Action for Refugees in Lewisham (AFRIL) is a small, local charity founded in 2006. We support asylum seekers, vulnerable migrants and refugees to lift themselves out of poverty and rebuild their lives. AFRIL provides advice and casework in the areas of housing and homelessness, NRPF, welfare benefits, asylum support, access to health and childrens’ education, and related matters. Casework is in depth and holistic and we work in partnership with our clients empowering them to move from dependence to independence. Our other core services include: Rainbow Club supplementary school, improving the educational attainment and wellbeing of 100 refugee and vulnerable migrant children at our weekly Saturday school; a Food bank providing regular culturally appropriate food to families with no recourse to public funds; and an immigration project in partnership with Southwark Law Centre. We also deliver wellbeing activities to reduce isolation and encourage integration including our Allotment of Refuge, art@home group and Together We Thrive women led network.

Welcome to Citizens Advice Lewisham (CAL), an independent local charity celebrating 80 years of dedicated service to those living and working in the London Borough of Lewisham. Our team of staff and volunteers provides advice and information on a wide range of issues, including: Welfare benefits, Debt, Housing, Employment, Consumer Goods.
We are committed to providing an open and accessible service for all, but we are especially concerned for the most vulnerable.
We are the lead agency for Advice Lewisham, a partnership of information and advice providers across the borough. Together, we provide the freephone Lewisham Advice Line service.

Age Lewisham & Southwark is always working to improve later life for many older people who face common challenges with care, illness, isolation and finance. We provide a wide variety of services in the Boroughs of Lewisham and Southwark including day care, healthy living, help at home, information and advice, outreach and volunteering. These services are available to anyone aged 60 and over. We are very passionate about delivering services that empower and support the needs of the most vulnerable and isolated older members of our community. We believe that being involved in the provision of services qualifies us to comment on the performance of others on the basis of actual knowledge and relevant experience.

Community Advice Works has existed since the 1960s (when it was formerly known as 170 Community Project). Since that time, we have developed and delivered a wide range of services, with a focus on providing advice and advocacy services to the most vulnerable in our community. From specialist welfare advice to domestic abuse advocacy we have built a strong reputation for providing high quality and independent person-centred support. In the last financial year, our specialist welfare benefits team recorded nearly 2000 positive outcomes for our clients, and added financial gains of over £603,000 to the local community.

Lewisham Multilingual Advice Service offers free and impartial advice, assistance and advocacy in different languages. Our main languages are Albanian, Arabic, Bengali, French, Italian, Kurdish, Portuguese, Spanish, Somali, Turkish, Polish & Vietnamese. If a language not available we may be able to accommodate through one of our volunteers. We deal with issues related to Welfare benefits, Health, Housing, Employment, Consumer, Debt, Education, ETC. We do casework, including requesting reviews, appeals and representations. If we have no capacity to deal with a problem we will endeavour to do so through signposting and referral.

LRMN provides information, advice, casework support and representation at tribunals to clients with immigration, housing and welfare issues. We also support those who are eligible to gain employment, access volunteering, training and or educational opportunities. Our programme for women who survived gender-based violence including those who have been raped, trafficked, those who survived female genital mutilation, domestic and honour based violence include 1:1 counselling and weekly group therapeutic activities and practical assistance. In addition, we run English, sewing and knitting classes and gardening club to help our clients integrate, tackle isolation and loneliness. For homeless and destitute clients we offer food parcel and small amount of money for their basic needs.