Next month, Citizens Advice Havering will be moving from its current home to take up a more accessible location at Romford Central Library.

The charity, which offers support and advice to the borough’s residents on a wide range of issues, will be closing the doors of its Victoria Road centre for the last time on December 7.

A new office will open at Romford Central Library in St Edward’s Way from January 2.

Chief Officer Lesley Crisp, said: “We are very pleased to be moving to Romford Library.

“It is a very central location for our clients to come to. We believe our presence in the library will be beneficial both to us and library staff and customers.

“As a charity we have faced some major funding challenges in the last couple of years.

“This move should help us to further reduce our costs and ensure that we can continue to provide free, independent, confidential and impartial advice to people who live or work in Havering.”

During the period between the Victoria Road centre closing and the new library office opening, additional sessions will be run at existing outreach locations at Hornchurch and Harold Hill libraries from December 11 to December 22.

The service, which runs five popular Job Clubs across Havering, will close for Christmas from December 22, before re-opening at its new home in the new year.

In the 2016-17 financial year, the organisation’s 13 part-time staff and 70 volunteers – who are all fully trained – helped support a staggering 8,985 Havering residents.

The top five issues, in descending order, were: welfare benefits, housing, employment, debt, and relationships.

Last month, the Recorder reported how the organisation had seen a rise in the number of people coming forward to speak with them as a result of issues caused by personal debt.

Nationwide, local Citizens Advice centres help an average of 2.5million Britons every year.

The charity prides itself on offering free, independent, confidential and impartial advice available to everyone regardless of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion, age or nationality.