Volunteering
Thank you for your interest in volunteering with Citizens Advice Luton.
We are not currently recruiting for volunteers but will begin recruitment again in October 2024. If you are interested in volunteering, please follow the ‘Apply Now’ link at the bottom of this page and we will be in touch in October to follow up on your interest.
Citizens Advice provides free and impartial advice to the citizens of Luton, a growing borough with a population of over 200,000 people.
We advise across a broad range of topics including debt management, benefits advice, visa status and tenancy.
The requirements for our service are more important today than ever before with the impacts of the higher cost of living, the Covid pandemic and changes to the benefits system being felt by clients across the community.
The challenge is to enhance the level of service and optimise the channels of delivery for the service when funding sources are constrained.
Citizens Advice Luton has healthy reserves to support the delivery of advice going forward and invest in the enhancement to the service.
If you have the personal qualities and enthusiasm to drive change at Citizens Advice Luton and you embody our inventive, responsible and generous values, we would love to hear from you.
Our values
We’re inventive
We’re not afraid of trying new things and learn by getting things wrong.
We question every idea to make it better and we change when things aren’t working.
We’re generous
We work together, sharing knowledge and experience to solve problems. We tell it like it is and respect everyone.
We’re responsible
We do what we say we’ll do and keep our promises. We remember that we work for a charity and use our resources effectively.
Three things you should know about us
1. We’re local and we’re national. There are 6 national offices that offer direct support to people and we are one of 283 independent local Citizens Advice services across England and Wales.
2. We’re here for everyone. Our advice helps people solve problems and our advocacy helps fix problems in society. Whatever the problem, we won’t turn people away.
3. We’re listened to – and we make a difference. Our trusted brand and the quality of our research mean we make a real impact on behalf of the people who rely on us.
What’s in it for you?
- Make a real difference to people’s lives and a positive impact in your community.
- Learn about a range of issues such as benefits, debt, employment and housing.
- Build on valuable skills such as communication, listening and problem solving, and increase your employability.
- Work with a range of different people, independently and in a team.
We will reimburse expenses too.
Equity, diversity and inclusion at Citizens Advice
Citizens Advice Luton recognises the positive value of diversity, promotes equality and challenges unfair discrimination. We recognise that people with different backgrounds, skills, attitudes and experiences bring fresh ideas and perceptions, and we wish to encourage and harness these differences to make our services more relevant and approachable.
Citizens Advice Luton will not discriminate or tolerate discriminatory behaviour on the grounds of race, colour, sex, transgender, disability, nationality, national or ethnic origin, religion or belief, marital/partnership or family status, sexual orientation, age, social class, educational background, employment status, working pattern, trade union membership or any other irrelevant factor in any aspect of employment.
To help us achieve this, we aim to make our recruitment process as fair as it can be. We also offer support to disabled candidates to make sure no one loses out on a role because of their condition.
- We judge the application, not the person. This makes sure each person’s response is judged on its merits and not on their background.
- We offer a guaranteed interview scheme. If you have a disability and your application meets the minimum criteria for the post, we’ll interview you for it.
- We’re a Disability Confident employer. We’re committed to changing attitudes towards disability, and making sure disabled people have the chance to fulfil their aspirations.
Dignity at work
Citizens Advice Luton is committed to providing a culture in which all staff value each other and are able to work together to their full potential in an inclusive environment free from harassment, bullying and other unacceptable forms of behaviour. Unacceptable behaviour in the workplace will be actively dealt with, all complaints will be taken seriously, confidentiality will be respected and victimisation of those that raise complaints will not be tolerated.
Our values include commitments to work together and value each other – all our trustees are expected to have read and understood our Dignity at Work Policy and to ensure they behave in accordance with its principle.
Current Roles
The role
Key responsibilities
- Complete an introduction to Citizens Advice and training for your role.
- Talk to clients over the phone, face to face, or online to explore what problems they have come for help with.
- Find information about the clients problems and help them to understand their options.
- Support clients to take action to resolve their problems. This might include drafting or writing letters, making phone calls, or referring the client to another organisation.
- Write a summary of the clients problems and what action you’ve taken.
- Look out for problems that are common, or are unfair, and write a short report about the problem or a letter to an elected official like an MP, AM or local councillor.
- Help a client with debts, work out a reasonable amount to pay back, and make a phone call to an organisation they owe money to.
- Explore what benefits a client is entitled to and help them to complete a benefit application form.
- Help a client who has problems with their landlord to understand their housing rights.
Person Specification
What do you need to have?
- Be friendly and approachable.
- Be non-judgemental and respect views, values and cultures that are different to your own.
- Have good listening skills.
- Have excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Have good maths and IT skills.
- Be able to understand information and explain it to others.
- Be willing to learn about and follow the Citizens Advice aims, principles and policies, including confidentiality and data protection.
- Be willing to undertake training in your role.
How much time do you need to give?
Ideally we ask for 8 hours per week, which can be over one day or spread over two days, for at least 12 months. We can be flexible about the time spent and how often you volunteer so come and talk to us.
Valuing inclusion
Our volunteers come from a range of backgrounds and we particularly welcome applications from disabled people, people with physical or mental health conditions, LGBTQ+ and non-binary people, and people from Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer and would like to discuss flexibility around location, time, ‘what you will do’ and how we can support you please contact us.
The role
Key responsibilities
- Complete an induction to Citizens Advice Luton and a comprehensive package of online training.
- Work with existing volunteers and staff members to observe working with clients and processes.
- Speak to clients over the phone and face to face. In future possibly via email, video appointments or webchat.
- Sensitively explore the client’s situation, including household and financial circumstances and details of debts to complete a debt assessment to ascertain next steps for the client.
- Identify areas where clients could maximise income or minimise expenditure, such as benefit claims and budgeting tips. Offer support or signpost/refer to other agencies as appropriate.
- Assist clients with other related problems, for example, welfare benefits and housing issues. Refer to other advisers or specialist agencies as appropriate.
- Provide information and advice to empower clients to act on their own behalf, where appropriate.
- Work with the debt team to help clients access the support they need.
- Be open to the possibility of developing into the role of giving full debt advice to clients, including; implying debt options and implications and calculating, negotiating, and contacting creditors as necessary.
- Maintain case records for the purpose of continuity of casework, information retrieval, statistical monitoring and report preparation.
- Look out for problems that are common, or are unfair, and write a short report about the problem.
All this happens with the full support of one of our experienced, highly knowledgeable debt team and supervisors, so you’re never alone.
Person Specification
What do you need to have?
- Be friendly and approachable.
- Be non-judgemental and respect views, values and cultures that are different to your own.
- Have good listening skills.
- Have excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Have IT and maths skills with the ability to prepare budgets for clients.
- Be able to understand information and explain it to others.
- Be willing to learn about and follow the Citizens Advice aims, principles and policies, including confidentiality and data protection.
- Be willing to undertake training in your role.
- Have the ability to maintain confidentiality and appropriate professional boundaries
How much time do you need to give?
Ideally we ask for 8 hours per week, which can be over one day or spread over two days, for at least 12 months. We can be flexible about the time spent and how often you volunteer so come and talk to us.
Valuing inclusion
Our volunteers come from a range of backgrounds and we particularly welcome applications from disabled people, people with physical or mental health conditions, LGBTQ+ and non-binary people, and people from Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer and would like to discuss flexibility around location, time, ‘what you will do’ and how we can support you please contact us.
