Aviva pledges £4m to Citizens Advice after charity records busiest year on record

Insurance giant Aviva has announced that it has pledged over £4m to Citizens Advice after the charity recorded its busiest year on record.

Citizens Advice helped more than 889,000 people with cost-of-living issues, including food bank referrals, energy bills and charitable support in 2024, a 43 per cent increase on 2020-2021. The group also had 51.7 million visits to its website in 2023-24.

Sabrina Sallis, head of fundraising at citizens advice, said: “2024 was our busiest year on record. We are seeing huge demand for support across the UK, with people coming to us with more complex issues than ever before.

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"Aviva’s funding has been vital for us in meeting this challenge.

Aviva has announced that it has pledged over £4m to Citizens Advice after the charity recorded its busiest year on record. Photo: Andrew Matthews/PA WireAviva has announced that it has pledged over £4m to Citizens Advice after the charity recorded its busiest year on record. Photo: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire
Aviva has announced that it has pledged over £4m to Citizens Advice after the charity recorded its busiest year on record. Photo: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire

“With additional support over the next few years, we know we can help more people navigate their problems and get the information they need to move forward with confidence.”

The groups said that Aviva’s latest multi-million-pound pledge will help the charity meet “unprecedented demand” for its services as people across the UK seek support due to the continued cost-of-living crisis.

The funding will aim to fund Citizens Advice staff across the UK and “transform” the way advice is delivered online through new technology.

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Aviva’s funding will also be used to help create a new dedicated referral line service for the insurer’s vulnerable customers.

The new nationwide referral service will launch in 2025 and be delivered by Citizens Advice Essex.

A number of Aviva employees are currently undergoing training to identify and refer customers who exhibit characteristics of personal and financial vulnerability.

These customers will then be contacted by Citizens Advice within 48 working hours to help them find the resources they need to better understand and manage their finances.

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The funding will also be used to train some Aviva colleagues to become Citizens Advice telephone-based advisors one day a week.

Citizens Advice reports that among the people it helps with debt advice, the average amount of debt is over £8,000.

Claudine Blamey, chief sustainability officer at Aviva, said: “We’re proud to see our partnership with Citizens Advice go from strength to strength and offer even better support to vulnerable customers. We’ve been helping our customers get ready for the future for over 325 years.

“From helping them prepare for retirement to being there when they face financial and health shocks - we know that building long-term financial resilience is key to creating stronger communities.

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“By partnering with Citizens Advice, we can have a greater impact and better serve vulnerable customers facing financial difficulty.”

The news follows a successful two-year partnership formed in 2022 and takes Aviva’s total confirmed funding to Citizens Advice to more than £11m.

Aviva’s original investment supported the charity to employ 50 additional front-line staff across more than 30 UK locations and increase capacity by 53 per cent for Citizens Advice content team to support individuals seeking advice through its website.

The funding also helped more than 120,000 additional clients, resulting in over £15.8m in financial gains, and increase capacity to deliver advice through the Citizens Advice website by 10 per cent.

As of June 30 2024, total Group assets under management at Aviva Group were £398bn

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