A church has opened a free-to-access computer suite to help people access benefits and apply for jobs.

The Wesley Online Centre in Liskeard will be open today (Tuesday) from 5-7pm, tomorrow (Wednesday) from 10am - 12 noon, Friday from 2-5pm and Saturday from 10am - 12 noon.

Methodist minister the Reverend Mark Pengelly explained that the drive to open the new centre came from the introduction of Universal Credit.

’You have to apply for Universal Credit online. And if you are a job seeker, you’ve got to show that you are doing up to 35 hours of job searching per week. Most of that will require a computer,’ he said.

’If the demand is significant, and we can get enough volunteers, it would be my dream to be open every day of the week.’

The centre, located in the basement of the church on Baytree Hill in Liskeard, has received support from the Cornwall Community Fund and local businesses to kit out a room with 12 workstations and office furniture.