About us
Cambridge & District Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) is an independent charitable organisation that helps people resolve their problems by providing information and advice. It is part of the national Citizens Advice organisation which aims to:
- Provide the advice people need for the problems they face.
- Influence policymakers to improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives
Cambridge CAB relies on a mixture of paid staff and trained volunteers to provide these vital services for our local community. Our service is open to anyone without favour: it is free, independent, confidential and impartial.
Take a look at our Annual Review
Gateway
The new ‘gateway’ approach helps clients to be quickly assessed and their issues progressed to the most appropriate next stage. That might be self-help information or an appointment with a specialist adviser. Gateway interviews can be carried out face-to-face or by telephone.
Advicehub
We are a founding
member of
Advicehub, a Big Lottery funded
initiative which is improving people’s access to advice all over
Cambridgeshire. Working in partnership with the CABs in the county (Ely,
Fenland and Huntingdonshire) and other advice agencies, Advicehub is
using innovative technology to create a network of touchscreen kiosks in
community locations, to enable people to find solutions to common
issues. Specialist advice will soon be delivered using these kiosks with
Skype phone and webcams.
Advicehub is setting up a Partnership with other advice agencies to determine common goals in order to create an infrastructure which enables a more streamlined service to clients.
Advicehub was launched in September 2009 with a Report entitled
‘The
Impact of Recession in Cambridgeshire’. If you cannot read this file, you may have to download the free
Adobe Acrobat Reader
For more information about Advicehub, contact Kulbir Singh,
Partnership Development Manager on 01223 222765.
Outreach
We run outreach services at these locations:
Addenbrooke’s Hospital -
Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays 10.00-16.00
John Huntingdon’s Charity, 2 Tannery Road, Sawston CB22 4UW
-
Wednesdays and Fridays 9.30–12.30
Girton GP Surgery, 1a Pepys Way, Girton, CB3 OPA
-
Mondays 13.00-16.00
The difference we make
In the last year alone we helped 35,000 people in the Cambridge area to solve 100,000 problems. With a Citizens Advice Bureau in the community, everyone has somewhere to turn should the unexpected, the awful or the inexplicable happen. We do this by directing our efforts towards securing the benefits which have a positive impact on frontline services – lower debts, higher incomes, better health, closer communities, greater equality, more immediate justice. By helping people to deal with their own problems every level it represents cost savings to other service providers.
What do we advise on?
Cambridge CAB staff, both paid and voluntary, are highly trained and
have access to a large national database of information about legal
rights and responsibilities, enabling them to tackle any problem.
We are funded by the Legal Services Commission to employ specialist advisers on:
- Money and debt advice – in 2009-2010 we advised over 10773 people
on how to manage their finances during a difficult economic
environment. One of our advisers attends Cambridge County Court each
week to represent people who are in mortgage or rent arrears,
usually after having lost their jobs. This CAB advice meant that
over 500 local families last year were able to take advantage of
government rescue schemes to give them time to get back on their
feet and avoid being made homeless.
- Mental health issues – our generalist advisers record cases of
up to 10 clients a day who have some kind of mental health issue and
are often unable to tackle problems themselves, or they may have
difficulties in communicating. Our trained mental health specialists
are able to provide the right kind of advice to help these clients
solve their problems without causing further complications.
Read more about how the Citizens Advice service benefits the
community here:
http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/publications/citizens_advice_impact_report.htm