All our impact

Each year, Citizens Advice helps give millions of people the knowledge and confidence to find a way forward. We do this by providing advice, education and support, and influencing policies and practices that affect our clients.

Our impact in 2022-23

The cost-of-living crisis has driven unprecedented demand for our services. We’ve continued to adapt how we deliver advice to help as many people as possible, while speaking out on behalf of those most affected by the crisis. We’re seeing more people with urgent and complex problems, and it’s getting harder for us to find solutions for people. Our volunteers and staff are working flat out to make sure people have access to the support they need, and we’re still here to help millions of people find a way forward, whoever they are and whatever their problem.

In 2022-23 we:

  • Helped over 2.66 million people with one-to-one advice

  • Had over 60 million views of our online self-help advice

  • And 84% of people using our local services would recommend them to a friend

Our latest impact report highlights the impact we have on people’s lives, and the difference we make to local communities. 

Read our full 2022-23 impact report.

Using a Treasury-approved model, we know that in 2022 to 2023, for every £1 spent on Citizens Advice, we benefit our clients by £13.28. We saved government and public services £681 million. We estimate our total social and economic value to society to be £4.7bn.

This is a minimum return. We haven’t tried to monetise everything, sticking instead to what we know and can firmly evidence, using credible costings and proxies to illustrate our value to society. Against the backdrop of millions of individuals with different needs and the transformative effect that advice can have, we acknowledge that our findings here are simplified and likely to underplay our true value.

For further details on how we’ve produced our financial estimate, we’ve put together a full technical annex.

Our previous impact reports

In 2015, we published our first impact report, demonstrating how all of our activities and the way we work come together to help people find a way forward: benefiting individuals, government and society.

Using a Treasury-approved model, we can also put a financial estimate on our value. For further details on how we’ve produced our financial estimate, we’ve put together full technical annexes to our reports.

Our impact in 2021-22 and the technical annex.

Our impact in 2020-21 and the technical annex.

Our impact in 2019-20 and the technical annex.

Our impact in 2017-18 and the technical annex.

Our impact in 2016-17

Our impact in 2015-16 and the technical annex.

Our impact in 2014-15 and the technical annex.

Why we're needed

Life is complicated. Sometimes people encounter challenges and problems that they don’t know how to deal with, and they need help to overcome. In 2022 to 2023:

  • 7 in 10 people said their problem was resolved following our advice

  • 8 in 10 people said we helped them find a way forward

  • 8 in 10 people said they would recommend the service

People need different types of support at various times in their life. Our information and advice is available to everyone. Structural inequalities lead to certain people facing disadvantages, making them more likely to need our help, and we prioritise their needs.

What we do

We're here to help people find a way forward. As a service we:

  • help people overcome their problems through advice, information, education and support

  • campaign on big issues when people’s voices need to be heard

  • benefit society through the way we work.

The difference this makes

We have robust evidence on the effectiveness of our advice provision, showing that our service really works. Feedback collected through our client satisfaction survey shows that, in 2022 to 2023, more than 7 out of every 10 people who seek our help will have their problem partly or completely solved. And more than 8 in 10 people said that we helped them find a way forward. 84% of people we’ve helped say they wouldn’t have been able to sort out their problem without our support.

And our 2023 outcomes and impact research showed that advice does more than solve the immediate problem: it can reduce stress, improve finances and stabilise housing or employment, and even improve physical health. 64% of people surveyed say that our advice improved their physical health, and 65% of people who received advice felt less stressed, depressed or anxious. 

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We have a responsibility and are committed to understanding the difference we make to the people we work with and communities across England and Wales.

Understanding our intended impact and what we actually achieved is vital.