We first opened our doors to our Citizens Advice at 38-40 Plains of Waterloo in 2015. It was great at last to have fixed premises in Ramsgate from which to advise the community of the town.
Citizens Advice was established in 1939 as an emergency war service, it has developed into the UK’s largest independent advice provider.
The service aims are:
- To provide the advice people need for the problems they face.
- To improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives.
Our service is free, independent, confidential, and impartial to all people.
Not everyone realises that we are a charity. We rely on funding and donations to be able to operate.
Most of our advisers are volunteers. Volunteers and staff receive full training and come from all walks of life. Our training is highly regarded by other organisations and many of our volunteers have moved onto paid work, either in our sector or other organisations in the community.
The value of quality advice cannot be underestimated for improving people’s wellbeing. Many of our clients come in stressed and weighed down by their issues. After consulting with an adviser, many feel a load is lifted.
As we all know, we are going through difficult times. The end of the Covid pandemic led into the ‘cost of living’ crisis. Higher costs for food and energy, soaring private rental and housing costs have taken their toll. We are seeing a new cohort of people that are seeking our help for the first time.
There has been an increase in housing advice given due to many more ‘No fault’ evictions in the private rental sector. Housing issues have become our second largest area of advice. We may not be able to solve all problems with our advice, but we can at least support our clients to be in the best position possible to deal with their issues.
We give general advice on welfare benefits, money, consumer, housing, family and relationships, work, immigration and more. If we are unable to advise, we are able to signpost to organisations that can.
We hold a weekly drop-in session at Ramsgate Citizens Advice every Tuesday morning, 9:30am - 12:30pm.
Our website,
www.citizensadvicethanet.org.uk, gives further information regarding our service and links to self-help advice.
Our Contact details for advice are:
Email: enquiries@thanetcitizensadvice.org.uk. We aim to get back to you within three working days.
Letter: Citizens Advice Thanet, 38-40 Plains of Waterloo, Ramsgate, CT11 8HX. Give us your contact details for a call back/response.
Citizens Advice National Helpline: 0808 278 7998.
Where a face-to-face appointment is needed, we have prebooked appointments on Tuesday to Thursday in Ramsgate.