Last years performance

Our Impact in 2024 – 25
9K+ People helped

Last year we helped over 9,100 people across the Ipswich area find a way forward with the problems they faced.

31K+ problems dealt with

Our advisers helped resolve over 31,000 issues for their clients

£2.3 Million+ increased income

Our advice led to over £2,537,000 increased income for households across Ipswich

£530K+ Reduced debt

Our advice and action led to debt burdens for our clients being reduced by over £530,000

To find out how we achieved this, read our annual performance review which shows the impact of our advice across our projects over the last 12 months.

https://www.citizensadviceipswich.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Performance-Review-2025-2.pdf

Community Impact

Citizens Advice Ipswich has the knowledge, skills and experience to make an impact where clients experience greatest need: most significantly in terms of preventing homelessness, maximising benefits and managing debts, including priority debts such as council tax and rent arrears outcomes. This generates tangible savings for statutory services in terms of lower costs incurred in a range of areas including temporary accommodation, debt enforcement, social care support and primary health care. The charity strives to empower people to help them solve the problems they face and to help them own the solutions to them. Citizens Advice Impact tools help us to evaluate the difference we make to local communities. These include a New Economy and HM Treasury approved methodology and draws together evidence of the impact of all our activities. The benefits to the community can be expressed in money terms as: Fiscal savings, Public value, Benefits to individuals and Improved emotional wellbeing. We recognise and are proud of the impact that volunteering has on the local community members who generously donate their time and skills to support delivery of our services.

Social Prescribing

We have worked alongside our Health Colleagues on a number of social prescribing projects to reduce hospital admissions, and supporting primary care colleagues to reduce time spent on non-clinical issues by supporting people with underlying issues such as isolation, debt, poverty, housing, employment and other issues.

Combating Fuel Poverty

During 2024 to 2025 we worked to address fuel poverty through several different ways, all generalist advisers are being upskilled to be able to deliver basic energy saving advice. We have dedicated energy advisers who support clients to reduce bills, improve understanding of energy usage and apply for grants and benefits. We have been active in administering the Fuel Voucher Scheme which extends across Suffolk. Our energy specialist works in partnership with Cadent Energy undertaking casework with vulnerable clients needing support to reduce their outgoings and energy costs alongside increasing their income to be able to better heat their homes. The demands for income maximisation are high and with the assistance of Health Inequalities funding we were able to increase the capacity of this team.

Digital Exclusion

Our research shows that digital exclusion is a challenge for all age groups and across households.

Since the start of the pandemic we have recognised that digital inclusion, already an issue in Ipswich would be a greater challenge for clients needing to access services that had to a greater or lesser extent moved to remote delivery. Continued funding from Suffolk County Council under the hardship fund enabled us to support clients accessing Local Welfare Assistance (LWAS) providing much needed financial support for many households. The increase in demands for face-to-face services has promoted a greater focus on gathering data to understand the extent to which our services are being sought due to digital exclusion.

Cost of Living

We have continued to support local charitable trusts as an agent in the administration of grants payable to individual clients. The grants have a range of different criteria that advisers consider in line with client circumstances. As a gateway to grants and support for many in need, we referred 746 clients to the local food bank and assisted with accessing a range of other essential grants.

Work and Housing

Sharp increases in demand for housing and employment advice, largely due to the changes in rental legislation and an increase in ‘no fault’ evictions, and increases in precarious working conditions, has driven the provision of a dedicated Housing and Employment specialist caseworker to work with some of the more complex situations.

Benefits

Threats to the future of some welfare benefits alongside the Cost of Living Crisis has led to high demand for support in claiming and appeals for welfare benefits. The specialist advice team has helped clients understand, apply for and receive benefits, alongside challenging decisions made by the DWP, and supporting their colleagues in the delivery of advice. In 2024 -25 we helped clients increase their income by over £1 million.

Money Advice

During 2024-25 the Money Advice team continued to support clients to manage and prioritise their budgets and debts. It continues to be a challenge, with increasingly vulnerable clients presenting and needing a great deal of support to resolve their money issues and get cases through to a conclusion. The team saw a notable increase in rent arrears, both with private rented properties and social housing.

Income Maximisation and Energy Advice

There has been an increase in demand for Income Maximisation, driven by the impacts of the higher cost of living especially on working families on limited incomes. We have a specialist resource to review income and expenditure and seek areas to maximise household resources.

The team through the combined efforts of applying for welfare benefits, supporting charitable grants, reducing expenditure and maximising Income gained £2,753,568 for our clients that went back into the local economy.

To read more follow this link to our Annual Performance Report