Fife advice and rights charity appeals for patience as demand for help rises

Citizens Advice and Rights Fife (CARF) said it continues to see a significant rise in calls as more people than ever require its services.

As with most charities, CARF has had to adapt its service in light of the pandemic.

Now its chief executive has appealed for patience.

The organisation, which contributed over £9m to the local economy last year, continues to see significant demand on its services and, coupled with a reduction in the number of volunteers, wait times to speak with an adviser have been increasing.

David Redpath, chief executive, said: “At every stage, we have been adapting the service to best meet the needs of our users whilst at the same time adhering to relevant guidance and advice from the Scottish Government.

“This has been a huge challenge and it is testament to the staff and volunteers that we continued to be available from day one of the pandemic.

“However, given our telephones are now the main point of access to CARF and its services, at times there can be a large number of calls waiting to be answered meaning it can take longer to speak to an adviser."

Even though the charity is seeing increased demand for its services, David urges callers to be patient and they will be answered.

“Rest assured, the system we have in place will continue to identify emergencies that will be dealt with on the same day,” he said.

“However, it is only fair to say that non-emergencies will be ‘triaged’ with a callback being made to the client over the following days.”

Although the average call wait time to speak with an adviser is around 25 minutes, there have been examples of much longer waits, something that David acknowledges.

“I appreciate how frustrating it can be while waiting for your call to be answered. Please bear with us as we will be doing our absolute best to give the advice you need as soon as we can”.

In addition, CARF has been looking to increase the information available on its website including self- help guides, information videos and access to an advice database.

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