70 Years Old

Citizens Advice is 70 years old. Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939 and the very next day the first Citizens Advice Bureau opened its doors.

The initial network of 200 offices was planned before the war as an emergency service based on the theory that in times of conflict people would need clear, calm advice about all sorts of practical problems. During the blitz, the first CAB advisers were kept busy dealing with the damage caused by air raids as well as helping to evacuate children into the country and tracing missing relatives. In late 1939, almost 28,000 people a month were going to CABs which grew to 280,000 a month by 1944.

In Northern Ireland the history of CAB 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 Social Welfare (BCSW) to set up information centres in the city. The BCSW asked a 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 legeslation to pension provision, rent arrears, debt and accident victims enquiring about compensation.To read a fuller history of Citizens Advice in Northern Ireland click here… The war ended, but the need for free, confidential and independent help kept growing - particularly in the immediate post war years when the welfare state began a period of rapid expansion. People wanted to know how to use the NHS and how to apply for things like Legal Aid and Housing Benefit.

Over the last 70 years the need for advice and information has remained, in many ways it has become greater, although the nature of enquiries received by bureaux has continued to change and evolve. Client’s expectations have also grown – we are not just a “wee advice centre” any more staffed by volunteers with limited opening hours but a fully accessible service that seeks to answer anything that is presented to us.

To extend the reach of our services, and meet a demand that is becoming increasingly complex, Citizens Advice in Northern Ireland has had to develop new ways of working including:

• Partnerships with other charities to access benefits that people are currently missing out on and specialising in areas where greater needs have been identified, such as Macmillan Cancer Support – the second thing that cancer sufferers are most worried about after their illness is finance.  This project has already helped to get £4.1million back in benefits for people with cancer in Northern Ireland.
• Contract work with other Government Departments such as the Social Security Agency on successive Benefit Uptake projects which target groups of people who may not be receiving all the benefits they are entitled to. People who have already benefited from these projects are on average £50 per week better off.  The impact of this on the local economy cannot be underestimated. Money will be spent in local businesses and will accordingly impact on poverty in Northern Ireland.  Citizens Advice also run the Dealing with Debt project with DETI which funds 12 dedicated money advisers across Northern Ireland – in the last 3 years this service has dealt with over £50million of debt and over 6,500 people with associated debt problems.
• Projects with young people to tackle problems of financial literacy at an early stage.  Partnerships with some of the local banks in Northern Ireland and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) also ensure that young people are properly educated in money matters.

We are seen as an experienced and trusted third party that can deliver this type of work.

Technology is now also playing a significant and growing role in the provision of advice and information and Citizens Advice continues to look at how ICT can best extend access to existing services and create new channels through which clients can obtain help. At present we are able to deliver services by:

• Face to face interviews at bureaux across Northern Ireland
• Telephone advice
• Email advice
• Requests submitted online through our public website www.citizensadvice.co.uk
• Downloadable fact sheets and other self help materials from the above website
• A dedicated self service web based information service that can be accessed at www.adviceguide.org.uk

In addition, we are looking at how we can employ the text messaging capabilities of mobile phones and the real time “Chat Room” environment that many younger people are very familiar and comfortable with.

The prevailing economic climate means that the CAB service here is as relevant today as it was in 1941 and we are currently busier than ever.  Frontline advisers are bearing the brunt of these pressures but they are responding to this in a very professional manner in order to ensure that people get the advice they need. As a result 2009 has seen bureaux inundated with requests for advice on benefits issues, money advice and redundancy. Last year (2008/2009) the overall number of issues dealt with by advisers grew to over 324,000, an increase of over 16% on the previous year - including a 20% increase in those relating to social security benefits.

Figures show that unemployment has almost doubled over the last year with the number of people out of work having risen steeply by 23,600 over the year to June 2009. This has been reflected in a large increase in redundancies and in the 12 months to June 2009 there were a total of 4,573 confirmed redundancies, an increase of 185% on the previous year. As a consequence, local offices have reported a significant increase in the number of recorded redundancy issues with the period April to June 2009 seeing an increase of 74.5% (a total of 871) compared with the same period last year.

In the year 2008/2009 the Dealing with Debt Service operated by Citizens Advice dealt with over £24 million of debt and handled over 6,800 debts on behalf of CAB clients.  This is an increase of 76% in the amount of debt and 60% in the number of debts handled with respect to the previous financial year.  There was also a 20% increase in the number of clients seen compared with the previous year. In addition, more affluent clients are now seeking advice and enquiries about business debt are growing

Many of the cases we are seeing are of increased complexity and we hope that the Executive will recognise this fact as well as the crucial role that the advice sector is playing at the moment and support us accordingly. An extra £10 million has been provided to Citizens Advice in England and Wales to help it deal with an increased workload caused by the current economic situation, but to date no additional funding has been made available for Citizens Advice in Northern Ireland despite similar pressures of demand.

Citizens Advice is equipped to deal with and inform across a comprehensive range of areas (see below) and the advice is free, impartial, independent and confidential. Local offices make an economic contribution to their communities, helping residents maximise their income, training people who go on into employment and reducing the strain on other services.

Areas of advice: