The Citizens Advice service helps people resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing free, independent and confidential advice, and by influencing policymakers.

Every Citizens Advice Bureau is a registered charity reliant on trained volunteers and funds to provide these vital services for local communities.

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Out of the red

Debt advice in the Citizens Advice service Out of the red: Debt advice in the Citizens Advice service ( 0.92mb) Introduction Almost every day we read about the growing indebtedness of UK households and the growth in personal bankruptcy. The positive work done to help those who have lost control of their debts and the actions of regulators, government departments, parliamentarians, trade associations and financial services companies to improve policy and practice, receive less attention.

This publication, produced thanks to support from Barclays, is a contribution to balancing the picture. It shows how Citizens Advice and its partners in the public, private and voluntary sectors are making a major contribution to addressing problems at source or helping those adversely affected. Out of the red demystifies the money advice process and highlights:

• innovative approaches to deliver debt advice to people in rural areas
• how the Finance and Leasing Association helped its members train their staff to deal better with customers who might have mental health problems
• how people with mental health problems are helped by Hastings and Rother CAB thanks to The Big Lottery
• the training provided to money advisers through financial support from Barclays
• how GPs in almost eight hundred surgeries can refer patients to an on-site CAB adviser
• how serving prisoners receive help so that money problems don’t get worse while they serve their sentences, thanks to a partnership between the Citizens Advice Offender Support service and the Legal Services Commission
• how many people on low incomes in Liskeard in Cornwall are able to borrow from a credit union, thanks to the European Development Fund, the local council and the local CAB.

These are just a few of the many positive and successful initiatives and services which are making a difference. The scale of the problem is large and growing – so too are the responses to it. They are not yet sufficient in scale to turn the tide – that is where you can help.

• Out of the red: Debt advice in the Citizens Advice service ( 0.92mb)

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