Rotorua Citizens Advice Bureau busiest in country in last financial year

Rotorua Citizens Advice Bureau manager Jane Eynon-Richards. Photo / Shauni James

Our local Citizens Advice Bureau is often a busy hub of queries, information and help - and the Rotorua bureau was the busiest in the country in the last financial year.

The Rotorua bureau assisted 13,093 clients in the 2020/21 financial year, and was followed up South Auckland's Onehunga bureau with 12, 677 clients.

Manager Jane Eynon-Richards says this included complex inquiries that required significant research, quick inquiries for phone numbers/directions, use of the bureau's telephone/computer/scanner and attendance of clients at JP, Legal and Immigration Advice clinics.

She says the bureau has already assisted more than 700 clients in 2022, and it only closed on the public holidays.

"The most popular issues we were asked about in the last financial year were around employment rights – particularly around the Covid work subsidy, redundancy, change of working conditions and the vaccine mandate.

"This was followed by relationships – which covers formalising and ending relationships, settling custody and access disputes and care of children.

"Then, rental issues – particularly after the changes to the Tenancy Act came into effect in February, and consumer – particularly around buying secondhand cars, faulty goods, and last year refunds for cancelled trips and air flights."

They also assist a lot of people with finding a JP or having access to its JP clinics three times a week, Jane says.

"We have always been an important part of the Rotorua community, and while the internet is available where people can search for information on their rights, it is the ability to talk that information and the options available over with a real human that makes our service unique and people keep coming back."

She says no two days are the same, and they do get some quite bizarre questions at times.

"We have had questions over the custody of pet dogs, we get asked how to spell words and people have rung us to identify whether the spider in their bath is a white tail or not."

Most of the local bureau's clients used to be face-to-face, but since Covid-19 this has changed and now most inquiries come in by telephone.

Jane says on Monday a decision was made to suspend its face-to-face service and take only email and phone calls, to ensure the safety of the bureau's wonderful volunteers and clients while Omicron is in the community.

"We really feel for clients who cannot come into the bureau at the moment because often they are people who need our help with online communication to government departments, the Tenancy Tribunal etc, or who have complex issues that involve paperwork and contracts which the volunteers need to have in front of them.

"There's also clients who need us to advocate on their behalf – whether to Work and Income, an employer or any other organisation they are having trouble dealing with, so hopefully we will be able to operate our full service again very soon."

People can email rotorua@cab.org.nz, call the local line on (07) 348 3936 or the 0800 367 222 number.

Jane says the issue with using the 0800 number is sometimes local people will end up talking to another bureau – "and whilst they should be helped I think locals really prefer to talk to a local volunteer".

The bureau has added the ability to text as well to (021) 090 45026 and then the bureau can call you back.