Celebrating 85 years of Citizens Advice in Torbay
Citizens Advice have extraordinary origins as an emergency war service and has thrived because, just like society and the problems people face, we have adapted and changed the way the service is delivered so that we can continue to help people in our local community.
We are proud to be an independent local charity that have been helping the people of Torbay for over 85 years. To continue to advise and support local people we need your help. We are a local charity and all our income is dependent on grants and donations, so if you are able to help us with our funding, please go to our Support Us page. Our main resource is a team of dedicated volunteers; check here for our volunteering opportunities or paid roles.
Beginnings & Early Days
1924: Betterton Report on Public Assistance recommended that centres are needed to offer advice
1938: the National Council of Social Services stated: “Citizens Advice Bureaux should be established throughout the country, particularly in the large cities and industrial areas where social disorganisation may be acute”
4 September 1939, four days after World War II began: 200 bureaux opened, rising over the next few years to over 1,000 bureaux
18 November 1940 Torquay’s Citizens Advice Bureaux opened at 23 Abbey Road, shared with the Torbay Council for Voluntary Service, with the waiting room also being used by chiropody patients
Cornerstones of The Citizens Advice Bureaux: free, confidential, impartial
Volunteers ran the service working with advisers dealing with problems relating to the loss of ration books, homelessness and evacuation. They also helped locate missing relatives and prisoners of war. Debt quickly became a key issue as income reduced due to call-ups
Types of Issues in the 1950s & 60s
- Paid-for magazines were not appearing
- Door-to-door salesmen taking money but not delivering carpets
- Demands for unsolicited goods
- Overcharging for building work
- Poor quality correspondence courses
- Electric blankets sold with no safety information
- “A ladies’ outfitter in Torquay whose goods bore no kind of label or washing instructions”
- “A Rolls washing machine not being serviced as promised”
- Cigarette and knitting machines paid for but not arriving
- Dubious opportunities on offer for prospective models and beauticians
- Requests to locate missing men and women
Evolving Demands
- Up to the 1980s enquiries mainly on housing, property and land; the second on consumer, family and personal problems
- Hire Purchase was a feature of life for local low paid and seasonal workers
- Claiming benefits by those on short-term tourism contracts
- The cost of water, one of the highest in the UK
- 1980s recessions saw changes to work and to benefits, so social security issues gradually increasing
- An increase number of people in debt and their amounts of debt led to The Torbay Money Advice Centre being set up.
Torquay’s Miss MM Crossley in 1958: “We are a national service, recognised by Government departments and asked for help in various directions, with the consequent importance of monitoring a high standard of work and functioning throughout the county”,
Societal Changes impacting the service
- The Rent Act of 1957 created a “rush of anxious enquiries”
- 1984 cuts to student support
- The 1990 Community Charge
- The early 2020s coronavirus pandemic
- What will be the next one?
How Citizens Advice Evolved
1969 Brixham Citizens Advice Bureaux opened
1972 Paignton Citizens Advice Bureaux opened
1972 nationally Citizens Advice became independent
1983 Torquay’s Citizens Advice Bureaux broke ties with Torbay Voluntary Service although is 1988 they both moved to Castleton House in Castle Road
2003 Citizens Advice Bureaux changed its name to Citizens Advice
In 2017 a new membership package was agreed and the term ‘Bureau’ was dropped from the title. The service has survived for over 70 years because, just like society and the problems people face, we have adapted and changed the way the service is delivered so that we can continue to help people in our local community. In April 2018 we are introduced Adviceline and began to improve our online services.
Throughout all these changes and across society, our service remains a free, confidential and independent advice service.
