A UNIQUE advice service on a Wrexham estate has been praised for helping the most vulnerable receive the support they need.

The Caia Park Community Advice Service - believed to be the only one of its kind funded by a community council in Wales.

It has provided free advice on benefit and debt related matters to residents of Caia Park for more than 20 years, with trained advisors operating drop in sessions at the community council's base on Prince Charles Road.

From April 1 to June this year, the service has helped clients gain £374,398 they would otherwise struggled to have received.

Dave Sheridan, who runs the service, received praise from council members at their meeting this month, but he said many clients face the prospect of 'heating or eating' this winter.

Mr Sheridan, a debt specialist who took up the role of advice manager with the service nine months ago, said: "The complexities of cases is getting more and severe and resources less and less.

"We have brought in new software which helps but a lot of clients are on Universal Credit (UC) now and are experiencing problem not of their own making.

"The average length of a call before I even get to speak to a human being about Universal Credit is 48 minutes, and we are taking more and more work to a tribunal."

Mr Sheridan said the income "gains" for clients was on the increase put warned that with more people being moved from ESA (employment support allowance) to Universal Credit, the drop in their income "will be quite large" and that the UC "hasn't got a facility to be challenged" as it is done online.

He added: "Wrexham is set to lose £50m in benefits over the next three years and this is money that would be spent in the area, in the community."

Mr Sheridan also warned that he feared a number of clients would face the stark choice between "heating or eating" if the coming winter was a bad one.

Council chair, Wynnstay County Councillor Malcolm King passed on his thanks to Mr Sheridan and all staff at the advice service for the work they undertake on behalf of the community.

HE added: "We help with the 'Holiday Hunger' project at a local church during the summer, but what we are seeing now is children hungry throughout the year and not just the holiday time.

"Children are coming to The Venture now still asking for fruit or sandwiches."