Citizens Advice in West Sussex – Celebrating our 86th Year!

Citizens Advice in West Sussex celebrated their 86th year of helping local residents at their Annual General Meeting in Crawley on November 6. 

Last year the charity helped over 40,000 West Sussex residents with 138,000 problems, from homelessness to foodbanks support and more.  

With over 350 local volunteers working together for the community, their advice helped people access £26million of additional income people were missing out on, including fuel tariffs to reduce energy bills. Community members gave up over 33,000 hours and the charity provided 11,000 hours of training to community members across the year.  

Joined by the Leader of Crawley County Council, Councillor Michael Jones said: “It is always a pleasure to visit local charities and learn about the vital work organisations such as Citizens Advice do for local residents. I am very proud of our partnership and the difference it makes to our community.”    

The Charity was joined by representatives across the charity sector, local authority representatives from across West Sussex along with staff and volunteers who shared highlights of the work, heard insights about our community and innovative support provided by charities. Including keynote speaker Dr Sarah Stephens from the University of Sussex, who shared how AI and digital tools may unlock advice for people.   

New Chair of the Charity, Carol Burns, said: “For me, as the new chair, it was a great chance to meet our friends and supporters and hear from them what they value about us and how they see the future. ” 

Emma Cross, Chief Executive Officer said: “I am incredibly proud of the work our team give to local residents across West Sussex. Our impact report shows that the advice we give not only saves lives but saves the economy money.  We hope we have inspired more people to join us as volunteers, donors and supporter, together we can continue to support people, so our communities thrive.”