All our impact

This content applies to England and Wales. See content for Northern Ireland, Scotland.

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

Making a difference in challenging times: our impact in 2021/22

In 2021/22 we:

Helped over 2.55 million people with one-to-one advice
Had over 58 million views of our online self-help advice
And 3 in 4 people said we directly helped them to solve their problem and find their forward

Read our full 2021/22 report.

Using a Treasury-approved model, we can also put a financial estimate on this value. For further details on how we’ve produced our financial estimate, we’ve put together a full technical annex: 2021/22 Financial modelling technical annex.

Adapting to keep our service running: our impact in 2020/21

Our health, work, education and social lives were all affected in ways we couldn’t have imagined as we entered 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic brought with it new problems, challenges and uncertainty in the delivery of our services. But we adapted, and with the incredible resilience of our staff and volunteers, were still there to help millions of people find a way forward, whoever they were and whatever their problem.

In 2020/21 we:

Helped over 2.4 million people with one-to-one advice
Had over 60 million views of our online self-help advice
And 9 in 10 people said we helped them find a way forward

You can read our full 2020-21 report here.

How we make a difference: our impact in 2019/20

We helped 2.8 million people get the advice they needed in 2019-20. To meet our Future of Advice ambitions, we’ve worked collaboratively and innovatively to help more people access support. You can read our full 2019-20 impact report here. 746 KB

Our impact data helps us better understand the effect our advice has on people’s lives, and the difference we make to local communities. In 2019-20, over 80% of the people we helped said their problem was resolved following our advice.

How we make a difference: our impact in 2017/18

How we make a difference: our impact in 2017/18 159 KB

This is the story of our impact in 2017/18 - and the start of a wider conversation about what that means to the people we help and society.

We now know more about our impact than ever before. The new research behind our impact report helps us better understand the effect our advice has on people’s lives, and the difference we make to local communities. Using a Treasury-approved model, we can also put a financial estimate on this value.

For further details on how we’ve produced our financial estimate, we’ve put together a full technical annex: Modelling our value to society 720 KB .

The difference we make: our 2016/17 impact report

The difference we make: our impact in 2016/17 [ 170 kb] 165 KB demonstrates how our network of 300 local centres dealt with 6.3 million issues and saved government and public services at least £430 million.

It also shows the value of our volunteers to support others in their community, develop skills and improve their wellbeing.

Helping people find a way forward - our 2015/16 impact report

Helping people find a way forward 864 KB draws together evidence of the impact of our activities across Citizens Advice, and demonstrates our considerable value to society. It’s the complete story of what we do and achieve, and what would be lost to society if we were not here.

For further details on how we’ve produced our financial estimate, we’ve put together a full technical annex: Modelling our value to society in 2015/16. 903 KB

The value of the Citizens Advice service: our impact in 2014/15

In 2015, we published our first impact report, The value of the Citizens Advice service: our impact in 2014/15 984 KB . This demonstrated how all of our activities and the way we work come together to help people find a way forward: benefiting individuals, government and society.

We also produced a technical annex to explain our 2014/15 financial estimate: Modelling the value of the Citizens Advice service 2014-15 874 KB

We are able to demonstrate our impact because we have credible evidence of why people need support from our service, how we help, and what this achieves.

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; and
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.

Solving and preventing individuals' problems creates considerable value to society

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. See our full technical annex (above) for more details.

Find out more about:

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.

Find out about our current work to understand what works.