Citizens Advice Colchester is a charity offering information and advice to the residents of Colchester. We were known until 2016 as the Colchester CAB or Colchester Citizens Advice Bureau.
We were established in 1939 to provide advice and educate the public about their legal rights. We have been committed to this for 78 years and will continue for many more. We have a dedicated team of volunteers who run the service, supported by paid staff.
Citizens Advice nationally was awarded the Charity of the Year in 2015 by the Charity Times Awards. We are very proud to have contributed to this award and believe it shows the value of the work we do. To read more on this, click here.
We follow the aim of Citizens Advice to provide free, confidential, impartial and independent advice or information for the benefit of Colchester residents. To read more, our Aims and Principles page explains in greater detail.
We also provide research and campaigns for Colchester. This is our way of fighting injustice and contributing to making Colchester a fairer place to live. To see the work we have done, or are currently investigating, take a look at our Research and campaigns Page.
CAC provides free, confidential, impartial advice to the citizens of Colchester to help them with the problems they face. Last year, we provided advice to 12,000 clients on16,350 separate issues. 42% related to debt, followed by benefits and tax credits (18%) and employment (10%). Our specialist volunteer advisers helped clients to write off £600,000 of debts, claim additional benefits and other income of £64,000 and reschedule debt repayments of £41,000.
We provide face-to-face advice 5 days per week from our Colchester Office as well as sites based in Colchester and Wivenhoe Libraries. We also provide on-line advice via email and web-chat. We are able to resolve 43% of issues within the first interview, but provide follow-up appointments and casework for more complex cases. All our advisers undergo detailed training and are continually assessed on the quality of advice they provide. CAC is NAQAA and FCA registered and a part of the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux.
