Our Local Impact

Our Stories
2023 - Picture of team during Volunteers Week

We may be a small charity, but we are having a huge impact in South Gloucestershire. Citizens Advice South Gloucestershire continues to run face-to-face advice in six neighbourhoods across the county, providing a point of “real person” contact six times in any given week. We also provide telephone advice every weekday (except Bank Holidays) – all run by our incredible volunteers. Our office also provides specialist advice including for Universal Credit, debt and energy.

In 2022/23, we helped 5,900 people with almost 16,526 issues. We are experiencing people using our service needing us for an increased number of issues as well as increasing complexity.

Although our services meet a lot of people who come to as a last resort often needing debt, housing or employment advice particularly during the cost of living crisis, our services are open to ANYONE in South Gloucestershire – about anything. By being accessible and continuing our services for FREE, we hope to prevent people from needing us in desperate need.

Click on the image below to find out our 2022/23 stats showing a breakdown of exactly who we have helped in South Gloucestershire:

Key statistics for Citizens Advice South Gloucestershire, 2022-23

Citizens Advice South Gloucestershire Impact Report 2022/23

Click here to view our 2022/23 Impact Report

More headlines from our latest Impact Report include:

  • For every £1 invested in our service in 2022/23, we generated:
    • £28.05 in wider economic and social benefits (total: £15.4m)
    • £12.83 in financial value to the people we help (total: £7.6m)
    • £2.53 in savings to government and public services (Total: £1.4m)
  • In terms of our impact:
    • 60% of clients felt less stressed, depressed or anxious after using our service
    • 40% had more money or better control of their finances nationally
    • 40% of those with a health condition said we helped improve their health
    • 84% of South Gloucestershire clients rated our service in the highest category
  • In terms of how we deliver advice:
    • We held 248 public drop-in sessions and saw clients in-person 2,402 times
    • We had 5,708 telephone appointments with clients
    • We spoke with clients via email 1,831 times

“You have given me the light I needed to see at this awful time in my life.”

Silhouette of woman with backpackSarah* came to us in October 2023. She has mental and physical health issues meaning she struggles being out of the house.

She needed help filling in a Work Capability Assessment (WCA) form in relation to her Universal Credit claim.

She said she had asked a number of professionals including her counsellor for help with this but had been “passed around” and not received the help she needed.

After contacting the Citizens Advice Adviceline, she was put in touch with Citizens Advice South Gloucestershire.

Our Adviser Jacky was able to complete the WCA form with her over the phone.

Sarah was recently informed she has been awarded Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity (LCWRA) status – the best possible outcome for her, meaning she will get an extra amount of money each month.

She has said this will allow her to pay for private healthcare as she is struggling to get the help she needs on the NHS.

In a heartfelt email of thanks to Jacky, Sarah wrote: “I cannot thank you enough for the help you have given me.

“I’m so grateful for your assistance and am getting emotional writing this.

“You have given me the light I needed to see at this awful time in my life.”

*not her real name.