MONEY MATTERS
Sometimes you need advice, but don’t know where to find the correct and relevant guidance, which is where Citizens Advice comes in, as Peter d’Aguilar discovered
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ometimes you need advice, but just don’t know where or who to turn to. A friend? A family member? A professional? A stranger in the pub, or at the bus stop? Often, these options are just too delicate, too personally involved, or just lacking in the right levels of expertise or experience. This is where Citizens Advice can help. Its team of well-qualified independent volunteers offer confidential and impartial advice free of charge on a wide range of issues – such as state benefits, consumer rights, legal matters, debt and money, housing, family, employment, health and immigration. They also support witnesses in court through the Witness Service and give pension guidance to anyone over 50 years of age. There are currently over 300 Citizens Advice offices spread across the United Kingdom dispensing advice, support and wisdom in person or over the phone. However, as with most aspects of modern life, much of their work is now done through the Internet – their website receives well over 30 million visits each year. Citizens Advice volunteers now number over twenty thousand, backed up by eight thousand support staff. Together, they help more than a million people face-to-face, and another million through their telephone service. Half a million people use their consumer helpline and a similar
CITIZENS ADVICE There are currently over 300 Citizens Advice offices spread across the United Kingdom
number contact them by email or webchat. They help to solve around 80 to 90% of the problems they tackle. The twin aims of the Citizens Advice service are to provide the advice people need for the problems they face and to improve the policies and principles that affect people’s lives. The fact that they see so many people with such a wide range of different problems gives them a valuable insight into the challenges people are facing today. They are therefore well placed to talk to big organisations, from commercial businesses to local and national government, about ways in which they can make life better for the people of Britain. Citizens Advice saves the tax-payer millions of pounds each year – roughly £2 for every £1 spent on the service. It also acts as the statutory consumer watchdog for December 2021 | SUSSEX LIVING 145
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