The Bureau

South East Staffordshire CAB is an advice giving agency.

Our advisers provide free, confidential, impartial and independent advice and information on a wide range of topics, through our various advice services.

We also have projects delivering specialist advice and assistance on debt and welfare benefits issues.

We are a source of influence on local and national social policy and use evidence of our clients' problems to campaign for improvements to policies and services.

We are a registered charity and are able to provide our services through funding that we receive from our funders.

The bureau is managed by a Trustee Board and the bureau work force is made up of a dedicated team of volunteers, who perform different roles, along with a small number of paid staff.

We are a member of the national Citizens Advice service, which provides the extensive information system we use to advise clients and sets standards for advice, training, equal opportunities and accessibility in the bureau.


Aims and Principles

Aims:

• To provide the advice people need for the problems they face
  
• To improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives.

Principles:

The Citizens Advice service provides free, independent, confidential and impartial advice to everyone on their rights and responsibilities. It values diversity, promotes equality and challenges discrimination.


A Quality Service

The Bureau holds the General Help and Solicitor Standard Quality Marks from the Community Legal Services, which reflects the high quality service that the Bureau provides.


History of the CAB Service

The Citizens Advice Bureaux service began in the UK in 1939. Today, across the UK, Bureaux provide advice and information from over 3,300 community locations and help people with over 6 million new problems each year. The CAB service is the largest providers of free and independent money advice in the UK, dealing with almost two million new debt issues each year. In 2009, the Citizens Advice service celebrated it's 70th anniversary.

The CAB in Lichfield has been serving residents since 1969 and the Bureau in Burntwood opened in 1983. In 2009, the two Bureaux merged to form a brand new service for people in the district, South East Staffordshire CAB.