schemes, and other social services.
-Local UK Salvation Army churches provide assistance during Christmas as they have meals and celebrations for the homeless and families in poverty. The centres collect donated toys and provide them to children, and find how to apply to free gifts from Christmas Appeal.
The Salvation Army helps families apply for welfare and other benefits. A local centre will have a computer available for form filling. In addition, since it can be difficult to know which schemes to apply for, the caseworker will answer questions and go over the process. This service is part of their Gateway process, which will assess the needs of the applicant.
Clients can seek financial help from welfare schemes, which are for emergency situations. Another common request is for affordable housing, and the Salvation Army centres can direct tenants to charities or councils that can offer help for paying rent. Many other signposting activities are arranged too.
Anyone seeking help from a Salvation Army centre in the UK can also receive counseling. This can be faith based or just a holistic service for tacking the root causer of their hardship. There is general counseling arranged. But in addition, some services focus on children, teenagers, or even new mums. Whether the family has a bill in arrears or just wants to learn about summer activities for their child, the Salvation Army can give advice.
The UK Salvation Army centres also have assistance programmes for older people. Many of the local churches are used by pensioners or seniors to combat loneliness. The individual can drop in to have a coup of tea or share a meal with people from the community that is local to them. There are also recreational activities held, such as field trips. The volunteers always given an older person a listening ear.
Older people, and especially pensioners that have a limited income, can receive more practical support too. The emergency assistance referenced above is also very helpful for older people. If they are threatened with losing their heat during the winter, then utility top-offs can help pay those bills to keep them warm. The food banks as well as charity shops are also beneficial to older people.
Charity Shops are located in many of the Salvation Army centres. They allow families to save money. Those savings can be used to pay for other bills, or the shopper can use those funds to start an account at a credit union. For those people that are not familiar with a charity shop, they sell gently used goods to the community. Everything from clothes to white goods, bedding, furniture, computers, and much more is sold at an affordable price.
Even though no two centres provide the same assistance, examples of the support available includes the following. They will have basic needs, such as free clothes, meal vouchers, water or food parcels. This can be provided on site or the Salvation Army also partners with other charities and churches as well. If a voucher is not available from a Salvation Army emergency assistance programme, then the team can direct the person to grants from charities and councils.
Salvation Army Employment Plus Local is a scheme that helps the unemployed get into a new job. There are dozens of these centres in the UK. Each location is different, but clients will be able to use a computer to create a CV or look for work. There are also computers for use, e-learning courses to be taken, free clothes for work, and even volunteers to help motivate the client.
Clients can also gain important work experience at the Salvation Army. As an example of how this is done, a person can work at the charity shop to sort or sell goods. Another example is for those individuals that have been trained on some of the activities, such as completing forms for welfare, they can meet with members of the community to go over this. Clients of the Salvation Army can not only turn to the church for help, they they can also gain experience as they give back to the community.
There are over 800 churches in the UK that are part of the Salvation Army. Some of them are listed below.
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