The Advice Network & Training
Partnership (Bradford District)

Registered Charity No. 1105947

Welcome to the Advice Network and Training Partnership (Bradford District)

The Advice Network and Training Partnership (ANTP) is the network of independent advice centres, serving local communities across the whole of Bradford Metropolitan District. We give advice about: Debt, Benefits, Tax Credits, Disability Allowances, Housing, Homelessness, Employment Rights, Fuel, Utilities, Immigration, Nationality, Consumer, Community Care and related problems.

Energy bills, debt and fuel poverty
Stop the cuts to Legal Aid!
Benefit and Tax Credit Changes
ESA 'work capability assessment'
How can you get advice in Bradford District?
What does the ANTP do?
What are independent advice centres?
What can advice centres do to help if you have a problem?

Energy bills, debts and fuel poverty
Gas and electricity prices have risen by up to 25% this year, while most peoples' income has not. The ANTP anticipates a rise in the number of people struggling to pay their fuel bills this winter. You can now download a practical briefing on the resources available to available to support you to help people with fuel debts this winter. Please click here

Stop the cuts to Legal Aid!
The government plans to cut legal aid funding for advice about benefits, tax credits, debt, most housing and all non-asylum immigration. That would mean over £300,000 per year cut from Bradford District and more than 1700 people on low incomes left without access to justice. The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill will be debated in Parliament during the autumn of 2011, so please write to your local MP and tell him what you think. A template letter is available at: www.justice-for-all.org.uk/Take-part. You can read more about how the cuts would affect people living in Bradford by clicking here.

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Benefit and Tax Credit changes
Major reforms to the welfare system will take place from now up to 2013 and beyond. Click here for briefing paper that summarises the key changes announced so far, including new information about the Universal Credit from 2013. For a more detailed paper with examples of how the changes will affect families on different levels of income, please e-mail: gmorgan@ferret.co.uk.

Medical Assessments for Employment Support Allowance - the rules
The 'work capability assessment' is the test used to decide if someone is too ill to work. It is very important that people explain their health problems fully but the claim form does not ask all the relevant questions. Please click here to find out details of all the rules and guidance about the assessment process.

How can you get advice in Bradford District?

You have three options:

1) Click here for basic contact details for all ANTP advice centres.

2) Click here for details of all the advice sessions (over 100) provided by ANTP advice centres, and some legal aid solicitors, across the whole of Bradford District. You can search by postcode and by type of problem.

3) Click here to search for independent advice centres and legal aid solicitors across the whole of the UK.

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What does the ANTP do?

ANTP advice centres give free, confidential, independent, impartial and reliable advice about: Debt, Benefits, Tax Credits, Disability Allowances, Housing, Homelessness, Employment Rights, Fuel, Utilities, Immigration, Nationality, Consumer, Community Care and related problems.

If an advice centre cannot help you with your problem, they will do their best to find someone who can.

All of our ‘full’ members have been awarded the government’s Community Legal Service Quality Mark at the General Help or Specialist level, so you know that their advice is quality assured.

The ANTP's Achieving Quality Advice Project arranges regular training courses for advisers.

Click here to find out more about the ANTP.

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What are independent advice centres?

Independent advice centres are mainly voluntary sector organisations that provide free, independent, confidential, impartial and reliable advice about legal rights.

They are staffed by a mixture of paid advisers and volunteers. They vary in size and some neighbourhoods in Bradford District are better served than others.

Advice centres do not give criminal legal advice but do help with social welfare law issues. All advice centres will help you to find another adviser if they cannot deal with your enquiry themselves.

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What can advice centres do to help if you have a problem?

They help you to understand and enforce your legal rights by:

• Providing general information about legal rights

• Tailoring legal information to advise you about you rights

• Outlining the legal options for your circumstances

• Providing ongoing casework for longer running problems

• Acting as advocates to enforce legal rights in courts and tribunals

• Helping you to find more specialist advice if they cannot deal with your enquiry

• Campaigning for changes in the law, policies and procedures

The most frequent reasons that cause people to need advice are benefit/tax credit and debt problems. But advice centres also help people with problems to do with housing, homelessness, immigration, asylum, employment rights, discrimination, fuel, utilities, consumer and community care. They can also ‘signpost’ you to a variety of more specialist legal advice and social or community support organisations

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The ANTP is supported by
the Big Lottery Fund