About Us

We are an independent, local charity working in Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets and we’re a member of the national Citizens Advice network.

We provide free advice, information and advocacy to help people resolve the problems they face. We help with problems involving welfare benefits, housing, debt, money management, employment, immigration, consumer, and family and personal issues.

Most of us are volunteers, over 100 in our team of 150 – we couldn’t open our doors every day without our amazing volunteers, who donated over 65,000 hours of their time last year.

Our advice is free, confidential, impartial and independent. We value diversity, promote equality and challenge discrimination.

We aim to provide the advice people need for the problems they face and to improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives.

Last year, we helped over 25,000 people with 64,000 problems, increasing incomes for people using our service by £25 million.

We are funded through grants and donations which support our work, including volunteer training and travel costs. We grew from three separate Citizen Advice Bureaux working in Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets since 1965, which merged in 2004 to become Citizens Advice East End.

What our service users say

“I really am very grateful. I had all these thoughts going round and round… Thank you so much for sorting this out.”

“Things have changed rather dramatically for me since we last spoke and everything has improved so much, I’m literally living a different life and that is largely to do with how much you helped me in the beginning.”

“Thank you for your time, compassion and empathy but most of all for enabling me to breathe… I will never forget you! Forever in my heart.”

“I contemplated suicide before coming to Citizens Advice because I was stressed and fed up because nobody could help me. From the initial phone call that inspired me to come to the appointment, to sorting out my problem, I feel relaxed and able to breathe again.”

“I wish to express my heartfelt appreciation for the help you gave me when I was desperately in need, your advice and effort really set my heart and mind at rest and ultimately made me who I am today.”

Feedback and complaints

We value our service users’ feedback. You can make a complaint if you’re not happy:

• with the advice you’ve been given
• about how you’ve been treated
• because you’ve had difficulty getting in contact with us

You can access a copy of our complaints policy online, or you can write to us at [email protected] with your feedback, or to request a copy of our complaints policy.

Our latest annual report

Our Annual Accounts and Trustees’ Annual Report (TAR) are available in the Charity Commission’s Register of Charities.

A big thank you

We’d like to thank our trustees, funders and supporters.

Our trustees

Citizens Advice East End trustees are responsible for the organisation’s governance. They ensure the charity is carrying out its work. They guide strategy, support the Senior Management Team and ensure the objectives of Citizens Advice East End are realised. All Citizens Advice East End trustees are volunteers.

Learn more about our trustees.

Our funders and supporters