Whoever you are, whatever the problem
Research and Campaigns
Working for change
We are the leading information, advice and guidance organisation across the city region. We help people with tens of thousands of problems each year. This gives us a unique insight into the challenges people are facing across Greater Manchester, and it gives us a wealth of evidence to try and fix the underlying causes of these problems.
We use this insight to change policy and practices at a local, regional and national level.
For regular updates on our policy work, visit our Medium page, sign up for our newsletter, and follow us on LinkedIn and Bluesky.
Current Priorities
Raising Living Standards
The 2026 Autumn Budget presents a critical opportunity for the Chancellor and Prime Minister to turn the tide on the living standards crisis. This formal submission - outlines the measures Citizens Advice believe they must take, including action on energy, employment, social security, consumer, health, housing and community infrastructure.
Digital Exclusion
Using our front line data and insights, we are working with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to highlight how digital barriers—such as a lack of email access or digital skills—prevent people from accessing vital services. We are currently developing a Greater Manchester-wide briefing featuring our insights, good practice, and recommendations to help make local and regional services accessible to everyone.
Youth Policy
We are working to close the "advice gap" for 18–25s and ensure young people’s voices directly shape our policy work across Greater Manchester. Partnering with local organisations and utilising GM-wide surveys, we’re turning youth lived experience into targeted local and regional policy asks.
Council Tax Practices
We have mapped council tax debt recovery practices across Greater Manchester. We are sharing these findings with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to ensure our insight helps achieve regional consistency and drives best practice standards for everyone in our community.
Awareness Campaigns
Beyond our policy and advocacy work, we run ongoing campaigns focused on consumer protection and financial resilience. These provide practical information on issues like consumer rights, energy efficiency, and fraud prevention, helping to ensure that people across the region are informed and protected.
The national research areas
Welfare benefits is our largest advice area, giving us clear insights into the way the system works and the challenges it poses and Our employment queries give us an understanding of how the labour market is changing and the consequences for workers’ lives.
Covers regulated and unregulated markets allowing us to identify problems and draw comparisons about policies and practices.
Debt and money policy research
Citizens Advice helps hundreds of thousands of people with debt and money problems each year giving us insight into how we can prevent money problems and help people to recover.
Covers all housing tenures, highlighting problems and providing solutions to help everyone have a safe and secure place to live.