38 Facts About Citizens Advice

Citizens Advice is an independent organisation specialising in confidential information and advice to assist people with legal, debt, consumer, housing and other problems in the United Kingdom.

Twin aims of the Citizens Advice service are "to provide the advice people need for the problems they face" and secondly "to improve the policies and principles that affect people's lives".

Citizens Advice organisations emerged in the 1930s linked to the emergence of a fledgling social welfare service and the outbreak of World War II.

Citizens Advice has grown to be the largest independent advice provider in the United Kingdom.

In 2014 Citizens Advice celebrated its 75th anniversary and in 2015 the charity was named Charity of the Year at the 2015 Charity Awards.

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Citizens Advice'sffield set up in the cloisters of Citizens Advice'sffield Cathedral after its premises were bombed during World War II and another bureau worked in Chislehurst Caves.

The Citizens Advice service continued due to charitable support from groups such as the Nuffield Foundation, Carnegie Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Citizens Advice led Citizens Advice until 2010 and during that time oversaw a massive IT overhaul.

Citizens Advice has recently begun looking at ways to reach all members of the community through new mediums such as email advice and digital TV.

In 2014 Citizens Advice took over the role that Victim Support played in supporting court witnesses.

Also in 2014 Citizens Advice took over the role of Consumer Futures which represents consumers of regulated industries .

In 2015 Citizens Advice adopted a rebrand dropping the 'Bureau' from its name.

However, evidence from Citizens Advice focus groups found that while the charity was well known the brand was considered somewhat “tired” or “old fashioned”.

In 2015 Citizens Advice piloted a webchat service allowing people to contact Citizens Advice advisers online both via online instant messenger service and via e-mail.

In 2016 Citizens Advice was featured in a BBC documentary called Battling with Benefits.

Newcastle Citizens Advice faced a threat of closure in 2016 after Newcastle Council proposed large cuts to its funding.

In February 2016, Derby City Council decided that it would no longer fund the city's Citizens Advice, leaving Derby as the only city in the UK not to have a Citizens Advice Service, according to its CEO.

Citizens Advice has a number of advice partnerships with organisations in areas including money and partnership with Macmillan to help those affected by cancer.

Citizens Advice has a partnership with the housing advice charity Shelter called the National Homelessness Advice Service which is able to offer advisers specialist housing and homelessness advice.

From 2015 Citizens Advice offices have been used to deliver Pension Wise guidance.

Citizens Advice engages in preventative work in order to prevent problems arising in the first place.

Citizens Advice is the Government-funded provider of consumer education in Great Britain.

Citizens Advice produces education resources to improve financial capability and consumer education.

At a national level Citizens Advice engages in policy research in order to recommend policy changes.

Citizens Advice produces constituency data that can be used by Parliamentarians to improve how they complete their own case work.

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Citizens Advice research has calculated that for every £1 spent on the Citizens Advice service the Government saves £1.

Research shows that Citizens Advice affects the most disadvantaged in society with Citizens Advice clients five times more likely to live in poverty than the average member of the United Kingdom population.

Research conducted in 2016 found that 4 in 5 of Citizens Advice clients felt stressed, depressed or anxious and 3 in 5 clients felt their physical health had become worse as a result of their practical problem.

Citizens Advice has investigated the impact that practical problems have on health professional's time.

In 2016 Citizens Advice was appointed to the National Health and Wellbeing Alliance.

Each Citizens Advice is an affiliated to the national organisation but they are managed and run locally.

All bureaux in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are members of Citizens Advice, the operating name of The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux.

Citizens Advice has a number of diversity groups known as Self Organised Network Groups .

Citizens Advice Scotland, formally the Scottish Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, is a registered charity.

In Wales Citizens Advice Cymru has a network of 20 bureaux giving advice at 375 locations.

Organisations modelled on Citizens Advice have been created in other nations outside of the United Kingdom.

The Citizens Advice Bureau serving Western Australia has 10 branches of Citizens Advice Bureau and uses the same branding as the British charity.

An unrelated organisation Citizens Advice International was established in 2004 to promote free advice services and to promote Citizens Advice organisations throughout the world.