What volunteering means to us

“At the heart of our services are our citizens – the people we serve, and our volunteers – who are our citizen advisers, and who make us a very special organisation.”

– Tom Togher, Chief Officer, Citizens Advice Salford

What do we do

We provide free, confidential and impartial advice, and campaign on big issues affecting people’s lives. Our goal is to help everyone find a way forward, whatever problems they face.

People come to us with all sorts of issues. They may have money, benefit, housing or employment problems. You may be facing a crisis, or just considering their options.

Our dedicated volunteers

Every year up to 70 volunteers support the delivery of our work alongside a team of paid staff. Our volunteers come from all sorts of backgrounds and help with everything we do, IT, administration, fundraising, trusteeship – and of course giving advice.

Without the passion and generosity of our volunteers, we wouldn’t be here today.

We know that our volunteers benefit from the experience too – for example all our retired volunteers tell us that volunteering keeps them mentally active and nine in ten unemployed volunteers believe it helps them to move into employment of education. All our volunteers tell us how much they enjoy helping people!

What our volunteers say:

“Citizens Advice Salford helps me to develop as a person”

“Today I made a difference by assisting and advising vulnerable local citizens to solve their problems.”

“I want to give back to my community”

“I like meeting new people from different countries and learning new things”

We provide many different volunteering opportunities

People  volunteer with us for different reasons. Our volunteer roles are varied, challenging and rewarding and our volunteers really enjoy being able to make a valuable contribution and a positive impact on people’s lives.

Volunteering and inclusion

We welcome volunteers from all backgrounds, including Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) volunteers, disabled volunteers, volunteers with physical and mental health conditions, Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual, Trans and and Non-binary volunteers, to join our service.

If you have any support, access or equipment needs, we will be happy to discuss this with you to enable you to volunteer.

For applicants who aren’t UK citizens, please note that you’re only allowed to volunteer if your immigration status permits it. Many will, but please do check that you are entitled to volunteer, to avoid breaching the terms of your status. You can find further information about different visa rules on this government webpage. Irish citizens, EU/EEA citizens with settled or pre-settled status, and refugees and asylum seekers are fully entitled to volunteer.

We all share one goal

Volunteer, employee or supporter, we all believe in the same thing; a society where everyone gets the advice they need, and every voice is heard.

How can you get involved?

• We have volunteer roles at all levels depending on your availability and what you want out of volunteering.
• You can volunteer for three months or three years, different roles suit different people.

See our role information and application form below. If you are not sure and want to talk to us about volunteering contact us by email and we will get back in touch!

Privacy notice for volunteers

How we will use your information before you join us

The information you give us will be used to help Citizens Advice Salford progress your interest or application in becoming a volunteer. This is our ‘legitimate interest’ under data protection law. 

Our legal basis for collection of special category data, including information about criminal convictions is consent.

Your information will only be seen by colleagues involved in the recruitment process, and will be stored securely. 

We will keep unsuccessful application information for 6 months

We share your data with third parties in order to obtain references, obtain background checks from third-party providers or necessary criminal records checks from the Disclosure and Barring Service for certain roles. 

How we will use your information when you’re a volunteer

If you are recruited as a volunteer, the information you give us will be used to help Citizens Advice Salford support you within your volunteering role. This is our ‘legitimate interest’ under data protection law. This includes your application to volunteer with us, references, any other checks we have carried out, and other files that make up the volunteer record.

Our legal basis for collection of special category data, including information about criminal convictions is consent. 

All volunteer information will be kept securely, and it will only be used by appropriate colleagues involved in supporting and managing volunteers, or dealing with issues such as quality, complaints or problems related to volunteers, this may include:

• Contacting volunteers when necessary or contact next of kin incase of an emergency
• Training records
• Making changes to role, support or equipment to improve accessibility
• Monitoring statistical details of our volunteers
• Providing ongoing support and supervision, including appraisals, to volunteers
• Monitoring the quality of advice given to clients
• Addressing problems or complaints
• Obtaining feedback about your volunteer experience

The Citizens Advice service is a network of independent local Citizens Advice charities which Citizens Advice Salford is part of, and of which National Citizens Advice is the membership body. National Citizens Advice will use your data in conjunction with data from other platforms, such as those that deliver digital and telephone advice (currently KCom and Live Engage). This will help us to measure the impact of volunteering, as well as to identify areas of improvements. When used by national Citizens Advice, this information will be anonymised and aggregated so that individuals are not identified. 

How we will protect your data

We take the security of your data seriously and have internal policies and controls in place to try to ensure that your data is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed, and is not accessed except by its employees, volunteers or trustees in the performance of their duties.

We will not transfer your data to countries outside the European Economic Area.

Your Rights

You have legal rights over your data, including access to it, and the right to ask that it is corrected, restricted or deleted. There is more information on these rights on the Information Commissioner’s Office website: www.ico.org.uk 

If you have any questions about the use of your data, please contact Gareth Hughes at Citizens Advice Salford.