Citizens Advice
Citizens Advice[n 1] (previously Citizens Advice Bureau[9][n 2] and also known as Cyngor ar Bopeth[n 3] in Welsh[10]) 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.[11][12]
Founded
1939[2]
279057[4]
- Head office: Citizens Advice, 3rd Floor North, 200 Aldersgate Street, London, EC1A 4HD[5]
United Kingdom 316 branches nationally.[4]
Telephone, face to face, e-mail, webchat
Clare Moriarty (Chief Executive)[6]
£99 million (2016/2017)[7]
7,000[8]
21,600[4] (2015)
The twin aims of the Citizens Advice service are "to provide the advice people need for the problems they face"[13] and secondly "to improve the policies and principles that affect people's lives".[13] This research and campaigns agenda also known as "social policy" [14] is more preventative in nature and designed to stop problems arising in the first place.
Citizens Advice organisations emerged in the 1930s linked to the emergence of a fledgling social welfare service and the outbreak of World War II.[15] Public funding for the organisation was cut following the war but restored during the 1960s and a government grant in 1973 allowed the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux (NACAB) to expand the charity.[15] Citizens Advice has grown to be the largest independent advice provider in the United Kingdom.[16] There are also a number of Citizens Advice organisations that base themselves on the United Kingdom advice charity mainly in parts of the Commonwealth including Australia,[17] New Zealand,[18] and Gibraltar.[19]
In 2013 the Citizens Advice Adviceguide website was visited by one third of United Kingdom's online population[10] and Citizens Advice's own research shows that four in ten of the British population contact Citizens Advice at some point during their lives.[20] In 2014 Citizens Advice celebrated its 75th anniversary[21] and in 2015 the charity was named Charity of the Year at the 2015 Charity Awards.[22] During the ten year leadership of the former Chief Executive Gillian Guy Citizens Advice expanded its remit taking on the contract for the Witness Service[23] and the face-to-face advice element of Pension Wise.[24]
The Citizens Advice service in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland is guided by four principles. These are:
Although an independent and impartial organisation Citizens Advice has a peculiar relationship with Government in that it is dependent upon Government for funding but also acts as a high-profile critic of government policy. At a Citizens Advice conference in 1957 Lord Denning, then Lord Justice of Appeal described the complex relationship between Citizens Advice and the state describing how Citizens Advice was "supported indeed by the state, but not controlled by it; supported by local authorities but not controlled by them, and, I hope like the law, never to be controlled by any public authority".[54][55]
All Citizens Advice Bureaux and workers for the bureaux must adhere to these principles, and bureaux must demonstrate that they adhere to these principles in order to retain membership of the national umbrella bodies. Citizens Advice state that their vision "is that everyone will be able to access free advice to find a way forward".[4] They also state that their "charitable mission is to provide advice that helps people to overcome their problems and come together to campaign on big issues when their voices need to be heard".[4]
Advicework[edit]
Citizens Advice service's work involves providing advice on issues such as debt management and welfare benefits, housing, immigration, employment, consumer complaints and landlord-tenant disputes. Citizens Advice calculated that in 2016 it helped 2.7 million people with 6.3 million problems.[67] There were also 48 million visits to their digital service.
Advice is available in the bureaux, but also in community venues, in people's homes, by phone,[68] by e-mail and online both via a Webchat service[69] and the Citizens Advice public site known as "Advice Guide".[38] Figures from 2016 show that Citizens Advice has around 600 staff members in GP surgeries.[70]
Telephone advice also known as Adviceline can be accessed in English and a bilingual service in Wales.[68]
One Citizens Advice page shows in real time what individuals are searching for on the website, what searches from the search engine Google caused an individual to reach the Citizens Advice page and what Citizens Advice website content is most popular.[71][72] Citizens Advice also runs a consumer helpline to help with consumer issues.[73] The most popular areas of enquiry are benefits and debt with housing the third most popular enquiry area. Each Citizens Advice office operates differently. Some will have specialist staff that deal with certain cases such as debt or housing. Some operate a 'Gateway' system which means clients are booked for advice at a later appointment and other Citizens Advice offer 'drop in' Generalist Advice sessions. At some Citizens Advice offices solicitors may offer short appointments on a pro bono basis as a way of gaining clients.
