The partnership between Yorkshire Building Society and Citizens Advice has been recognised at the Collaboration Network Annual Awards.
The Society and Citizens Advice were named winners in the Collaboration award category. The Collaboration Network aims to bring together people from different sectors to improve business practices and raise the level of support for consumers and employees across the UK.
Yorkshire Building Society and Citizens Advice this year announced the significant expansion of an innovative partnership that had piloted across six of the Society’s branches in Yorkshire in May 2021.
Following the success of the pilot, the expansion trebled the number of branches offering the scheme to 18 across Yorkshire and the North West region. The programme commits Yorkshire Building Society to fund Citizens Advice advisers to hold free, confidential appointments at least one day a week across the 18 locations until March 2023.
Helen Brannan, venture strategy consultant at Yorkshire Building Society, said: “We’re thrilled to have won this award! Our partnership with Citizens Advice is part of Yorkshire Building Society’s purpose of helping real life happen and our commitment to helping build the financial wellbeing of our communities. Receiving this award recognises the collaboration, effort and dedication of our colleagues at Yorkshire Building Society and Citizens Advice to making this partnership a success, allowing us to offer support to people at such a crucial time.”
James Woodcock, Corporate Partnerships Manager at Citizens Advice 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. We’re glad that this has received recognition.”
The appointments are open to everyone in the community, 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.
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.
