Everyone has a skill…

What is yours?

Interested in

volunteering with

Citizens Advice?

Get involved –

volunteer with Citizens Advice

Make a difference in your community.

Improve your job prospects.

Meet new friends.

Develop your skills.

For more information and/or to request an application pack,

contact Debbie on 01243 866233, or visit your local

Citizens Advice centre.

www.arunchichestercab.org.uk

facebook.com/ArunchiCA

@ArunchiCA

Arun and Chichester Citizens Advice

Arun and Chichester Citizens Advice

Published March 2016

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

Bureau. Arun & Chichester Citizens Advice Bureau is a Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered

Charity No. 1099640 Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority FRN 617491

Registered Address: 14/16 Anchor Springs, Littlehampton, West Sussex, BN17 6BP

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Contents

Our core service 2

Volunteers 3

What our volunteers do? 4

Receptionists 4

Administrators 4

Gateway Assessors 4

Advisers 5

Trustees 5

Healthwatch Champion 6

Research & Campaigns 6

Testimonials 7

Volunteer stories 8

We help people overcome their problems and

campaign on big issues when their voices need to be heard.

We value diversity, champion equality, and

challenge discrimination and harassment.

We’re here for everyone.

CITIZENS ADVICE

ARUN & CHICHESTER

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Did you know?

We offer free advice from

three advice centres (Bognor

Regis, Chichester and

Littlehampton) and seven

outreach services across

West Sussex (Midhurst,

Selsey, West Wittering,

Yapton, Arundel, Ford Prison

and Rustington).

Our core service

Last year, Citizens Advice Arun

& Chichester helped 13,631

clients on a wide range of

matters:*

We deal with enquiries

through various channels:

face to face

by phone

by email

by online - “Adviceguide”

The top five issues were*:

1 Benefits

3,465

2 Housing

1,940

3 Debt

1,636

4 Relationships

1,467

5 Employment

1,457

3,465

Housing

Volunteering at the Citizens

Advice was a life changing

experience for me. I was a

single Mum who had not been

in the working environment

for sometime, I had no career

path, my confidence in my

abilities was very low and

there was nothing of any use

from the last eight years of my

life to put on my CV. After

approaching the advice centre

as a client and seeing an

advertisement for helpers, I

ended up applying to be a

volunteer receptionist at the

Citizens Advice. At my

interview I was encouraged to

apply for the role of adviser

and I have not looked back

since. I gained my Citizens

Advice certificate in generalist

advice and this passported me

onto a law course at college. I

worked my way up at the

centre and am now employed

by them full-time. I have since

completed a law qualification.

I love my work and now feel

valuable and able to

contribute something really

worthwhile to society.

The atmosphere at the centre

is unique as everyone is there

because they love the work

and want to help clients. It is

wonderful to be part of such

an amazing and diverse team

of people.

Volunteer

9 *Annual figures taken from Annual Report 2014-2015 2

Volunteers

Citizens Advice Arun &

Chichester is fortunate to

have the support of around

150 volunteers, without

whose expertise, energy and

commitment the advice

centre could not operate.

They help our clients to

understand their rights and

responsibilities and empower

them to take control of their

own situations by giving

them the advice and

information they need in

order to make informed

choices and decisions.

Many of our volunteers go

into paid employment as a

consequence of the training

and support they receive as a

volunteer, and some of that

employment stays within

Citizens Advice Arun &

Chichester. Out of the 33

paid staff, 14 of those started

as a volunteer for Citizens

Advice Arun & Chichester*.

*Annual figures taken from

Annual Report 2014-2015

80%

of our

workforce

are

volunteers*

47,476 the hours of

volunteering*

9 in 10 gain a ‘practical skill’

through volunteering

3 8

755,694

the estimated

value of the

hours

donated by

our

volunteers

33 of our

volunteers

left for paid

employment*

Volunteer stories

I began volunteering at

Citizens Advice 18 months ago

after a long absence from

employment due to illness.

Not only had I not worked for

a long time but I spent a long

time in isolation in my home.