Citizens Advice has a number of advice partnerships with organisations[74] in areas including money[75][76] and partnership with Macmillan to help those affected by cancer.[77] 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.[78] The partnership is funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government.[78] From 2015 Citizens Advice offices have been used to deliver Pension Wise guidance.[79] Citizens Advice research shows that 25% of those who visit for a Pension Wise appointment go on to ask Citizens Advice for further advice on debts, benefits or tax.[80]
Citizens Advice also engages in preventative work in order to prevent problems arising in the first place.[81] Citizens Advice is the Government-funded provider of consumer education in Great Britain.[82] There are 11 Consumer Empowerment Partnerships that work closely with Trading Standards. A financial capability agenda helps people to manage their money so as to not develop money problems in the first place.[83] Citizens Advice also produces education resources to improve financial capability and consumer education.[84][85][86] A Partnerships Intelligence Team works in order to support the work of regulators. One example of this is research on continuous payment authorities in order to help the Financial Conduct Authority better regulate them.[87]
The Citizens Advice service, both locally and nationally, also uses clients' problems as evidence to influence policy makers to review laws or administrative practices which cause undue difficulties to clients, in a process referred to as "Social Policy". At a national level Citizens Advice engages in policy research in order to recommend policy changes.[88] Current research areas include mental health[89] domestic abuse,[90] problems in the private rented sector,[91] welfare,[92] work,[93] pensions,[94] energy policy[95] and the postal service.[96]
A public affairs team works to influence Government both in Westminster and the devolved institutions. There is also a Citizens Advice All-Party Parliamentary Group that provides a forum for Members of Parliament who are interested in the work of Citizens Advice.[97] Citizens Advice produces constituency data that can be used by Parliamentarians to improve how they complete their own case work. Advice Trends data is published at a national and local level.[98] Consumer Advice Trends data is also published[99][100] as is data for Wales alone[101] and data on the performance of energy suppliers and the postal service.[102]
Current campaigns include:
Impact[edit]
Citizens Advice measures the impact of its advice across a range of areas.[111][112] Citizens Advice research has calculated that for every £1 spent on the Citizens Advice service the Government saves £1.96[113] and £8.74 in wider economic and social benefits and £11.98 in benefit to individuals.[113] 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.[113] Citizen Advice's own research has also shown that volunteering has positive benefits in terms of helping people gain practical skills and improving mental health.[114] Each year 31% of Citizens Advice's volunteers leave the service for paid employment and it has been calculated that the work of Citizens Advice volunteers is worth £111 million.[115] Citizens Advice's campaigns work has had a number of successes including the Financial Conduct Authority capping payday loans.[116] A Twitter hashtag #CABlive is used to publicise the work of Citizens Advice on social media.[117]
Advice and health improvement[edit]
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.[118]
There is a growing body of evidence which shows that tackling practical problems through advice improves health and wellbeing. National Citizens Advice Impact research reports that 70% of clients said they felt less stressed and 46% said their physical health improve after advice. Of Citizens Advice clients experiencing long-term conditions, 57% said they were better able to manage their condition.[119]
Citizens Advice has also investigated the impact that practical problems have on health professional's time. The research report "A Very General Practice" estimates that 19% of GP appointments are spent dealing with non-clinical problems. 98% of IAPT practitioners that responded to Citizens Advice research reported that they had dealt with a patient's non-health problems during an appointment in the past month and 57% reported the proportion of time they spend on non-health issues has increased compared to last year.[109]
In 2016 Citizens Advice was appointed to the National Health and Wellbeing Alliance.[120] Working with the Department of Health, NHS England, Public Health England and the 23 members of the Alliance, Citizens Advice uses its data and evidence to reduce health inequalities, which is one of the key aims of the Alliance.
A Trustee Board provides strategic direction and vision for the organisation.[121] The Chief Executive working with the Executive Team is responsible for delivering the board's vision.
Below the Trustee Board a number of committees exist: