Uist Citizens Advice Bureau

Citizens Advice Bureaux are local, independent charities that provide free and confidential advice and information whoever you are and whatever your problem.

There is a Citizens Advice Bureau in almost every community in Scotland, across more than 250 locations, helping more than 250,000 people each year.

Because Citizens Advice Bureaux are managed and used by people within the community, they deliver services that meet the needs of local people. They provide practical advice, negotiate on behalf of clients and even represent them formally, such as at tribunal hearings.

Common areas of inquiry include:
•Benefits – entitlements, support with applications and appealing decisions
•Debt and money advice – how to manage debts, improve your financial situation and maximise your income
•Consumer issues – from used cars to difficulties with gas and electricity suppliers
•Work-related problems – terms and conditions, dismissal, redundancy and intimidation
•Housing – from renting through to homelessness
•Relationships – splitting up, children and bereavement

Many bureaux have specialist advisers with expert knowledge in a particular area, such as debt and money advice, benefits or housing. And lots of them deliver projects for people with specific needs – for example, people caring for a relative or friend’s child, members of the armed forces and their families and NHS patients.

As well as helping people solve their problems, bureaux provide anonymised statistics and information to Citizens Advice Scotland so we can use it to identify things that cause people hardship and campaign for change.