This week East Renfrewshire Citizen’s Advice Bureau celebrated the completion of a £140,000 office extension.

However the extension was made necessary by the ever increasing number of people who need advice and aid with welfare, benefits and debt.

The centre on Barrhead Main Street hopes to halve waiting times for residents in need of advice after building new interview rooms.

ERCAB also says that it has helped bring £3 million into the local economy in the last year through benefits advice and helping residents find employment.

However Teresa O’Hara, manager of 42 volunteers and 14 paid staff, says that the extension was necessary due to the ever increasing numbers of people using the advice bureau.

Teresa told the The News: “Unlike many other centres in other areas we have been able to retain our open door policy, meaning residents can come in whenever they need to.

“As well as bringing around £3 million back into the local economy, this has included around £824,000 in benefits gained by residents who maybe didn’t know what they were entitled to receive or didn’t know how to claim it.” Staff at ERCAB have previously voiced their concerns over the introduction of sweeping welfare reforms could have a major impact on residents in Barrhead and Neilston, forcing them to seek advice from the bureau.

In the last year the Bureau has handed out more than 1,000 food bank tokens to desperate individuals and families, and Teresa has also warned that Universal Credit and benefit sanctions are hitting residents hardest.

Teresa said: “One of the major issues with the new benefits and welfare system is its heavy reliance on computers.

“Some of the people who come to us for help aren’t computer literate or even literate and really struggle with their reading and writing.

“Through our HERO (Helping East Renfrewshire Online) project we are helping people learn how to get online and maintain the claimant commitment, retain their benefits and avoid sanctions.

“And the sanctions can be really quite catastrophic for some people, especially if they have missed submissions because of being in hospital or other pressing matters.

“Often there are delays in payments, or they are found fit for work but we hold sessions all across Barrhead and we would encourage people to drop in and see us.” ERCAB offers advice on everything from homelessness to dealing with major debt problems, and even runs a veteran’s outreach service for former armed services members who are struggling with housing, debts and issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

However their biggest issues continue to be the big three of housing, money and debt.

Teresa says that in the last year the bureau has managed to prevent the eviction of more than 70 local residents.

She continued: “Benefits can affect so many things, from rent allowance, working tax credits, child benefits — I would say the vast majority of people that come in here are dealing with one of the big three — housing, debt and benefits.

“People have families that rely on them and when they are suddenly left with no money for anything more than a few days life can suddenly become very difficult.

“But our extension is already making a massive difference, we are able to interview more people at one time and work out what we can do for them, we are cutting down waiting times for someone to be seen.” ERCAB have secured a £140,000 grant from external funding to construct the office.