• To work for the largest voluntary advice agency in the country and help to provide a free, confidential, impartial and professional service to your community. Covering a wide range of topics, including debt, employment, benefits and family and personal.
  

• Every year over five million people use the CAB. Most have heard of the Citizens Advice Bureau, even if they have never used one. However, not everybody knows that most of the advice is given by trained volunteers.

• We depend on volunteers to enable us to deliver the service to as many as 30+ clients coming through our door each day.

• Everyone has skills and experiences which we would find valuable, plus you would be learning new skills, new challenges, and meeting new people as well as helping your community.

• The role of the adviser is to help empower the client to manage their problem as effectively as possible by providing guidance, support, information and helping them to use their own skills and abilities.

• The aims of the CAB are that no individual suffers through lack of knowledge of their rights and responsibilities or of the service available to them or through an inability to express their needs effectively, and equally, to exercise a responsible influence on the development of social policies and services, both locally and nationally.
  

• Social policy is a vital part of the aims of the service. In carrying out advice work we gather information about clients and the enquiries they present. Often individual problems will not be unique but part of a more general trend.
  

• The CAB service is proud of its twin aims. Volunteers all train as generalist advisers so that they are able deal with any enquiry.

• The CAB is committed to Anti-discrimination and equal opportunities.

• The bureau environment needs to be a safe environment for clients and advisers from all backgrounds. CAB polices state that clients or co -workers making offensive remarks need to be challenged.
  
  
• The great thing about being a CAB adviser is that clients and their situations constantly challenge your ideas and assumptions. Advisers have to be prepared to be open to exploring their opinions, values and beliefs.
  

• The CAB is a professional organization and as such trains volunteers to a high standard.

• Much of the initial training is delivered by training packs, which are reading material containing exercises to work through at your own pace. Record of learning booklets that let us assess if you have understood the training packs.

• An appointed training officer in bureau will provide support and assist with any questions you may have. You will also have the opportunity to observe client interviews and sit in with experienced advisers.

• All volunteers are given a selection for training interview to assess their suitability to progress to the next level of training.

• It is a membership requirement of the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux (known as Citizens Advice) to attend a five day skills training course held at Manchester. This training covers how the Aims, Principles and Policies of the service fit into the day to day running of the bureau. Interview techniques, as well as using the extensive information system. You will only be able to start advising after you have completed the required amount of training. On completion of the training course you will have gained the CAB Certificate in Generalist Advice.

Rochdale & District CAB is a non-profit organisation. Registered Charity Number 701212

Whilst every care has been taken in the compilation and construction of these pages Rochdale and District Citizens Advice Bureau Service will not be held liable or responsible for any loss, damage or other inconvenience caused as a result of any inaccuracy or error within the pages of this Website. Rochdale and District Citizens Advice Bureau has no control over the content of pages external to this site and cannot be held liable for their content