Holly Lynch MP visits award-winning Citizens Advice Partnership in YBS Halifax

• Halifax MP Holly Lynch visited Yorkshire Building Society’s Corn Market branch on Friday to learn how the Society’s award-winning partnership with Citizens Advice is supporting local people through the cost-of-living crisis.
• More than 1,800 people across Yorkshire and the North West have so far benefited from the partnership where Citizens Advice advisers are available one or two days a week in the Society’s branches, including in Halifax, to support members of the public with a range of issues, including financial well-being.
• Yorkshire Building Society was the first UK financial services provider to offer this in person one-to-one service across locations.     

Holly Lynch MP visited Yorkshire Building Society’s branch in Halifax on Friday to hear how an innovative partnership with Citizens Advice is supporting local people through the cost-of-living crisis. The Halifax MP met local staff from the Society who told her how vital the partnership is proving as households face growing financial worries.

Yorkshire Building Society funds Citizens Advice advisers to hold free, confidential appointments at least one day a week across 18 locations, including Halifax. The appointments are open to everyone not only Yorkshire Building Society customers. The Citizens Advice advisers offer independent and impartial advice in private meeting rooms to assist people with a wide range of issues, including financial well-being. 

Of the 1,800 people assisted through the partnership, more than three in five (64%) people needed help with benefits, tax credits and universal credit.

Each hour-long appointment is free, confidential and can be booked directly by contacting a participating branch or visiting www.ybs.co.uk/citizens-advice.

Speaking after her visit, Holly Lynch MP said: “I was pleased to visit Yorkshire Building Society’s branch in Halifax and learn more about how this important partnership with Citizens Advice has been providing local people with vital face-to-face support from Citizens Advice advisers. 

“It’s an admirable example of a local business and a charity working together to address the challenges people are facing with the rising cost of living and providing support during these tough times.”

Debbie Midgley, customer consultant at the Yorkshire Building Society branch in Halifax, said:

The current cost-of-living crisis including energy price increases, fuel price rises, and general inflationary pressures, means that many local people are facing very real challenges around financial wellbeing. 

That is why our partnership with Citizens Advice is proving so crucial in being able to increase the support that both organisations can offer to those in need in our communities. Together we’ve already supported more than 1,800 people in local communities and we hope to reach many more.

Caroline Jones, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice in Calderdale, said:

Right now, our advisers are seeing so many people facing heart-rending choices as they try to pay bills. Our partnership with Yorkshire Building Society will help us reach more people who need support in the Halifax area.

Julie McDonough, Citizens Advice Adviser, said:

Yorkshire Building Society staff have created a really welcoming environment for me and the people who come in for advice. I really enjoy the opportunity to work with the YBS team, supporting their customers and the wider community.

The 18 Yorkshire Building Society locations running the scheme are Ashton-Under-Lyne, Barnsley, Bolton, Brighouse, Castleford, Dewsbury, Doncaster, Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Preston, Rothwell, Sheffield, Stockport, Wakefield and York. 

For more information on this innovative partnership and details of participating branches please visit www.ybs.co.uk/citizens-advice