Supporting volunteers at Citizens Advice

If you have any support, access or equipment needs, your local Citizens Advice will be happy to discuss this with you to enable you to volunteer.

As a volunteer you’ll receive an introduction to the service and full training for your role, as well as support and supervision throughout your time volunteering with us, and opportunities for development.

Induction and training

You don't need pre-existing skills or experience for most of our roles as all volunteers receive an induction and comprehensive, free, high quality training.

Our training will build on your existing skills and experience to ensure you have the knowledge and confidence to fulfil your role.

The time and intensity of the training we’ll ask you to complete depends on the role you’ve selected. The full adviser training can take over 6 months to complete depending on how much time you’re able to commit to it. For other roles such as receptionists or information/digital assistants the training element will be much shorter.

Your local Citizens Advice will be able to provide you with more information about what training is available for the role you're interested in and help you understand which opportunity might best suit your interests and availability.

Support and supervision

Volunteers are fully supported and supervised throughout their time at Citizens Advice. When you join you will get more details about who is supporting you day to day as well as details of your induction and training programme. Citizens Advice will work with you to help ensure that you find volunteering with us rewarding.

If you’re an adviser, there is an Advice Session Supervisor on duty at each advice session to guide and support you. We’ll make sure that you're not put in situations that are beyond your abilities and that there is someone there to support you if you need it.

If you're disabled or have a mental or physical health condition

At Citizens Advice you can expect a welcoming and inclusive environment that is free from discrimination. We will work with you to provide the support and equipment you need to enable you to complete the application process, undertake your voluntary role and any relevant training.

Read about the experiences of some of our disabled volunteers.