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70 years of life changing advice

70th Cover

The past, present and future

Citizens Advice Bureaux have extraordinary origins as an emergency war service. When the prospect of a world war loomed, the National Council of Social Services (the forerunner of today’s National Council of Voluntary Organisations) established a group to look at how the needs of a civilian population in war time were best met. The group agreed that ‘Citizens Advice Bureaux should be established throughout the country, particularly in the large cities and industrial areas where social disorganisation may be acute.’ Preparations were made and on 4 September 1939, just one day after war was declared, 200 bureaux opened their doors for the first time. The arrangements for bureaux varied wildly according to Jean Richards in her history of the Citizens Advice service, 'Inform, Advise and Support':

"Almost anyone could be involved. One lady described how her husband, a solicitor ineligible for military service, came home from his office in London and announced they were going to open a Citizens Advice Bureau in their front room the next day. She was given a copy of the Citizens Advice Notes, some government leaflets and circulars, and told to get on with it!"

Another bureau operated out of a converted horse box. During the war bureaux sprang up and closed down frequently, responding to the changing needs of the time. Bureaux continued to operate in post war times despite a decline in funding, but their resilience was rewarded in 1960 with a renewed Government grant ‘in appreciation of services rendered to the community’. The number and locations of bureaux is much more stable these days, but we remain a flexible service that is driven by the needs of the areas we work in.


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Our 70th celebrations

70 years of the Citizens Advice service