This had left me nervous

about interacting with people

in general, socially inhibited

and really quite lonely. I

wanted to return to work but I

had no confidence. One of my

friends was already a

volunteer receptionist at

Citizens Advice, who was

moving on to gateway

assessor training who

suggested that I might want to

apply. After some thought, I

managed to complete the

application and I was

surprised when I was ask to

attend an interview, and even

more surprised when I was

accepted for the position. I

admit I was quite worried and

concerned once I had agreed

to attend induction, but

everyone was so friendly and

helpful that I was put at ease.

I started as a receptionists

and I found I enjoyed helping

others. I decided that I would

like to be able to help people

more, so with some

trepidation asked to be put

forward for assessor training;

this lasted about four months

and was quite intense. Once

certificated as an assessor this

was followed, quite quickly, by

an adviser course for six

months, so I was busy, but I

did this as I found that I

enjoyed learning. This

experience gave me the

confidence to apply for an

access course to Higher

Education which I completed

and so I am starting a BA at

university. I now work part

time for a local charity, and I

volunteer one day a week at

Citizens Advice as a trainee

adviser. My life now has a

purpose and direction, I now

find it easy to interact with

people from all walks of life

and I feel personally fulfilled.

Volunteer

What our volunteers do?

Gateway Assessors

(training approximately 7

weeks)

They assess people’s needs,

either face-to-face or over the

phone, and identify the most

appropriate course of action

(i.e. self-help information,

referral to a specialist

organisation or an

appointment with a Citizens

Advice adviser. A gateway

assessor would:

greet clients and explain

the gateway assessment

process

explore the client’s

problem(s) and situation

identify the next step that

needs to be taken

summarise the content of

the interview for the client

and explain what happens

next

update the database,

completing the gateway

assessment screens.

Here we describe what some

of those roles involve. Please

note, not all volunteer roles

will be available in every

advice centre.

Receptionists

Receptionists are the first port

of call to an effective and high-

quality advice service. We

train our receptionists in

customer service and

administration tasks.

Administrators

Administrators provide

valuable help throughout the

advice centre by:

word processing

file management

arranging events

using databases and

spreadsheets

answering emails and

phone calls

updating local information

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I volunteer with Citizens Advice

as I enjoy meeting people, it

taps into my previous

experience as a dual registered

nurse helping others, it provides

me with an essential structural

element to my week, and mixing

with colleagues and clients

helps me psychologically as I

live alone.

Testimonials

I see so much of what

is unfair, unjust and

unlucky and

influencing change

makes me feel

powerful rather than

powerless.

Gateway Assessor

Research & Campaigns

Co-ordinator

I get satisfaction from

signposting clients to

sources of information

to help with their

problem or query on

the internet, which

they were not aware of.

Research and Campaigns

By using evidence routinely

collected from the clients, you

could help bring about

changes in local and national

policies and services which

can benefit everyone - even

those who have never used a

Citizens Advice centre. A

campaigner would:

complete and collate

evidence forms recording

clients problems

identify and raise relevant

issues in the centre

train staff and volunteers

in identifying issues and

completing evidence forms

conduct research and write

reports

liaise with other bureaux

and agencies

Healthwatch Champion

We are part of Healthwatch

West Sussex. We encourage

clients to share their

experiences of health and

social care to help us improve

these services.

A Healthwatch Champion

would:

be part of a team raising

awareness within the

centres of Healthwatch

issues

ring back clients who have

a story to tell

collate information

ensure records are up to

date

attend Healthwatch

meetings

Advisers

(training 6 months following

Gateway Assessors)

Advisers are given free

training, both formal and on-

the-job. An adviser would:

interview clients

help them negotiate with

people such as creditors or

service providers

draft letters

make phone calls on their

behalf

refer them to other

agencies

Note for Law Students: If you

train as a Citizens Advice

adviser, you may get up to six

months off your solicitor

training contracts!

Trustees

Every Citizens Advice is a

registered charity, and has its

own board of trustees. Some

trustee roles require specific

skills but centres welcome

people of all ages,

backgrounds and experience

to their trustee boards.

Trustees work closely with the

CEO on the business

development of the

organisation.

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