On September 19th, Edward Pickering, CEO of Craven and Harrogate Districts Citizens Advice, gave an excellent talk about the work of this national charity and of our local branch – conveniently located behind the Odeon Cinema.

They’re not a branch of government – they provide independent, confidential and free advice to all people who seek it – and are funded from a variety of sources including donations and legacies from individuals.

Edward showed members a short film from the 1940s that described the sorts of issues addressed by the organisation – advice on consumer issues, on completing government forms, on benefits, debt, employment and housing.

Current concerns are very much the same today, though considerably more complex, with the addition of campaigning where systems such as Universal Credit (Harrogate was one of the first areas to ‘go live’) caused important practical issues for citizens.

Harrogate CA helped more than 3200 individuals last year with only 8 paid staff and 55 trained volunteers, who give a day of their time each week. Edward also spoke on how to deal with various ‘scams’, and members contributed fully with questions and experiences.