The trustees of Citizens Advice present their report and audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2008. The financial statements comply with the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) – Accounting and Reporting by Charities as revised in 2005, the Charities Act (1993) and the Companies Act (1985), the accounts section of the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR)* Financial Memorandum and the annual reports and accounts guidance from the central Treasury Accountancy Team and HM Treasury.
*Formerly Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)
Citizens Advice committed to six strategic priorities this year.Below is an executive summary of how we performed against these priorities.
Effectively implement our change programme
Citizens Advice has gone through a major change programme and has reduced costs by £4 million per annum. We have taken the opportunity to work more efficiently and offer improved services to our members and the public.
Changes have progressed well with savings being achieved and the new structure being phased in. Work continues around areas such as analysis of how and where we work, internal office moves, reviews of efficiencies savings and flexible working.
Improve access for clients
Work has been undertaken to ensure that access is improved throughout the service for our clients. We did not achieve our target in delivering a national phone and email service by the end of March 2008, largely due to the complexity of the IT products and associated costs. We have, however, made progress in planning the infrastructure and it remains a critical objective during 2008/09.
Develop a new partnership with Citizens Advice Bureaux
This is an integral part of the new strategic plan and work is progressing on the detail, including the identification of minimum levels of contact with bureaux.
We created a new Membership Services Division as well as Bureaux Direct, a first stop telephone-based consultancy service for members. We also simplified a regional approach to our work into three Areas (England North, England Central, England South) and Wales. It is anticipated that the network will see the benefits of the new structure in the new financial year.
Become a first point of contact for people who may have suffered from discrimination
This is still a major objective for Citizens Advice and much has been achieved. Where funding sources were delayed in some areas, work will be carried forward to 2008/09. Citizens Advice is now established as a key partner with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) both nationally and regionally.
Extend our work on financial capability and financial inclusion
We have continued to evidence the need to invest in additional advice services around financial capability, financial inclusion and other preventative work. This includes the Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) programme and developing our money advice strategy.
Fourteen new regional financial capability forums have also been sponsored by Citizens Advice, enabling over 100 bureaux and 300 other organisations, including credit unions and housing associations, to maximise the local impact of financial education.
The Thoresen Review called for access to free, impartial money guidance for all people, not just those that can afford to pay for it. Citizens Advice developed a generic financial advice pilot project, Moneyplan, which demonstrated demand exists for such a service. Over 50 per cent of those seen by an independent financial adviser took action or resolved their problem following the advice. Citizens Advice is in an excellent position to work with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) on the next Pathfinder phase.
In the area of social policy Citizens Advice has worked with the Government on a number of reviews, including Thoresen.
Be an effective and valued provider of publicly funded legal services and a key partner in the Community Legal Service (CLS)
We are working at a national level to influence policy on the commissioning and funding of advice and related services. We have made representations to the Legal Services Commission (LSC) and Ministry of Justice to ensure our views are recognised and influential.
Citizens Advice is taking a proactive role in supporting bureaux facing the development of a Community Legal Advice Centre (CLAC) or a Community Legal Advice Network (CLAN) and is working with partner agencies to advocate ways in which the legal aid system could be delivered so as to better meet the needs of users.
The following pages go on to illustrate how we performed in delivering our charitable objectives of: - strengthening the bureaux network
- delivering IT services
- developing our people
- influencing policy and developing partnerships
- making information available.
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