Opening Hours

General advice and information:

Monday to Friday: 10:00 am - 4:00 pm (Gateway Assessments until 2.30pm) 

When you arrive at the Bureau with a new enquiry, providing the Bureau is adequately staffed, you will be greeted by the Receptionist and invited to wait and see a Gateway Assessor.  The Gateway Assessor will see you for a short interview in order to assess the problem.   Sometimes it will be possible to deal fully with the problem in that interview; sometimes an appointment will be made for you to see a General Adviser or Specialist Adviser at the Bureau at another time, or, you may be referred to another agency who can deal with the problem better than we can.  For some services, such as changes of name, statutory declarations, making a simple will, or if you just want a leaflet, a telephone number, directions to somewhere in the area, the Receptionist will deal with this straight away.  Gateway assessments can also be undertaken over the telephone on 01702 610610 but the telephone will only be answered when resources allow.  Please note that a full advice service will no longer be given on this number.

Saturday morning: 10:00 am - 12:00 noon

These sessions are by appointment only for clients who:

• live in the borough of Southend, and
• work full time, or
• are full-time carers

For a gateway assessment for a Saturday, please call into the Bureau between 10:00 am and 2:30pm weekdays or telephone 01702 456366 during the same hours (please note that advice is not given on this number).

 Our Saturday appointments are oversubscribed so, if you will not be able to attend, please let us know so we can offer the appointment to someone else.  To cancel a Saturday appointment, please ring 01702 456366 between 10:00 am - 4:00 pm, weekdays.  Outside of these hours, please text a message to 07503490246 cancelling your appointment.  

 For advice outside these hours, please see www.adviceguide.org.uk.

For details of closures, including bank and public holidays, please see the bulletin board.