Customer charter
At Citizens Advice Wigan Borough, we are here to help you find a way forward. Whether you are facing financial worries, housing problems or energy costs, our team offers free, confidential, and impartial support to everyone in our community.
We believe everyone deserves fair treatment, clear choices, and a listening ear, without judgement. Here’s what we offer, what you can expect when you visit us, and how we work together to support local people across Wigan and Leigh.
Our commitment to you
Respect
We will treat you fairly and respectfully. This means that we will not judge you or tell you what to do, nor will we treat one person more favourably than another.
Quality
Our trained advisers will give you their full attention. We will always have a team of specialist supervisors available to oversee our work with you and to ensure that the advice you are given is of high quality.
Time
We give everyone as much time as they need and we don’t rush our work. This means that you may have to wait before speaking to one of our advisers. However once it is your turn we will give you all the time you need.
Confidentiality
Our advice service is confidential. We will not tell anyone (including your friends, family, or other agencies) about your visit or your situation unless you give us permission.
Feedback and Complaints
We encourage feedback on our service. Information about how to make a comment or a complaint is available at reception or from any of our team. We also welcome feedback on positive experiences.
What we ask of you in return:
Arrive in time for your appointment
Let us know if you can’t attend your appointment as soon as possible so that we can offer it to another client
Bring any documents, letters, or bills related to your problem, so that we can help you
Be honest with us - we can’t help you properly without the full facts. (Remember, we are not here to judge you).
Be sensitive and respectful of the needs of other clients and our team. If your behaviour is abusive or disruptive we may ask you to leave or withdraw our support to you.
We understand your situation could be stressful and you might be frustrated - but our staff have the right to do their jobs without being treated badly. We will not tolerate abusive or aggressive behaviour. We will also tell you if you’re taking up an unfair amount of our time as this could stop us from helping other people. More information on how we handle unacceptable behaviour ↗.
Unacceptable behaviour will not be tolerated. Examples of this include being disruptive, abusive, aggressive or showing any form of harassment towards our staff or other clients.
What You Can Expect From Us
Reliable service updates
We aim to run our services exactly as advertised. If we ever need to change our opening times or locations, we will give as much notice as possible on our website and social media pages.
Careful note taking
During your interview, we will take notes to understand your case. You decide how much you want to share, but keeping details back may limit how much we can help. You can read more about how we look after your information here
Clear advice and options
We start by making sure we fully understand your issue. Then, we will talk you through your options and next steps. If you need a specialist adviser, we might introduce you to them right away, ask you to wait, book a phone call back, or schedule a return visit.
Conflict of Interest
Very occasionally we are asked to help people who are in dispute with each other. We will not help both parties because this creates a conflict of interest. If this situation arises we’ll signpost one of the parties to another source of help.
Paperwork
We may need to see original copies of your documents, for example a tenancy agreement. We will give you back all your original paperwork.
Honest waiting times
We work hard to keep wait times down, but on busy days you may wait over an hour. We will keep you updated, and if the wait is longer than 1 hour, you can ask for a phone call back instead of waiting in person.
Customer Satisfaction
We want to give you the best possible support, so we may ask for your feedback to help us keep improving.
