Our mission and values
Back in 1939, when Citizens Advice Southwark first opened, our work looked a lot different. Our volunteers responded to the difficult conditions of World War II by helping to trace missing people, arranging evacuations, and helping with damage claims for people who had lost everything in the war.
80 years later, conditions in Southwark are now different in many ways – but Southwark residents continue to access our services in increasing numbers for support with a wide range of issues.
Our vision is of a society where everyone can realise their rights, where responsibilities are understood and acted on, where decisions consider the most vulnerable in society, and where services are accessible to those who need them.
OUR MISSION
We sort out problems together – for good. We do this by:
- Delivering services responsive to community need;
- Empowering clients to understand and exercise their rights and responsibilities;
- Preventing problems through education and training;
- Influencing social policy to achieve positive change.
OUR VALUES
Our values shape the work that we do.
- Trust: we will live up to the trust placed in us by our clients through achieving positive outcomes with them, working with integrity and respect.
- Diversity: we will design our service to promote access to those in greatest need, challenge discrimination and celebrate diversity throughout our work.
- Progress: we will continuously develop our work to be the best we can be, invest in learning and development, and develop new solutions to the problems people face.
- Openness: we will act on feedback to improve our performance, recognise when our services can be improved, and learn from our mistakes.
- Quality: whatever our role we will deliver quality throughout our work.