Research and Campaigns

One of the aims of the Citizens Advice Service is ‘to improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives’ and this is what is known as ‘policy and campaigns work’.

All of us are affected by the rules and principles which shape the services and benefits that we all rely on. These rules and principles are evident in legislation, regulations, codes of practice and the policies of service providers.

Citizens Advice Caerphilly Blaenau Gwent actively campaigns against unfair policies and practises in government, service providers and other bodies. Tackling problems at source helps everyone, whether they have come to us for advice or not, and frees up resources to work with those in greatest need. Our advice work helps people solve a particular problem, policy and campaigns work tackles the cause of the problem and stops it from happening to others.

In order to campaign and to get changes made to the policies and practices that affect our communities, Citizens Advice Caerphilly Blaenau Gwent gathers evidence from our work with local people to try to identify how widespread problems are. This research helps to identify emerging trends or patterns and is used to suggest potential solutions.

Our campaigning is effective because it is rooted in the experiences of real people. We try to have an influence at local, regional and national levels, by joining with other local Citizens Advice offices in major national campaigns or by carrying out smaller pieces of local work.

For more about the CAB service and its campaigning role click here.