Solihull's free advice service passes to Citizens Advice on 1 October, with venues promised in all 17 wards. Help starts by phone; venues open in phases.
Solihull’s free advice service changes hands on Thursday 1 October. Citizens Advice Solihull Borough takes over from Age UK Solihull. The service is also moving out of its two hubs towards venues across the borough.
The council says residents will in future be able to get face-to-face advice in all 17 wards, as well as through a dedicated phone line (Solihull Council, 24 September 2026). It will run under the council’s Here2Help name.
There is a catch in the first weeks. While advisers finish their training, the service will prioritise urgent enquiries and people already on the waiting list. In-person venues will then open in phases, and none has been named yet.
How to get help now
- Phone: 0121 788 6527
- Online: casb.org.uk
- Suggest a venue near you: here2helpadviceservice@casb.org.uk
The service covers welfare benefits, debt, housing, employment, consumer problems, disability rights, adult social care, health and immigration, according to the council’s launch announcement.
Who is running it
Citizens Advice Solihull Borough won the contract after what the council called a competitive tender, announced on 5 August (Solihull Council, 5 August 2026). It leads a partnership of four other organisations, each with a set job:
- Shelter: housing advice and homelessness prevention
- Gateway Family Services: health and wellbeing support, including health checks
- The Colebridge Trust: community engagement and access to community venues
- Entraide: immigration information and advice for migrants, refugees and newly arrived communities
Libraries, GP surgeries, community centres, colleges and faith venues are all named in that announcement as the kind of places advice will be given.
Kerry Turner MBE, chief executive of Citizens Advice Solihull, said the service would grow “from the current provision of two in-person locations to at least one in every single ward”. She said more venue details would follow “over the coming weeks”.
Why the council changed it
The old service ran from two hubs, The Core in Solihull town centre and Bluebell in Chelmsley Wood, under a contract that began in April 2019 and ends on 30 September 2026. That is set out in the report Cabinet approved on 12 February (Cabinet report, Community Information and Advice Services).
The council’s own engagement found the hubs were valued but hard to reach, and not well known. It drew on 114 survey responses, in two rounds, plus conversations at the borough’s warm hubs. From the report:
- 45% of respondents who had not used the hubs had never heard of them
- 60% said they would use local pop-up advice if it existed, and another 28% said maybe
- 37% wanted weekend access and 19% weekday evenings
- about 40% of respondents who had used the hubs were signposted or referred on for further help
At the warm hubs, transport was highlighted as the key barrier for people who would value face-to-face advice but had not used it.
The report also points to who is likely to need help. 21% of Solihull’s population is over 65, against 18.6% nationally. It cites an ONS forecast that the number of over-85s in the borough will rise by 30.3% between 2022 and 2032.
What it costs, and what it has to deliver
The council budgeted £939,920 a year for the service. The largest single share comes from the government’s new Crisis and Resilience Fund, which replaced the Household Support Fund.
The split, from the report’s funding table:
| Source | A year |
|---|---|
| Crisis and Resilience Fund | £400,000 |
| Adult social care | £376,953 |
| Public health | £96,301 |
| Council resources budget | £66,666 |
| Total | £939,920 |
The council’s costings modelled about 11,000 cases a year on the core service. On top of that come about 6,000 complex cases linked to the Crisis and Resilience Fund. That fund’s stated outcomes include less need for emergency food parcels and less priority debt, such as rent, council tax and utilities.
The report set the contract at two and a half years at first, to match the fund. Two optional extensions could take it to seven years in total.
The report is candid about one risk. It is a fixed-price contract, and councillors on the scrutiny boards questioned how rising demand could be met within it. The council’s answer is an annual open-book review with the provider.
The council has not published the value of the winning bid. The August announcement gave no figure, and the £939,920 is the council’s budget, not the price Citizens Advice tendered.
What it means for you
- If you are on the waiting list at The Core or Chelmsley Wood, you should be among the first the new service contacts. If you have heard nothing by early October, ring 0121 788 6527.
- If you have an urgent problem, such as an eviction notice, a benefit stopped or a debt at enforcement stage, phone rather than wait for a local venue to open.
- If you want a venue near you, the service has asked residents to email here2helpadviceservice@casb.org.uk with suggestions.
- If you are behind on council tax, independent advice matters. The report notes the council’s own Income and Awards team cannot give independent financial advice to people it is pursuing for debt. Our Solihull council tax bands page sets out the current charges.
The council has thanked Age UK Solihull as its contract ends. The Cabinet report also records a problem with the old branding: some younger adults assumed an Age UK service was only for older people. That is one reason the council gives for moving everything under the Here2Help name.
Sources
- Solihull Council: New Here2Help Advice Service to launch in October, 24 September 2026.
- Solihull Council: Citizens Advice Solihull awarded contract for community advice services, 5 August 2026.
- Cabinet report: Community Information and Advice Services, Cabinet meeting of 12 February 2026, sections 3, 4 and 6.
- Solihull Council: Cabinet to discuss plans to improve access to information and advice, 5 February 2026.
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