Nicky Willshere, CEO, shares her highlights in this Q & A
Our year in numbers
How does 2024-25 look now that it is over?
In our 50th anniversary year Citizens Advice Ipswich made a huge difference to the people of Ipswich. I am pleased to say we achieved record income gains for our clients across all the teams. Obviously, this is great news for our clients, but it is also worth remembering that this money then also benefits the local economy.
Over 9,100 clients were supported by us in 2024-25 of which over 3,500 are disabled or living with a long-term health condition. 2,700 clients came to us needing charitable support and grants and in total we recorded £2.57 million income gain for our clients.
Our core team is the beating heart of our service and the additional volunteers who have joined us are helping us to get fighting fit for the help people across the Ipswich area need a this time of shrinking personal budgets and rising prices. This team secured income gains of over £216,000 for 1,875 clients before referring those who needed more support to the specialised advice teams.
Our Welfare Benefits team achieved over £1million income gain through benefits appeals. This staggering figure has risen so high, due in large part to long waiting times for cases to be reviewed by the DWP which has left people in hardship for many months.
In a year when energy debt was the highest single issue clients needed help with, our Debt Advice team supported clients to write-off of over £500,000 debt for clients struggling to keep their heads above water and our Energy Advice Caseworkers helped clients apply for grants and make savings of over £440,000 on energy costs.
The social prescribing teams – Connect for Health, REACT and Long Covid – continue to make a real difference for clients who are referred by our health colleagues gaining income of £750,000 for the 1,750 clients ranging in age from 15 – 104, helping with benefits claims, employment issues brought on by their conditions as well as referrals into community agencies for support with social isolation and mental health.
But it isn’t just about money, what other issues did clients bring?
Our teams supported clients with housing, employment, relationship, consumer immigration and utilities queries throughout the year. This table shows the full range. And of course, people also used our website to get information on the problems they are facing.
How is the organisation coping with the increased need?
The rise in complex housing (1200 clients) and employment (600 clients) issues borne out of worries over no fault evictions, housing shortages in all sectors, poor states of repair in the rental sector, precarious employment worries and contract and pay concerns has led us to take the bold move to create a Housing and Employment Specialist Adviser role to offer a more in-depth service.
Our refreshed training team are training up new volunteer recruits regularly through the year as well as refreshing the training for all members of the advice teams.
National Citizens Advice undertake regular organisational audits of all the local offices and I am very pleased that we were awarded GREEN across the board, which is the best result this health test can deliver. My thanks go to the whole team for their dedication to getting it right for so many people. We of course continue to shape and develop our service to make sure it is fighting fit for the challenges we know will be coming at us this year and into the future.
And what about the coming year and beyond. What are your priorities?
The Trustee Board and I have clear priorities for the coming year:
Funding: I am delighted that all our funded projects continue this year, and we have taken on additional outreach alongside the Top-Up Shops across the town. Our corporate funders understand the value that our advice can bring to their customers and we are reviewing our advice delivery and recording processes to ensure we continue to meet the highest possible standards and that this is reflected in customer satisfaction ratings for us and our funders.
Building for the future: we will work hard to maintain our standards through the upcoming local government review which will bring knock-on effects for us and other community groups demanding joined up working and new ways of working with the continued budget issues for our service as well of course of our clients.
Keeping underlying causes of poverty and hardship in our sight lines: We are increasingly asked for emergency help, but the underlying issues that lead to this must also stay at the heart of our advice and continue to be addressed through advice and local campaigns on issues such as digital exclusion, housing rights and consumer worries to make change, help people realise they are not alone, and there is support available.
What are your highlights from this last year’s performance?
Alongside the fabulous results achieved by everyone, I am always blown away by the way the teams continue to go the extra mile for clients by challenging processes and arguing the case, repeatedly helping clients in chronic need, spotting the underlying issues and daring to delve into these for lasting solutions, through our research and campaigning, working across teams and asking the right questions. Our fiftieth year was one of the best yet, and as I said at our Anniversary Party, I am so proud of all of us. And in recognition of our work, Mags and I got to go to Buckingham Palace for tea!
