Citizens Advice North East Kent is part of the national Citizens Advice network, however we are our own independent charity.
We have a volunteer board of Trustees, a Chief Executive Officer and a Chief Operations Officer for day-to-day management of the organisation with support from Network Development Managers. Volunteers make up more than approximately two-thirds of our workforce, in roles including advice, admin, research and campaigns and more.
We Help People Find a Way Forward
Our service aims to provide the advice people need for the problems they face and improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives.
Our advice is free, independent, confidential, impartial and available to everyone. It values diversity, promotes equality and challenges discrimination. We offer support face-to-face through drop-in sessions and booked appointments, over the phone, and via email.
We have offices in:
- Canterbury & Herne Bay
- Sittingbourne & Faversham
- Margate & Ramsgate
We also operate outreach services in:
- Canterbury area – Whitstable
- Swale area – Sheerness, Minster (Sheppey), Murston
- Thanet area – Broadstairs, Birchington, Minster (Ramsgate), St Peter’s
For further information about some of our most recent projects and stats on the numbers of local people we have helped please see our Annual Reports.
We Speak Up For Our Clients
No one else sees so many people with so many different kinds of problems, and that gives us a unique insight into the challenges people are facing today.
With the right evidence, we can show big organisations – from companies right up to the government – how they can make things better for people.
We see how problems can be linked. By helping people with the underlying cause of their problems and making sure they don’t get worse, we save the government and public services hundreds of millions of pounds every year. Read more about our local and national campaign work.
Quality Assured
The Advice Quality Standard is the quality mark for organisations that provide advice to the public on social welfare issues.
Cyber Essentials Plus certified
We prioritise your security by strictly aligning our defenses with the UK government-backed Cyber Essentials framework. This framework verifies that we proactively safeguard our infrastructure – and your data – against the vast majority of common cyber threats.
History
Citizens Advice North East Kent was formed with the merger of two local offices, Canterbury District and Swale, and a trading partner, Thanet, in 2026.
The national Citizens Advice Bureau organisation was founded in 1939, just after the outbreak of War. From the start, volunteers ran the service working from public buildings and private houses.
In the Canterbury area, our first office was founded in Herne Bay on 1 April 1940 in the local library. Advisers dealt with problems relating to the loss of ration books, homelessness and evacuation. They also helped locate missing relatives and prisoners of war. Debt quickly became a key issue as incomes reduced due to call-ups to the Army.
Sittingbourne, Faversham and Sheppey Citizens Advice Bureaux were founded separately in the 1970s. In later years it became apparent that with the organisational and financial demands of providing a highly professional service in an ever-more complex society, the future was more secure with a Borough-wide office, and Citizens Advice Swale formed in 2004.
Margate Citizens Advice Bureau opened in December 1939. The first Citizens Advice session in Thanet was held in Birchington library. Notes from a meeting in 1966 comment on the “complex and perplexing” world people were living in. Citizens Advice Thanet was formed in 2001, followed by a fixed premises being established in Ramsgate in 2015.
Even after all these changes, the principles of Citizens Advice is as true today as they were in 1939: confidential, impartial, independent, and free advice for all.