Yorkshire Building Society and Citizens Advice partnership hits £1m milestone for cost-of-living support

During advisory sessions, Citizens Advice staff work with those in need of support to identify potential additional income. This could be for benefits they’re eligible for or discounts on council tax or utility bills they’ve not taken advantage of.

David Morris, chief commercial officer at the Bradford-based Yorkshire Building Society, said: “Our partnership with Citizens Advice continues to go from strength to strength, and to know that’s helped people in our region potentially unlock one million pounds of further financial support shows just how valuable the service continues to be.”

The partnership, which began in May of 2021, has reported a rise in the amount of people accessing its services as the rising cost-of-living impacts the lives of many in local communities.

Karen Bass, executive director of finance and commercial at Citizens Advice, said: “As people continue to battle the cost-of-living crisis, it’s crucial that they can access the advice they need and know of any extra income they could be entitled to.

"Our partnership with Yorkshire Building Society has already reached so many individuals and we look forward to supporting even more.”

Citizens Advice hold 60 minute advice sessions for people at the building society’s branches, which are available to anyone, not limited to customers of Yorkshire Building Society.

In July of last year, the scheme announced that it had reached over 1,000 people.

Advice sessions are available in areas including Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, Wakefield and Sheffield.

Speaking of how the partnership had been able to help those in need, Mr Morris added: “Collectively we’re able to get the right support to the people who need it, crucially at a time when more people are seeking help as a result of the current cost-of-living challenges.”

“The results we’re seeing, both in terms of the number of people supported and the potential improvement in their financial wellbeing, only reinforces the importance of using our retail network to host advisers each week and provide accessible high street space at the heart of towns and cities."

In August of last year, Yorkshire Building Society announced that Susan Allen CBE would be taking over as its new chief executive, replacing interim CEO Alasdair Lenman.

Mr Lenman took over as chief executive with immediate effect in June of last year, when previous CEO Steven White left to join Santander.

Ms Allen is the first female CEO the society has had in its 158-year history, and joined after holding senior executive positions at a number of large retail banks in the UK.

In February of this year, Yorkshire Building Society was crowned Highstreet Provider of the Year in the categories of mortgages and savings at the Moneyfacts Consumer Awards.

Award winners were chosen based on feedback from around 200,000 consumers over the course of 12 months.

The firm was also highly commended in the category of First Time Mortgage Buyers’ Choice and Remortgage Buyers’ Choice awards.