Advise & Guidance

We provide the community with support catering to their needs. Our interpretation services include Somali, Hindi, Gujarati, and Italian languages, assisting individuals who may need it.

Our experienced staff of advisors help hundreds of new and established members of our society and holistically guide them on a number of issues. Users of our AIG services come to our centre for a range of issues, including, but not limited to, housing, family support, financial advice, employment, healthcare and GP information and education and careers guidance. The centre is well known for its Advice Information and Guidance, which are available from Monday – Friday from 09:30 – 17:00.

On these days and times, people can come and visit the centre without an appointment.

Advice Services we can provide assistance with

  • We offer guidance and recommendation regarding benefits and housing issues. Given that many individuals struggle with understanding what their eligible benefits are. we assist them in both the application process and completing the necessary forms for securing appropriate benefits tailored to their requirements. Read more

  • As most of the clients we serve tend to be new arrivals to the Leicester area, or the United Kingdom in general, the majority of our clients say that they are renting privately, with 93% of clients belonging to this group. This is another 10 percentage points more than the previous year. This correlates well with the income of our clients, as most are currently earning between £400-£599, which would make it difficult to buy a property. This also implies that much of the guidance we give to clients is often related to ways in which we can help them find safe and secure housing once they’ve arrived in the area.

  • We provide assistance to the community in addressing health-related issues. We conduct numerous awareness sessions focusing on mental health topics, including raising awareness about conditions like Dementia and Anxiety. We are currently working with the NHS LLR to provide our community members with awareness and information concerning bowel cancer.

  • We provide support to individuals facing challenges related to their utility bills, such as and not limited to, electricity, gas, water, and telecommunications services. These challenges often stem from language barriers, which hinder effective communication and the resolution of billing concerns.

  • We advise and support Asylum seekers and refugees on what to do next. We provide them with a range of holistic support facing multiple barriers to help them with their everyday needs such as registering with doctors, foodbank, and etc.

  • We assist our clients with filling all necessary forms they might be struggling with to complete on their own like Council tax support application, PIP applications and more.

  • SDS provides basic debt advise to create a reasonable plan and a budget to pay back your debts. We will advise you on how to contact your creditors to arrange repayments and help you to negotiate with your creditors.

  • Our programs and projects have thousands of new and established members of our community find employment, achieve qualifications and become assets to society. Read more

The service is open to all, and our most frequent users are of Somali, Slavic, and Arabian heritage as well as refugees and asylum seekers. Staff from the centre mainly deal as intermediaries between the customer and business, which can range from helping you fill out a form or booking an appointment, to dealing with utility bills and benefits agencies. This service is also for people who are unsure if they have a problem, where they can check with our staff on what action to take when dealing with bills or forms. In the few cases where we are unable to help, SDS will always direct you to the people who can.

If you would like any more information regarding these services, please get in touch: admin@somdev-services.com