Our local impact

We may be a small charity, but we are having a huge impact in South Gloucestershire. Citizens Advice South Gloucestershire runs face-to-face advice in many neighbourhoods across the county, providing a point of local contact for people who need our help. We also provide telephone advice every weekday (except Bank Holidays). Our office also provides specialist advice including for Universal Credit, debt and energy.

In 2025/26, we helped 7,341 people with more than 33,000 issues. We are experiencing people using our service needing us for an increased number of issues as well as increasing complexity.

Many people come to us as a last resort – often needing debt, housing or employment advice particularly during the cost of living crisis. But our services are open to anyone in South Gloucestershire – about practically anything. By being accessible and continuing our services for free, aim to help people find a way forward before their problems become even more difficult to manage.

Read our latest Impact Reports:

More headlines from our latest Impact Report

For every £1 invested in our service in 2025/26, we generated:

£31.73 in wider economic and social benefits (total: £25m)

£31.84 in financial value to the people we help (total: £25m)

£3.11 in savings to government and public services (Total: £2.5m)

This is what the people we help said about our services:

92% of clients felt the service helped them find a way forward

82% of clients said their problem was now resolved

94% of clients said they were likely to recommend the service to a friend

How we deliver advice:

We held around 400 public drop-in sessions

We had more than 9,000 telephone appointments with clients

We spoke with clients via email more than 5,000 times

Client success stories

‘You have given me the light I needed’

Sarah* has mental and physical health issues meaning she struggles being out of the house.

After receiving help from our Adviser Jacky, Sarah was informed she has been awarded Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity (LCWRA) status on her Universal Credit claim – 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.”

*name has been changed to protect identity.

‘My life has changed dramatically’

Lily* came into contact with our Foodbank Project Adviser Kate after needing to use the foodbank because she could not afford food.

The child maintenance service (CMS) was deducting £300 from her wages despite her providing evidence these payments were unaffordable.

Kate was able to intervene and Lily will now no longer have to pay anything towards CMS for some time as her overpayment is being used as credit.

Lily said: “I received so much help because of Kate – my life has changed dramatically. I’m positive I’m going to be debt free by the end of the year – and I have my electricity and gas under control.”

*name has been changed to protect identity.

‘It has restored my faith in human nature’

James* – who has multiple health conditions – used his entire savings to live off when he became ill.

The client was helped by several of our Advisers. The team:

• helped him complete a PIP application
• helped him apply for LCWRA status
• negotiated a reduced water bill of £1 a month
• helped arrange for local charity Warm and Well to pay off his energy debt of £280
• organised a grant from St Monica’s Trust for new boots
• negotiated an affordable payment plan for his energy

The client said: “I’m blown away – I never knew you existed. It has restored my faith in human nature.”

*name has been changed to protect identity.