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Who we are

Citizens Advice Scotland, the Extra Help Unit and our members, 58 local bureaux, form Scotland’s largest independent advice network.  

We are charities working across Scotland. Our advice is available to everyone and is free, independent, confidential and impartial.  

We look at the problems people bring to our advice services and campaign for change where it’s needed most. 

We work for a fairer Scotland where people are empowered and their rights respected. 

In 2023-24 the Citizens Advice network helped nearly 192,000 people in Scotland and dealt with over 680,000 advice issues.  With support from the network  the people who used our services gained over £158 million. 

Our history

Wartime beginnings

Mobile CAB horse box during the war

Citizens advice bureaux first appeared in 1939, when over 200 were established throughout the UK. Bureaux were all governed by a Central Committee in London.

The first Scottish bureau was in Glasgow, but further bureaux opened in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and elsewhere soon afterwards. During the war, more than 60 bureaux operated all over Scotland. And then, as now, the great majority of bureau staff were volunteers.

Bureaux were the UK government’s response to the public’s need for advice and information on all kinds of things. Many enquiries related to wartime issues, such as what to do after being bombed out, tracing relatives whose homes had been bombed and lost ration books. Other enquiries, though, related to income tax worries and employment issues. 

Growth over decades

Historical image of women in bureau

When the war ended, the kinds of queries faced by bureaux changed to meet the needs of a peacetime society that was slowly finding its feet. The CAB remained a familiar, independent place where people could turn for help – so they did, and bureaux continued to be part of the daily life of Scotland. 

Independence for Scottish bureaux

Image of an open sign on a door

Increasing concern was voiced throughout the 1960s and 70s that a London-based information service could not take sufficient account of Scotland's distinct legal and educational systems.

So, in 1975, the regional office for Scotland – the Scottish Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux (SACAB) - became an autonomous umbrella organisation.

SACAB became fully independent in 1980, and a charitable company limited by guarantee in 1984. In 1988, SACAB adopted a trading name of Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) – and here we are!

The Scottish CAB Service celebrated its 85th anniversary in September 2024.