The history of CAB in Northern Ireland can be traced back to 1941, when almost 1,000 people were killed in two air raids in Belfast. The Civil Defence Authority had asked the Belfast Council of So
cial Welfare (BCSW) to set up information centres in the city. The BCSW asked Mrs. Audrey Irwin to set up an information centre for people with such problems as: tracing soldiers missing in action, rationing allowances and contacting Prisoners of War. Other problems that people faced then are just as prevalent today, include new law changes to pension provision, rent arrears and accident victims enquiring about compensation.
A Citizens Advice Bureau, set up in the office of the BCSW, became the centre around which information and advice was provided. A grant made by the Ministry of Public Security helped towards its running costs. After the war ended this grant, like those in the England, Wales and Scotland, was stopped. The Belfast Corporation, recognising the worthwhile work being done in assisting the transition from war to peace, agreed to contribute towards the cost of maintaining an advice bureau in the city. However, at that time there was no formal connection with the CAB Service in Great Britain.
Over the years, the importance of information in enabling citizens to understand the complexities of provision in all aspects of life, led to different committees recommending the setting up of information and advice agencies. The recommendations of the Moloney Committee in 1962 led to a whole new range of enquiries for Citizens Advice Bureaux to deal with. The Committee was concerned with the access to adequate advice and information for consumers, and said that, “the consumer ought to know or be able to find out what her/his rights are and against whom s/he can maintain them”.
Because of the recommendations of the Moloney Committee, it was agreed that the Board of Trade should grant-aid the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) to expand the CAB Service in Great Britain. In Northern Ireland, the Ministry of Commerce was charged with the implementation of the Moloney Report. It offered grants to both the BCSW to employ a part-time worker in Belfast, and to the Northern Ireland Council of Social Service (NICSS) to promote Citizens Advice Bureaux throughout the whole of Northern Ireland.
Thus, in 1964, the BCSW opened a CAB in Bryson House in Belfast. Over the next few years, the number of enquiries being dealt with increased steadily, as did the number of bureaux dealing with them.
The organizational structure of the Citizens Advice Service in Northern Ireland was also changing around this time. In Great Britain, the National Citizens Advice Bureau Council (NCABC), which was responsible for the organisation of Citizens Advice Bureaux in England and Wales, had gained independence from the NCSS and was subsequently renamed the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureau (NACAB). At this time Northern Ireland bureaux did not have a separate regional committee comparable to those operating in Great Britain. In 1972, however, the decision was taken to set one up in order to provide an effective channel of communication between local Citizens Advice Bureaux and the NICSS, and to permit all bureaux to participate in the policy-making process of the service as a whole. Thus, in 1974, the Northern Ireland Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux (Citizens Advice) was established as the co-ordinating body for the Northern Ireland bureaux.
To retain the independent nature of the bureaux – as a place where information and advice was available, free of charge to all - the bureaux became independent from the various bodies under whose auspices they were operating followed by a further stage of independence in 1984. The DHSS recommended that the NICSS should become the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA) and that all responsibility for the CAB Service should be transferred to Citizens Advice. Therefore, on 1st April 1984, Citizens Advice became an independent limited company with its own constitution, receiving 100% funding from the Department of Education for Northern Ireland (DENI). Today it is one of the largest voluntary organisations in Northern Ireland with a Regional Office in Belfast, 28 local offices and 120 other outlets.
In recent years CAB in Northern Ireland has come through a period of considerable growth and development. Citizens Advice has pioneered the use of computers in advice work, implemented the accreditation of advice training, the development of outreach work and the development of cross-border advice. In addition CAB represents at some 1,200 social security tribunals per year and is the largest single source of help for appellants inNorthern Ireland.
The Association now handles in excess of 250,000 queries a year and holds a number of key contracts to deliver advice and information to the public on a range of issues. Citizens Advice has recently been awarded a contract with the DETI to provide face-to-face money advice across Northern Ireland, a contract with the SSA to maximise benefit take-up in Northern Ireland and the extension of the existing contract with HMRC to run the National Minimum Wage Helpline project for Northern Ireland. The organisation has also been involved with an innovative three-way partnership combining services in healthcare, local government and voluntary sector advice provision. This has seen East Belfast CAB move premises to the Arches Centre, a new Community Treatment and Care Centre developed by the South East Belfast Health and Social Services Trust.
In 2006, after seven years of planning, fundraising and hard work, Citizens Advice Regional Office took possession of new premises in Donegall Pass, Belfast. The building, which incorporates purpose-built training facilities, is fully accessible and has substantially increased the space available for training, new technology and projects. The new premises provide important financial stability to the Association and will support the important range of social interventions which CAB makes across Northern Ireland.
CAB’s rights-based approach and commitment to social justice across all communities in Northern Ireland have been instrumental in the development of the Association as a central part of the social infrastructure in Northern Ireland, and will continue to drive the future of the organisation.