UP CLOSE: Ian Byworth, CEO of Shepton Mallet-based Citizens Advice Mendip

Shepton Mallet Nub News aims to be supportive to every element of the town's community from business and shops to people and charities, clubs and sports organisations.

Everyone is finding it tough at the moment and is desperate to get back to normal.

We are profiling some of these local businesses and groups regularly over coming weeks in a feature called UP CLOSE IN SHEPTON MALLET in the hope that we can be a supportive springboard for their full return to business as usual.

Today we talk to Ian Byworth, the CEO of the Shepton Mallet-based Citizens Advice Mendip, who shares his thoughts on working in the town and benefits it offers.

During an in-depth Q and A session he also talks about the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on the charity and the type of cases it has seen an increase in over the past nine months.

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Have you always lived in the Shepton Mallet area and if not, what were the key considerations about moving here?

I first came to Shepton Mallet in 2018, when I took up my post with Citizens Advice Mendip. Although we have a presence in five towns across the district, our headquarters are in Shepton Mallet at the top the High Street close to Mendip District Council.

It's a good central base for us, accessible, with plenty of room for client interviews and is our busiest office in Mendip.

Tell us a bit about your personal background Ian and how you ended up becoming CEO of Citizens Advice Mendip?

I grew up in London but moved away to Plymouth for university, where I managed to get a degree in social policy, despite inordinate amounts of time spent surfing. After university and a stint working on a kibbutz in Israel, I returned to London to get a job and that's where my career path began.

My first job was in the East-End of London, working with the homeless. It was here I learned that relatively small and unavoidable events can have a catastrophic impact on people's lives and the lives of those around them.

That unexpected event could be the loss of a job, a reduction in income, a relationship breakdown, an accident or ill-heath.

Often, the safety net that we all expect will be there to catch us in difficult times simply isn't there or is so full of holes that people fall through it. This fuelled my interest in social justice and when I subsequently moved back to the South West, I took up a job with Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity, where I worked for almost 25 years.

Although fulfilling in many ways, after such a long time in one organisation I was starting to experience some of the frustrations that come from working for a very large London-based national charity - a sense of its detachment from rural deprivation and problems, with far too much focus on cities where the problems may be more condensed but are no worse than those in the country. So, I took the option of redundancy and moved on.

After trying a couple of different career paths - governance and compliance, then supported housing for older people - I realised my heart still lay in the field of advice work. This path, and a degree of serendipity, led me to my current job as CEO at Citizens Advice Mendip.

What do you like about the Shepton Mallet area? How has your Citizens Advice role got you involved in the local community?

As a base for our headquarters in Mendip and the main office for clients to visit, Shepton Mallet is perfect. It's central, and well-connected for travel by car and public transport.

Working closely as we do with other agencies, it's also well placed – we're right alongside the town council offices and those of the district council. Similarly, we work closely with the Health Connectors who share our building, and the Salvation Army foodbank is just along the road.

Facilities-wise, the town is also great for us, with access to our bank when online banking just isn't good enough, and a variety of shops whether that's the post office for stamps or a client's electricity key top-up, to the bigger stores for furniture and white goods.

As a charity almost 85 per cent of our workforce are volunteers who give their time for free. So, with Shepton Mallet accounting for about a quarter of our volunteer team of 60, we owe it to the local community for that continued support.

We also receive financial support from individuals and organisations in the Shepton Mallet area, without which we simply wouldn't be able to continue our work.

The coronavirus pandemic has had an impact on many businesses and organisations - what impact has it had on your work?

In common with all other businesses, the pandemic has had a significant impact on how we operate at Citizens Advice Mendip but perhaps unusually, it has resulted in some positive change to the way we deliver our services.

The most visible change was being forced to close our offices for face-to-face client services. This was a real blow, because our primary purpose is to ensure that people can access free, confidential, and impartial advice whenever they need it.

When restrictions on face-to-face services came in, we quickly shifted all our paid and volunteer advisers to our freephone Adviceline and email advice services. Despite working with a reduced volunteer team and offering no face-to-face services, we are helping as many people now as we were this time last year.

The success of this transition can be seen in the numbers - between April and November this year, we gave advice to 2,500 people from the Shepton Mallet area on more than 9,000 problems.

What is the best thing about being involved with Citizens Advice?

Simply having a job is something to be grateful for in the current climate, and I feel extremely fortunate to have a job that I love.

Being the CEO of a local charity isn't always easy and it certainly isn't very grand - the demands on our service are significant and we have to manage these with limited funding. The reward, however, is immense - we are a community service, helping people who often have nowhere else to turn.

It helps that all the paid staff, volunteers, and trustees I work with are as committed as I am to ensure that Citizens Advice Mendip delivers high-quality advice services to those that need them.

What appeals to me about Citizens Advice is the ethos - offering free, confidential, and impartial advice. Put more simply, anyone can come to us for help - we don't charge, we don't tell, and we don't judge.

The lockdown has been very difficult for many people - how do you think that the Shepton Mallet area has coped?

For many of our clients, the past nine months have been really tough. We've seen a significant increase in employment issues such as furloughing, redundancy, etc.

Similarly, more people seeking advice on Universal Credit claims and other benefits, and more clients are telling us that they're struggling to pay their bills or need a referral to a food bank. As temporary suspensions on evictions, debt enforcement and mortgage payments end, we've seen a rise in the number of people coming to us with debt and eviction problems.

Alongside this, we've also had to refer many more people to the local foodbank and provide emergency assistance with fuel top-ups for heating and cooking. It's when times are tough though, that you see how people and organisations can pull together.

To mitigate some of the impacts of the pandemic, we've seen the town and district councils working hard to meet the needs of our community, with other statutory and charitable organisations also stepping up to the need. So, I think the Shepton Mallet community has done pretty well.

Shepton Mallet and the area around it is beautiful - what is your favourite place and why?

Somewhat bizarrely, I'd say my office – not because I'm tied to my desk, but because of the building's history.

Highfield House is a listed building so retains much of its 19th century elegance, including the sweeping staircase. It was also the home of Shepton Mallet's famous Allen family including James Allen, nicknamed the Snowdrop King.

Working in such a beautiful building with its important history lends some perspective and inspiration when you're dealing with difficult decisions in your day-to-day work.

If there was one thing in the area you would change, what would it be?

Given that Highfield House is so well preserved and maintained, I think I'd have to say that bringing some of the other beautiful buildings in town back into use and good repair would go a long way to uplifting the look and feel of the town.

If you could have a famous person play you in a movie about your life, who would it be and why?

I think this would be Richard Gere - quite a few people have said that he bears a striking resemblance to me.