About Us

Introduction to the Citizens Advice

  • UK’s largest advice charity
  • 6.6 million advice issues dealt with
  • 2.1 million individual clients advised
  • 338 Citizens Advice members in England and Wales
  • 3,300 locations where the service provides free and independent service
  • 22,000 people are volunteers who work for the Citizens Advice service
  • 6,000 people are paid staff
volunteer

About Arun & Chichester Citizens Advice

Arun & Chichester Citizens Advice is an independent charity (Registration number: 1099640) and a member of the National Association of Citizens Advice. We provide information and advice to solve your problems in regards to the following:

  • Debt
  • Housing
  • Legal
  • Healthcare
  • Family
  • Energy
  • Consumer
  • Employment

* and many more

adult woman getting advice

Our Principles

The advice is to everyone regardless of race, age, gender, disability, sexual orientation or religion.

  • Independent – We will always act in the interests of our clients, without influence from any outside bodies.
  • Impartial – We don’t judge our clients or make assumptions about them. Our service is open to everyone, and we treat everyone equally.
  • Confidential – We won’t pass anything on a client tells us – or even the fact they have visited, without permission.
  • Free – no one has to pay for any part of the service we provide.

Our Aims

  • To provide the advice people need for the problems they face
  • To improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives

Complaints and data handling

We want everyone who uses our services to be happy. If you're not, we want to know why. 

You can make a complaint if you’re not happy:

  • with the advice you’ve been given
  • about how you’ve been treated
  • because you’ve had difficulty getting in contact

Please say if you need any extra support when we contact you, for example larger font size.

Please see our complaints leaflet for details of how to log your complaint.

You can find out more about our general complaints procedures here.

If you would like to request a copy of any data we hold about you, you can complete our Subject Access Request form.

woman at home on laptop

Our history

1935:
The Government is considering the need for an information service linked to the fledgling social welfare service.

1938:
The prospect of a world war looms so the National Council of Social Services (the forerunner of today's National Council of Voluntary Organisations) establishes a group to look at how to meet the needs of the civilian population in war time. "Citizens Advice Bureaux should be established throughout the country, particularly in the large cities and industrial areas where social disorganisation may be acute."

3 September 1939:
War is declared.

4 September 1939:
The first 200 bureaux open. From the start, volunteers run the service working from public buildings and private houses. Advisers deal with problems relating to the loss of ration books, homelessness and evacuation. They also help locate missing relatives and prisoners of war. Debt quickly becomes a key issue as income reduces due to call-ups.

1942:
The number of bureaux peaks at 1,074 and one even operates out of a converted horse box that parks near bombed areas.

1950s:
Despite the success of Citizens Advice Bureaux, funding from the Ministry of Health is cut after the war, and by 1953 the number of bureaux has halved. The service continues thanks to the support of charitable trusts such as the Nuffield Foundation, Carnegie Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

1957:
The Rent Act results in a big increase in enquiries.

1960:
Funding from the Government for the national body is restored.

1960s:
A quarter of enquiries relate to housing and the number of bureaux has reduced from 1,074 to 416.

1965:
The national total for enquiries reaches 1.25 million.

1970s:
Consumer protection becomes a priority.

1973:
A development grant from the Government is given to the national charity, the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux (NACAB), to extend the network.

1980s:
Two recessions mean a growth in poverty and enquiries rise in line with this.

1990s:
Changes to the benefit system and work practices generate a large proportion of the enquiries bureaux receive.

1999:
www.adviceguide.org.uk  is launched, allowing people to access advice online 24 hours a day. The service celebrates its Diamond Jubilee and launches Advice Week.

2000s:
Debt, housing and employment continue to be key problems that Citizens Advice Bureaux deal with, particularly in relation to asylum issues.

2002:
The service receives a £20 million grant from the Government's Capital Modernisation Fund to provide IT infrastructure to roll out e-government services to Citizens Advice service clients.

2003:
Our Adviceguide self-help content is made available in Welsh, Bengali, Chinese, Gujarati, Punjabi and Urdu and visits continue to increase, extending access to our advice to those who cannot use our local service.

The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux changes its name to Citizens Advice and, in Wales, to Citizens Advice Cymru (Cyngor ar Bopeth Cymru).

Citizens Advice Bureaux become the first in the advice sector to audit the quality of their advice.

An independently commissioned review of the service by the Office for Public Management concludes that "the Citizens Advice service provides excellent value in return for the public funding it receives. It makes a significant contribution to individuals and communities, as well as to the process of policy-making and service delivery. Its holistic approach, national coverage and independence are to be cherished.”

2004:
After a ten year campaign using evidence from Citizens Advice service clients, the Government added an amendment to the Housing Bill to include a tenancy deposit protection scheme.

4 September 2009:
Citizens Advice service celebrates its 70th birthday.

2011/12:
Citizens Advice Bureaux deliver advice services from over 3,400 community locations in England and Wales, run by 360 registered charities, helping people to resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing free advice and information, and by influencing policymakers. The network relies on 22,200 trained volunteers to keep the service running, and provides advice from in person in bureaux as well as by phone, in people's homes and via the internet. Visits to our Adviceguide self-help website, have risen to over 11 million.

2012/13:
More than two million people came to our service for face-to-face or phone advice. More than 12 million people used our digital services. We launched our first equality strategy – Stand up for equality that will ensure we place equality at the centre of everything we do.

April 2014:
Consumer Futures (formerly Consumer Focus), which is responsible for representing consumers of regulated industries (energy and post), transferred to Citizens Advice. 4 September 2014: Citizens Advice service celebrates its 75th birthday.

April 2015:
Citizens Advice took on 2 new services. The Citizens Advice network provides the face-to-face service for Pension Wise. The Citizens Advice Witness Service provides free, independent support for witnesses in criminal courts in England and Wales.

2017:
Arun and Chichester Citizens Advice win 'one service' award at the National Conference as part of 10 CA's who trail blazed the launch of new case management service 'Casebook'.

2018:
Government rolls out Universal Credit in West Sussex, along with the news that Citizens Advice will receive £39 million pounds to support clients across the nation to access Universal Credit.

4th September 2019:
Citizens Advice service celebrates it's 80th birthday.

Citizens Advice Arun & Chichester is an operating name of Arun & Chichester Citizens Advice Bureau

Arun and Chichester Citizens Advice
Bureau Company Limited by Guarantee

Registered in Cardiff Company No. 4787378
Registered Charity No. 1099640
Authorised and regulated by the
Financial Conduct Authority FRN 617491
10a The Arcade, Bognor Regis, West Sussex, PO21 1LH

© 2014-2023 Arun and Chichester Citizens Advice Bureau
All rights reserved

We hold the Advice Quality Standard; the only sector-owned, independently audited standard that focuses on advice.

We are a Disability Confident Employer and have committed to ensure our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible.

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