Life Through Lockdown What Citizens Advice data tells us about the year everything changed March 2021 Summary Contents Citizens Advice was founded in September 1939, as war was declared in Europe. As we recover Introduction from a global pandemic that has been described as the world’s greatest test since World War II, our role remains as crucial now as it was then. How Citizens Advice adapted In the first year of the pandemic, our advisors provided 18 people a minute with personalised, free and independent advice. Our online advice was viewed 62.8 million times. The stories our data tells us Our service transformed overnight as lockdowns prevented us seeing people face-to-face. This was a transformation made possible by the dedication What comes next? of our staff and volunteers, and the progress we had already made towards providing more advice over the phone and online in recent years. The data we’ve collected during this period provides a unique insight into the problems people have faced over the past year, and the way the pandemic has affected their lives. This report gives a snapshot of some of those insights - and points the way towards what might come next. Introduction The coronavirus pandemic has caused The data we’ve collected since the first huge upheaval to our daily lives. Our national lockdown tells the hidden story of Hairdresser Desislava, 33, lost her job in health, work, education and social lives how people across England and Wales have March and applied for Universal Credit. have all been affected in ways we would been affected by the pandemic. From She was a lodger in a shared house. With not have thought possible as we entered holiday cancellations to redundancy no savings to fall back on she quickly fell 2020. processes, people sought advice about a into rent arrears and was evicted. People have been affected in different huge range of problems. Citizens Advice supported her to access ways. If you’re young, a person of colour, in Often, this gave us early warnings about an emergency grant while she waited for a precarious job or in private rented issues the government urgently needed to her Universal Credit application to be housing you are far more likely to have fix, whether that was gaps in the furlough approved. She found a new flat and suffered financially as a result of the crisis. scheme or the inadequacy of sick pay received an advance to tide her over provision for people who needed to self- The Citizens Advice service has been until the first full payment, but the isolate. profoundly affected too. Almost overnight experience has left her shaken. we had to switch our face-to-face services This report gives an insight into how our “Losing my job and my home was to phone, email and web chat. We saw service has changed, what our data horrible. I was shaking and crying huge spikes in the number of people suggests about how people have been because I thought I might end up seeking advice from our website, which we affected by the pandemic, and what this sleeping rough. updated on an almost daily basis as the might mean for the future. “I applied for Universal Credit but when I rules around lockdowns and the support We’ll continue to monitor our data and saw the amount I’d receive I realised it available to people changed. We worked highlight the problems people are facing. wouldn’t be enough to live on and cover tirelessly to make sure everyone who While we are currently optimistic about the my bills. I then need to repay my needed advice at this time of national crisis trajectory of the virus, we know that its advance over the next year. £25 a month was able to get it - whoever they were and legacy will live on for millions - with already doesn’t sound like a lot to to pay off, but whatever their problem. marginalised and disadvantaged groups hit I know it will be a struggle.” hardest. Unless steps are taken to prevent it, the recovery will be far from even. 3 How Citizens Advice Our 7,000 advisors and 21,000 volunteers Much of this work was made possible thanks went out of their way to make sure people to additional support from a range of adapted got the advice they needed, despite the organisations. These included the challenging circumstances. Whether it was Department for Business, Energy and Flexible advice and support setting up video calling facilities in local Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Trussell Trust, Citizens Advice was founded the day after libraries for people who don’t have the the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS), TSB, World War II broke out to help people with internet at home; partnering with homeless Barclays, the NatWest Group and the JP problems ranging from evacuation to charities and food banks; or securing regular Morgan Chase Foundation. rations. We’ve come a long way in our 81- slots on the local radio, every local Citizens year history, from delivering advice from a Advice has countless stories of incredible mobile horsebox in the 1940s, to helping adaptability and resilience. people via Snapchat and WhatsApp in the Like many other organisations, we saw a 2020s. huge increase in demand when the While face-to-face advice remains a core pandemic hit. Over the past year we have part of our service, in 2019 our website had given one-to-one advice to 2 million people, nearly 52 million page views, we helped the vast majority of them remotely. In 2020, 540,000 people over the phone and a we helped 77% more people by phone, 83% further 98,000 via webchat. When the Prime more by web chat, and 41% more by email Minister announced the first national compared to the previous year. lockdown on 23 March 2020, we were well- We also saw a surge in traffic to our website. placed to adapt. Our coronavirus content has had over 6 Our network of local Citizens Advice million views since March, and our online immediately switched to giving advice self-help advice has been viewed 62.8 million exclusively over the phone, via email and times - almost 9.6 million more than the web chat. Our national services, including previous year. the Consumer Service, Witness Service, Pension Wise and our Help to Claim service for Universal Credit claimants, also moved 4 to remote advice. How Citizens Advice adapted Changing lives This means keeping our focus on scaling up What people said about their accessible, multi-channel advice, in line with More than half of the people who came to experience seeking help from our ambitions under our Future of Advice us for help between September and Citizens Advice strategy, published in 2019. December last year said their issue was Face-to-face advice will remain an More than half said their brought about by, or affected by, the important part of our service, for example issue was brought about pandemic. for people with limited English or who by, or affected by, the At a time when life was increasingly moving struggle with paperwork. As restrictions are pandemic online, 1 in 5 said they were not confident lifted, we will focus on fully reintroducing using the internet, including to search for face-to-face services for those that need it information or fill in application forms most, whilst not losing the incredible online. progress we have made on providing even 1 in 5 said they were not Despite all of the changes to our services, more advice online, on the phone and confident using the around 9 in 10 were positive about their through web chat and email. internet experience seeking help from Citizens As the worst of the pandemic recedes, the Advice, and 7 in 10 described their future remains far from certain. But one experience as excellent. Around 6 in 10 thing is clear: people will continue to need said they felt less stressed, depressed or 9/10 had a positive advice and support to overcome their anxious as a result of our advice. experience problems and prevent them escalating. The Looking to the future Citizens Advice service, which is embedded 7/10 described their We are working together as a service to in communities across England and Wales, experience as excellent embed the lessons from our new ways of remains well-placed to provide working and make sure we can serve the independent, trusted advice to help people changing needs of individuals and find a way forward. 6/10 felt less stressed, communities. depressed or anxious as a result 5 Stories from our data Stories from our data Beneath the headlines In the year since the pandemic began we’ve helped more people than ever across our service. The big reason for 62.8 million this has been the huge growth in web traffic. March 2020 saw the busiest day, week and month ever on the Citizens advice pageviews Advice website. Even the relatively quiet period over the summer months saw increased traffic, mainly driven by our coronavirus pages. In our one-to-one advice services, we helped 2 million 6.6 million people. Face-to-face was previously our most commonly views of coronavirus used channel, so over the last year we have compensated for that loss with big rises in telephone, web chat and advice pages email support. 2 million people helped one-to-one 7 Stories from our data Seeking help in uncertain times The response to the pandemic caused immense disruption to our lives.