Citizens Advice to woo volunteers

The organisation has found that, although 95 per cent of people have heard of Citizens Advice, only a quarter of the population know that Citizens Advice Bureaux are charities that rely on financial support and voluntary labour.

The charity intends to use its 65th annual Advice Week to raise awareness about its advisory work in an effort to encourage more people to sign up as volunteers.

Reports on the cost of school uniforms and consumers’ experiences of call centres will be publicised to national media during the week, which runs from 6-12 September.

‘We will use the reports to demonstrate what we give advice on,’ said Citizens Advice head of media Rebecca Shah. ‘For example, many of the requests for advice are from people who have failed to get through to call centres or parents who cannot afford to buy school uniforms for their children.’

To generate coverage about its volunteer recruitment drive, the organisation plans to release a regional breakdown of its figures on the types and numbers of people who volunteer.

Disability, legal, financial, HR, IT and women’s media will be targeted, while summaries of the reports will be sent to educational, parenting and consumer press.