Citizen’s Advice Jersey

For over 48 years, Citizens Advice Jersey has been the place Islanders turn when life gets complicated. Debt, housing, employment, relationship breakdown, benefits, immigration and much more. The issues vary, but the offer is constant: free, independent, and confidential advice for anyone who needs it, no matter their circumstances.

In 2025 alone, the service supported over 20,500 individual issues and was visited online by nearly 61,000 users, figures that speak to both the scale of need on the island and the depth of trust the charity has earned. With 39 volunteers and paid staff combined, Citizens Advice Jersey handles a volume of contact that places it among the largest touchpoints of any charity in Jersey, comparable in footprint to some government departments.

That trust has been built carefully, and purposefully. Claire Richards, CEO, is clear that Citizens Advice Jersey sees itself not as a transactional service but as a relationship. “Every islander that comes to us,” she says, “comes as an individual. Their problem is significant to them. It’s all-consuming. For our team, we could have - over 70 of those a day.” The emotional weight of that work is something Claire thinks about seriously, staff wellbeing, she says, is a “core focus”, and not just as a pastoral concern. It is, she argues, fundamental to the charity’s ability to keep delivering.

What makes the work so demanding is also what makes it so vital: the issues rarely arrive in isolation. A client seeking help with debt may also be facing eviction, navigating a relationship breakdown, and trying to understand their benefit rights all at once. “One situation of ‘I’m getting divorced’ can have six or seven ripple tsunamis,” says Claire. A caseworker might see someone once. They might support them nearing 100 times, some exceptional cases 200 plus. What remains constant is the approach: triage the immediate need, understand the full picture, then build a plan.

The shift that support brings is rarely dramatic. It is, as Claire puts it, subtle but powerful. “People can go from feeling overwhelmed to feeling in control. We see increased confidence, clearer decision making, empowerment, as well as reduced communication with us because they can advocate for themselves.” One client, facing eviction following a relationship breakdown, left Citizens Advice with their accommodation secured, a sustainable debt plan in place, food and utility support for the immediate and a path back into employment.

It is this philosophy that shapes how Citizens Advice Jersey talks about its grant from Lloyds Bank Foundation. The funding, which came at a moment when the charity was watching client numbers rise without a corresponding increase in financial support, did more than stabilise the books. “It gave us space to breathe,” says Claire. “My priority was able to shift towards the team and the clients, and away from sourcing funding for the immediate future.” Conversations with the board, with partners, and with staff became more open and more constructive. The anxiety of precarity, so familiar to small charities, was able to temporarily lift.

The relationship with the Foundation has deepened over time. The Lived Experience in Leadership programme, run jointly across Jersey and Guernsey, was a particular highlight; a space for genuine exchange rather than the usual mechanics of grant-making. More recently, Citizens Advice Jersey has been working with the Foundation’s team to signpost clients to the Lloyds Bank Academy*, extending the resources available to Islanders beyond what the charity itself can provide. “It just strengthened the relationship,” says Claire. “Lloyds Bank Foundation for the Channel Islands is 100% about people here for people.”

Looking ahead, Citizens Advice Jersey is focused on outreach, reaching the vulnerable and harder-to-access groups who may not know where to turn, or who may not feel able to ask. Saturday pop-ups and parish roadshows have been tried; the charity is now thinking more creatively about what presence in the community can look like in a world where people want help immediately, not just on the first Saturday of the month. The challenge, as ever, is funding and breaking down the stigma that surrounds Citizens Advice. “Every single person in Jersey,” says Claire, “probably knows someone who has reached out to us. But when it comes to investing in us, people shy away. They don’t want to talk about a vulnerable moment where they have needed support.” Changing that perception, she believes, is as important as any service development. Because when funders believe in Citizens Advice Jersey, the lasting effects go far beyond the individual who came to the Charity. Partners, children, friends, Employers, the lasting positive impact goes far.

*Lloyds Bank Academy offers digital and financial skills for individuals and businesses