About our Bureau

About our Bureau

Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau offers free, impartial, and confidential advice to the residents of Renfrewshire. Our highly trained advisors provide support and guidance on a variety of topics to help people better understand their situation and improve their lives. You can make an appointment or drop in to speak to an advisor.

In the 2023- 2024 financial year, we helped 5,467 clients and dealt with 10,841 enquiries. During this period we helped clients to achieve  £3,559,639.673 in financial gains. As a registered charity, we rely on the generosity of donors and the hard work of our volunteers to continue providing these essential services. We thank you for your support.

Our aims, values and equality statement.

Aims and equality statement

We provide free, independent, impartial and confidential advice and information to ensure that people understand their rights and responsibilities and can express their needs effectively. We campaign and influence to tackle the root cause of the problems people face and work to strengthen their rights.

We believe that everyone should be treated with respect and dignity and that no client, job applicant, worker or volunteer should receive less favourable treatment than another on grounds of age, disability, gender, race, religion and belief, or sexual orientation.

We promote human rights and social justice and will not tolerate or practice unfair discrimination of any kind. We are committed to our obligations under the Equality Act 2010, and we extend these obligations to other aspects of equality such as socio-economic status, education, personality, social exclusion and communication style.

We value diversity and promote dignity and inclusion to strengthen our network and our service.

Values

Our values capture who we are, how we work and what we believe in.  They were identified through discussion with volunteers, staff and trustees from Citizens Advice Bureaux across Scotland and people working within Citizens Advice Scotland.  Our values describe how we treat other people, and how we expect to be treated in return.  Everyone within the Citizens Advice network in Scotland has a contribution to make to ensure we deliver on the strategic plan and continue to live our values. 

We believe that these values help us work with direction and purpose in a way that builds strong relationships, delivers positive outcomes for the people of Scotland, and which makes the Citizens Advice network in Scotland a rewarding place to work. In delivering the strategic plan through turbulent times we will all make decisions in line with these values about what we must prioritise.  In doing so we look after our health and wellbeing, find a healthy work-life balance and develop our skills and capabilities.

  • Person-centred  - we are committed to the wellbeing of our clients, volunteers and staff and take a whole-person approach to our work.
  • Empowering - we invest in people and support them to take action on the challenges they face.
  • Supportive - we are caring and respectful and make sure that people receive the support they need to improve their lives.
  • Inclusive - we are non-judgemental, friendly and offer expert service to anyone who is in need of our help. 
  • Collaborative - we work together as a network and with other partners in an open, respectful way, to build trust even when opinions differ.

Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau

We’ve been open since 1979 and we’re part of the Scottish Citizens Advice network, which has been offering advice and support since 1939. Together we advise over 300,000 people on the best way to sort out their problems every year - that’s 1 in every 14 adults.

We can offer advice, guidance and information in a number of different areas, including benefits, consumer issues, immigration, workplace disputes and much more. See our services section for more information.

We also offer the following specialist services:

We have 75 staff & volunteers working as advisers and helping behind the scenes. Everyone you meet at Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau has had a minimum of six months of training, so they are well-equipped to give you advice on a wide range of problems and issues.

Meet our advisers, or find out more about volunteering with us.

Expert advice - every time

As a member of the Scottish Citizens Advice network, the service we deliver must always meet national standards. This means you’ll receive a professional service, every single time you talk to us.

Our advisers undergo extensive training to make sure you receive the best quality of advice, whatever your issue may be. The Citizens Advice Scotland competency-based Adviser Training Programme is renowned in the voluntary sector and beyond.

Our advisers also have access to the AdviserNet Information System. This valuable resource provides a wealth of information on everything from employment and benefits to housing and debt. Access to this independent, trusted and quality assured information means our advisers can always offer you the most up-to-date advice.

In addition to our training and resources, the quality and training team at Citizens Advice Scotland regularly review the advice we offer, via a bureau audit. This makes sure we continue to meet the high standards required of a Citizens Advice Bureau.

Our charity status

Every bureau within the Scottish Citizens Advice network is a registered charity, and depends on support from the public to continue to offer advice to improve people’s lives.

As a charity, we are open and transparent about our accounts and governance structure. The minutes of our Annual General Meeting (AGM) are also published online each year.

Get advice

There are a number of ways you can get advice from Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau. You can call, Email Us or you can make an appointment to come in for a face-to-face appointment.

We aim to respond to messages as soon as possible.

Making a complaint

If you want to make a complaint about Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau contact us directly. You can also read more about our complaints procedure.