THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CITIZENS ADVICE BUREAUX

Registered charity 279057 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q5122657 · Wikipedia · also known as CITIZENS ADVICE, CITIZENS ADVICE CYMRU, CITIZENS ADVICE CYNGOR AR BOPETH, NACAB

Citizens Advice provides free, independent, confidential and impartial advice to everyone on their rights and responsibilities. We value diversity, promote equality and challenge discrimination.

Objects

1. THE CHARITY'S OBJECTS ARE TO PROMOTE ANY CHARITABLE PURPOSE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION, THE PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION OF HEALTH AND THE RELIEF OF POVERTY, SICKNESS AND DISTRESS.2. IN CARRYING OUT ITS OBJECTS AND IN ALL ASPECTS OF ITS WORK, THE CHARITY IS COMMITTED TO PROMOTING EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY, TO PREVENTING PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION, TO ENSURING EQUAL ACCESS TO AND TO PROMOTING GOOD RELATIONS BETWEEN ALL SECTIONS OF THE COMMUNITY

Area of benefit: UNITED KINGDOM

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Islington, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that total income remained flat at £167.8 million, while total expenditure before pension movements increased slightly to £168.1 million. The charity reports free reserves of £20.6 million, which the trustees consider appropriate against a policy target of three to six months' core operating costs. The going concern assessment confirms adequate resources and cash flow to continue operations for at least 12 months.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by BDO LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

In its annual return the charity told the Commission it is also regulated by: Financial Conduct Authority. This is the charity’s own declaration; it is not a rating and has not been verified by the Commission or by this site.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Investment
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 01436945
• Trading subsidiary: CITIZENS ADVICE LIMITED Companies House 01652053

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Citizens Advice (matched by registered charity number).

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

• WARE, Peter Timothy — director, appointed 10/04/2026on trustee list
• HAQ, Mubin Ul — director, appointed 01/04/2026on trustee list
• CAMPBELL, Sue — director, appointed 24/09/2025on trustee list
• CAMPBELL, Paige — director, appointed 06/05/2025on trustee list
• HARRIS-UGBOMAH, Deborah — director, appointed 11/10/2024on trustee list
• BRENCHER, Lewis James — director, appointed 08/07/2024on trustee list
• HONT, Frank — director, appointed 22/05/2024on trustee list
• SWINDELLS, Matthew James — director, appointed 01/03/2024on trustee list
• HEATON, Roxane — director, appointed 31/10/2023on trustee list
• WILSON, Sarah Anne — director, appointed 01/11/2022on trustee list
• ALLEN, Mark Barry Lindon — director, appointed 01/11/2022on trustee list
• WATTS, Bevis Matthew, Dr — director, appointed 01/11/2022on trustee list
• SPEIGHT, Richard — secretary, appointed 04/12/2025

Official officers record.

Public-sector contracts awarded

From the official Contracts Finder and Find a Tender notices (supplier matched by exact registered name). Contract income is distinct from grants.

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Trustpilot: Citizensadvice scores 1.7/5 from 666 reviews (source) — reviews usually concern the charity’s shops or services, not its charitable performance.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~0.0 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 2.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (97% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 2.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.2%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (01/08/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Matthew Swindellschair
• Deborah Harris-Ugbomah
• Dr Bevis Watts
• Frank Hont
• Lewis Brencher
• Mark Allen
• Mubin Haq
• Paige Campbell
• Peter Ware
• Roxane Heaton
• Sarah Anne Wilson · trustee of 1 other charity
• Sue Campbell

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Grants marked “Unverified read” were flagged by automated checks as possibly misread from the funder’s filed accounts. They are listed, but left out of the totals, counts and funder relationships this site computes.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with CITIZENS ADVICE DONCASTER BOROUGH.

• CITIZENS ADVICE DONCASTER BOROUGH income £1.9m
• BRENT CITIZENS ADVICE BUREAUX income £875k
• RUSHMOOR CITIZENS ADVICE BUREAUX income £1.8m
• NORTH WARWICKSHIRE CITIZENS ADVICE BUREAU income £541k
• PLYMOUTH CITIZENS ADVICE BUREAUX income £6.9m
• NORTH LANCASHIRE CITIZENS ADVICE BUREAU income £1.3m

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.