About
We provide free, confidential, and impartial advice to anyone who needs it, to help them resolve the problems they face, and we use the intelligence we gather to lobby and influence social policy makers, both locally and nationally. Citizens Advice Stroud and Cotswold Districts Ltd is a local, independent charity, a member of a national network which collectively is the Citizens Advice Service. We cover a very wide area; from Sharpness on the Severn stretching eastwards to Fairford, and as far north as Morton in March. As well as the two main offices we have outreach centres in Tetbury, Wotton-Under-Edge, Dursley, Stonehouse and Moreton in March.
Each year we advise several thousand people to try to resolve a very wide range of issues including benefits, tax, debt, housing, energy and charitable support via foodbanks. Advice is offered via email or telephone and in person.
Meet the CEO
CASCD has a permanent staff of 12 working across both office, working in roles such as training, administration, giving advice and supporting the team of 25 volunteer advisors.
Our CEO Elizabeth joined Citizens Advice Stroud and Cotswold Districts as a volunteer adviser in January 2013. She joined the paid staff in June 2016. In March 2021, she became CEO. She is passionate about making a difference to the lives of people in our communities and making sure that the organisation is a great place to work and volunteer.
Meet the Trustees
Being a Trustee for Stroud and Cotswold District Citizens Advice is a an exciting and rewarding role. If you think you would like to know more about what a trustee does to support the very important work being done by this organisation, please contact info@ca-scd.org.uk
J
ohn Hammond is an experienced Trustee and Chartered HR professional with a demonstrated history of working in a Top 20 FTSE Company, Government Civil Service and the Not for Profit Sector; skilled and with a proven track record in advising on, and dealing with, HR issues covering collective bargaining, conflict resolution, operational management support, business transformation and career development
Barry O’Driscoll is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Senior Business Leader with 30 years’ experience in the planning, delivery and operation of major transportation projects. He holds a portfolio of non-executive, board and advisory positions, including the Irish and the Isle of Man Governments. He has 30+ years experience volunteering with various national and local youth and charitable organisations, focused on improved life skills, health awareness, improving governance and securing longer term funding. Barry has lived in Gloucestershire for the last 25 years and runs a consultancy advising clients on the creation and operation of better infrastructure to support a more inclusive society.
Ian Buswell started his accounting career at City and Islington College before moving to the private sector as European Finance Director for Intergraph, a global supplier of enterprise engineering and geospatially powered software. His career was hijacked by a road accident in 2006 in which he suffered a severe brain injury. During his long recovery he volunteered with CA and became a supervisor, managing a large team of dedicated volunteers. He now works as Senior Finance Manager at the Dyson Institute where he uses his extensive board experience to guide the team and embed financial processes in the Institute’s culture. He joined Citizens Advice as a trustee in 2024 and considers being a trustee at an organisation he loves is a privilege.
Juliet Kilty has worked for over 30 years in the Charitable Sector and started training as a Citizens Adviser after taking her finals at Exeter University. She managed the Office at Peckham for 9 years before retraining as a Public Finance Accountant. Recently she has worked as the Finance Director for a Charity running sports and Leisure facilities before retiring to spend more time walking, cycling and travelling
Martin Cook has lived in or near to Cirencester for about 30 years. He is now retired from paid employment but previously worked for a number of international energy companies, both in the UK and abroad. He led organisations responsible for Information Systems and Business Change, including during mergers and acquisitions and other business changes. On retiring he joined Citizens Advice as a trainee adviser, which he did for about 10 years, giving him a good insight into the problems affecting our clients.
Jane Whaley is a geologist and technical editor with extensive experience in the oil industry in technical, managerial, editorial, journalistic and business development capacities. She has lived and worked in the Middle East, USA, and Ireland as well as England and has now lived in the Stroud area for over 25 years. Jane has been a fundraiser for a number of charities including Sightsavers International, and has acted as a school governor and chair of the parents committee for Avening School.
William Underhill was a solicitor practicing company law at Slaughter and May until his retirement in 2018. William and his wife, Maxine, made Siddington their home in 2020. They have four children and three grandchildren. William enjoys cycling and a little gentle golf. He is a trustee of the National Centre for Circus Arts, based in Hoxton in London.
Meet our Supporters and Partners
History of Stroud and Cotswold District Citizens Advice
The Cirencester branch of Citizens Advice was set up in Dyer Street in 1941 in the height of World War II – the very first query being about how to obtain a licence to become an egg farmer. It was busy from the start and in the first 10 months there were 2036 cases, with many of the queries being about food rationing and damaged property. As the war ended, questions about help with repatriation and food parcels became more common and, as always, family and personal problems, often with housing issues, were to the fore. From the beginning ‘Day Books’, recording every piece of advice given, were maintained, and these are now held at the Gloucestershire Archives in Gloucester. As they show, from the start the service was helping both the urban and the rural population.
In 1946 the advice service moved to a room provided by Cirencester UDC and Cirencester RDC in the Bingham Library in Dyer Street (left). This remained its home until 1993, when it moved to its present premises in Cricklade Street ( right). In 2001 HRH Princess Royal visited to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of advice services in Cirencester and came again in 2014.
Over the years, reorganisation of the service saw Cirencester CAB, as it was known, form links for administrative and financial reasons with other advice services in adjoining areas, including with services in Cheltenham and Tewkesbury as well as Stroud.
Similarly, the Stroud CAB opened during WWII in Thanet House, London Road but closed when the war ended. It reopened in the top floor of the Subscription Rooms in 1958. In its first year there were 226 enquiries dealt with by volunteers under the supervision of a voluntary organiser; by 1975 the number of enquiries had increased to 4,750, with the most advice sought under the headings of Family and Personal, Housing and Consumer. The organiser at the time, Lady Teresa Ricketts, was appointed chair of the national organisation and on leaving Stroud she proposed that the responsibility was now too great for a volunteer organiser and that the post of Manager, plus a deputy, should be paid. At this time the service was also extended to Dursley and Wotton under Edge.
As demand had grown the unsuitability of the premises had become clear and in 1975 a temporary premises was established in a portakabin in Union Street, where the Cornhill market now stands. This was still small offering only two interview rooms and a small office and so again new premises were sought and eventually, in 1984, the newly restored Medieval Hall at the top of the High Street became the home of Stroud’s Citizens Advice Bureau, with a general office, a waiting room and three interview rooms. In the late nineteen eighties unemployment had become a major national problem with resulting debt, so a paid Money Advice Manager was employed, and the paid posts of Welfare Benefits Manager and a part time trainer to help volunteers to cope with the increased complexity of the work were later added. In 1995 more suitable premises was found in the Brunel Mall, where Citizens Advice Stroud remains to this day. In Princess Anne, the patron of Citizens Advice, visited the offices in Brunel Mall in the 1980s, in 2008 and attended a celebration of 78 years of CA in Stroud in 2019.
With rising need, number of clients and complexity of issues, in 2014 the two independent organisations combined to make the Stroud and Cotswold District Citizen’s Advice, while still retaining offices in Stroud and Cirencester.