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About Citizens Advice Teignbridge

We provide free, confidential and impartial advice. Our goal is to help people find a way forward, whatever problems they face, and to campaign for change on the issues affecting people’s lives. We’re an independent charity and part of the Citizens Advice network. This page gives provides some background information about the charity. If you’re looking for advice, see get advice.

Reports

Funders and partners

We are grateful to:

…and many generous members of the public for the bulk of our core funding.

In addition we operate several specially funded services and projects, thanks to bodies including the Big Lottery Fund, Healthwatch Devon, and Citizens Advice nationally. To deliver our projects we work in partnership with organisations like Living Options Devon, the MS Society, several departments of local councils, and our friends and neighbours within Citizens Advice Devon.

Social media

To keep in touch, please follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.

History

inside an early Citizens Advice Bureau

On 4 September 1939, the day after the nation went to war, 200 Citizens Advice Bureaux opened their doors. From the start, volunteers ran the service, working from public buildings and private houses. Citizens Advice Teignbridge has had its own identity since the early 1970s. Local government was being reorganised at the time, with the creation of the Teignbridge district, and changes were afoot nationally in our service, with the formation of the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux. This family structure still exists today, and all local Citizens Advice, including Teignbridge, are audited to ensure they meet high standards of quality in their advice work, and stick to our shared principles.

In 1993 our old Newton Abbot premises opened in Bank Street, where we stayed for 20 years before moving to the Market Walk in 2013. We also had an office in Teignmouth Library from the late 1980s until March 2020. Dawlish bureau closed a few years ago but is now operating again from the Manor House. Demand for our service grows every year, and we couldn’t keep it all going without our wonderful, knowledgeable, dedicated and caring volunteers.

Our identity

old CAB logo new Citizens Advice logo

Local Citizens Advice across the country are in the process of updating their logo and appearance.

We’re no exception, and from Spring 2016 we’re known as Citizens Advice Teignbridge, rather than Teignbridge CAB. We’re the same organisation, with the same people behind it, and most importantly we’re sticking to our long tradition of quality advice. The cost of these changes (signage etc.) has been covered by a grant from national Citizens Advice, and we’re avoiding any unnecessary costs by phasing in our new identity carefully, for example by using up our existing stocks of headed paper rather than throwing them out. You might see both names and logos co-existing for a little while yet.

Why are we doing this? Evidence from our clients and the public suggests many people don’t understand our work and our role as well as we’d like. Some think we’re a government agency instead of a charity. These days you can also get advice over the phone and online as well as coming in to see us, so we’re more than just a network of local bureaux, though this vital face-to-face presence in local communities will always be at the heart of what we do.