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Key facts for journalists

Key facts about the Citizens Advice service

  • The Citizens Advice service is a national network of local charities helping people resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing advice, and by influencing policy makers

  • Citizens Advice Bureaux in England and Wales advised 2.1 million clients on 7.1 million problems from April 2009 to March 2010. These included problems with debt, welfare benefits, employment, housing, the legal system, family and personal matters, and many others

  • Last year over 60 per cent of our work concerned debt and benefits. Fuelled by the recession, this grew at an annual rate of 22 per cent. Employment and housing were the next biggest sources of problems

  • The most common types of debt problems continue to be card and store card debts and unsecured personal loans, followed by overdrafts and council tax arrears and all these continue to show substantial increases

  • During 2009/10 bureaux dealt with 9,500 new debt problems and 8,200 new benefits problems every working day

  • Last year our New windowadviceguide.org.uk website received 10.5 million visits from people looking for information to help them solve their problems. Views of benefit information increased by 24 per cent and employment by 20 per cent

  • As of April 2010 there are 394 member bureaux in England and Wales delivering advice from 3500 locations including hospitals, health centres, courts, prisons, and people’s own homes

  • The service has a workforce of 27,000 of whom 21,000 are trained volunteers

  • It takes around 250 hours of learning and on-the-job practice to become a fully competent CAB generalist adviser

  • 97 per cent of people have heard of the Citizens Advice service (source BMRB 2009)

  • 52 per cent of people have either used a bureau themselves, or have family or friends who have (source IPSOS MORI 2005)

  • Over half (51 per cent) of the population of England and Wales have used a bureau (source BMRB 2008)

  • 40 per cent of people questioned said friends or family members had also used a bureau (source BMRB 2009)

  • 46 per cent of people felt less anxious, stressed or had fewer health problems after using a bureau

  • Every bureau is a charity in its own right, reliant on funding from a variety of sources. Last year (2009/10) bureau funding totalled £153 million, 46 per cent of which came from local authorities; 16 per cent from the Legal Services Commission; 10 per cent from the government’s Financial Inclusion Fund; 4 per cent from the Big Lottery Fund; 4 per cent from Primary Care Trusts and 20 per cent from other sources

  • The national body Citizens Advice is also a registered charity providing services to its member bureaux. Citizens Advice oversees the in-house information system used by all bureau advisers and public information including the award-winning New windowadviceguide.org.uk website; training; setting and monitoring standards of service and advice provision in bureaux; developing and supporting new services to improve access to bureaux advice such as a national telephone advice service; and influencing public policy so as to bring about improvements in public services and practices in the commercial sector that affect bureau clients

    • For an overview of the service see Introduction to the service