Discover how you can volunteer with us

You don’t need any previous experience or knowledge to volunteer with us - we'll give you all the training and support you need.

Volunteering helps you build valuable skills and experience. It’s a great start if you're looking to get back into work or explore a new career. Some volunteers already have skills and experience they can use from other parts of their life.

Our volunteers come from all backgrounds, including:

  • carers

  • retired people

  • people returning to work after a career break

  • students

If you’re under 16 years old

You must be at least 16 years old to volunteer in a role that involves giving advice to clients.

If you’re under 16, you can still get involved in volunteering. Check with your local Citizens Advice to find out if they offer volunteer roles for younger people.  

If you get benefits

You can volunteer while claiming benefits, as long as you keep to the conditions of the benefits you get.

Check the rules about volunteering for the benefit you claim.

If you’ve used Citizens Advice

If you’ve used our service, your experience gives you valuable insight into how we help people. We welcome volunteers who have used Citizens Advice before.

If you’ve recently had advice about an ongoing or complex issue, your local Citizens Advice might ask you to wait a short time before you start.

If you have a criminal record

Having a criminal record doesn't automatically stop you from volunteering with us. The only exception is sexual offences against vulnerable adults or children. 

When you apply, we'll ask you about unspent convictions. We'll give you more information about this when you apply.

For a small number of roles, we might need to ask about spent convictions.

If you’re not a UK citizen

Most non-UK citizens can volunteer and we welcome volunteers who are not UK citizens.

You can volunteer if you're:

  • an Irish citizen

  • a refugee or have protected status

  • a person with indefinite leave

  • an EU citizen with settled or pre-settled status

  • the family member of an EU citizen and you have settled or pre-settled status

  • an asylum seeker

You can check guidance on volunteering if you’re an asylum seeker on GOV.UK.

Other non-UK citizens might still be able to volunteer - it depends on your visa.

Find out more about volunteering if you're from overseas on the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) website.

Next steps

You can: