The Centre was originally known as the “Aubrey Lloyd Centre” named after a railwayman who was a prominent member of the local community and trade union movement. In the early years the Centre operated a drop in service to the unemployed and acted as a focus to develop and maintain links between unemployed and employed people and the Trade Union movement.

Over the years the Centre developed its services in response to the needs of its users and the local community, to provide information, advice and representation to enable those entitled to secure their welfare rights. These services are targeted towards all disadvantaged groups within the community e.g. the unemployed, those experiencing ill health or disability, lone parents, pensioners, the low paid and homeless people. To reflect this development the Centre was renamed Worcester Welfare Rights in 1989.

In the 1990’s the Centre became concerned about the problem of single homelessness within the City, and the difficulties facing those on low incomes in securing affordable accommodation. In response to this problem the Centre launched the Accommodation Register Project in 1994. The project provided assistance to homeless people seeking accommodation by identifying suitable vacancies, liaising with landlords and making arrangements to view, as well as providing advice and support to enable users to move in and set up home. This was followed in 1998 by the launch of “SmartMove”, a deposit guarantee scheme, one of a national network of such schemes operated as a franchise from “Crisis” the national homelessness charity. This scheme was launched in response to the growing difficulty experienced by those on low incomes in funding deposits and advances needed to access assured short hold tenancies in the private sector.

These two projects targeted at the single homeless have been complimented by the development of a comprehensive housing advice service available to all members of the community including both single people and families. In 2000 funding was secured to employ a Volunteer Co-ordinator, this enabled the Centre to further develop the involvement of volunteers in our work and particularly in providing resettlement services, to include ongoing support and befriending to those assisted in securing accommodation through our projects.

During 2002 a successful application was made to Crisis to become a “SmartMove” regional development partner, this allowed the Centre to consolidate its services and work with 4 other partner schemes and Crisis to develop the SmartMove model nationally. The Centre has also been able to enhance its housing advice services to both the single homeless and families, with a particular emphasis on the prevention of homelessness within the City.

Drawing on many years experience in working with a range of vulnerable people within the community and in particular, working to support vulnerable single homeless people to both secure and retain suitable accommodation, the Centre has developed a range of “floating” housing support services as part of the Supporting People initiative. These services, which have been developed during the last 12 months, are focused on the single homeless, Worcester City Council tenants and offenders referred by the Probation Service. The aim of the housing support service is to provide a range of support to meet individual’s needs and to enable those who are vulnerable to maintain their tenancies and live independently within the community.

In order to reflect the broader range of services delivered by the Centre and particularly the housing related services that have been developed since the mid 1990’s the trustees decided in 2003 to rename the Centre. From November 2003 the organisation has been known as Worcester Housing and Benefits Advice Centre or whabac.