On Wednesday 4th September, we gathered together to celebrate 85 years of the Citizens Advice service. Thank you to all the local stakeholders who joined us to help us celebrate our birthday.
The 4th September 2024 marked exactly 85 years since Citizens Advice first opened its doors, the day after the second World War began. The first advisers provided emergency support with issues including evacuation and rationing, and helped people to track down missing relatives and prisoners of war. Citizens Advice Plymouth have been around since the early days – in 1945 we were based on Marlborough Road in North Hill.
Having moved several times over the years, we are now based in Cobourg House on Mayflower Street and have over 200 staff and volunteers. Part of the national Citizens Advice network, we are an independent charity working for the whole of society – whoever you are, whatever your problem. We provide support across a wide range of areas, including housing, energy and employment, and money issues like benefits, debt and pensions.
Over the years, we’ve also brought on specialist teams, developing our services in response to the needs of residents. We now offer local and national projects that support thousands of people across the country every year. On a national level, our energy teams continue to provide the advice people need to navigate these unprecedented times, including help with increased living costs and energy debts.
Locally, our Legal Advice Centre provides free legal advice on family and employment law for eligible clients. We also have two projects offering tailored support to people affected by a cancer diagnosis – our Macmillan Project and our Kay Kendall Leukaemia Fund project. Our Help to Claim team is on hand to help residents making a new Universal Credit (UC) claim or navigating the move to UC from their old benefits. We also take our advice out into the city, with advisers based in communities across Plymouth. To find out more about what we can help with and how to get in touch, browse the ‘Our Services’ section of our website.
While you’re there, don’t forget to check out our campaign pages. Because we don’t just give advice, we also campaign on the issues that affect every single one of us, to build a fairer society for everyone. Over the years, we have used our unique insights into the challenges people face to campaign on a local and national level, working to improve the Universal Credit system, Council Tax collection processes and more.
In Plymouth, based on the issues we’re currently seeing, we are collaborating with the University of Plymouth to research the impact of the two-child limit policy on local families, raising awareness of the move to Universal Credit, and looking into issues with the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) process.
So far this year, more than 5,000 Plymouth residents have been empowered to find a way forward by Citizens Advice. Our CEO, Emma Handley, said: “A massive thank you to all our volunteers, trustees, funders and partners – without you we would not be able to do the work we do. We know these are challenging times for people, with many households still struggling to make ends meet. We want to remind people in Plymouth that you don’t have to manage alone – we are here to support you.”