In September 1939, the first 200 Citizens Advice Bureaux opened for business, staffed entirely by volunteers and with financial support from local councils.
 

A vivid picture of wartime Britain emerges from the records of an East London Citizens Advice Bureau.

•  "Citizen gave his address as the Tube station. His house on the East coast was destroyed and his wife and children were evacuated to Devonshire."
•  "Citizen came to ask about funeral insurance claim arising from death of her daughter killed in an air raid. She has four children, including a baby of ten months. The eldest son is a prisoner of war."
•  "This citizen had a café with 27 tables. The building, its equipment, his home and all the furniture, bedding and clothing were destroyed. Referred to Assistance Board for maintenance and advance compensation."

Many families had their incomes drastically reduced by the call-up and so Citizens Advice Bureaux started to play an important role, giving debt advice. During and after the war, the CAB service worked with agencies like the Red Cross to help locate missing relatives.

Lord Beveridge said in 1948 "The Citizens Advice Bureaux make the world appear to many citizens in distress to contain some element of reason and friendship. The adviser at a Citizens Advice Bureau is only a fellow citizen with time and knowledge and, if he is worthy of his position, with infinite patience."

Once the 1957 Rent Act, which gradually removed rent controls, came into effect, Citizens Advice Bureaux became much more involved in helping people with housing problems.

•   "An 80-year-old man has received notice of increase in rent under new Rent Act. Citizens Advice Bureau checked the form for him and pointed out two errors, including a demand above the limit permissible under the Act. He returned later to say that the agents had apologised and amended the form."

By 1965, many enquiries were in the areas of family and personal although, pensions and National Assistance generated many more.

A list of cases that Tower Hamlets Citizens Advice Bureau dealt with in April 1963 is typical. A refugee’s compensation claim, difficulty with HP payments, help with the care of a mentally disturbed person, a problem with a wife’s pension and a query about a houseboat in Cheshunt.

By the 1970s, the formation of the Office of Fair Trading meant a big rise in reported consumer-related problems and large-scale redundancies and industrial action affected many workers.

Sunderland Citizens Advice Bureau reported 1,791 redundancies in the area in the first seven months of 1978 – a 100% rise on the whole of the previous year. The Citizens Advice Bureau responded by setting up an advice unit to with people setting up businesses on their own.

Unemployment doubled during the 1980’s and the rise in poverty among jobless people meant that enquiries to Citizens Advice Bureaux rose by 50%.

During the 1983/4 miners’ strike, Citizens Advice Bureaux in mining areas worked closely with communities to help those affected sort out a tangle of benefit, debt, eviction and repossession problems, giving advice in miners welfare clubs and at the pithead.

By the mid-1990’s, Citizens Advice Bureaux in rural areas were reporting increased deprivation, isolation and rising levels of debt in the countryside. They responded by developing mobile advice centres and worked to raise awareness of issues, such as homelessness, not normally visible in those areas.

The 21st century

Today, the Citizens Advice Bureaux service delivers high quality advice and information from over 2000 service outlets across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as by telephone, via the internet, by e-mail and through the media. It helps people resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing information and advice, and by influencing policymakers.

Citizens Advice Bureaux rely on nearly 20,000 volunteers – three-quarters of all those involved in the CAB service, putting in huge amounts of energy and effort into their local communities. Some work as advisers, providing free, confidential and impartial advice. Others offer IT skills, clerical back up and language skills relevant to local needs.

The CAB website (www.adviceguide.org.uk) gives people 24-hour per day access to the information they need to deal with their problems effectively.