Meet the Team, Andy (Chief Officer)

What was your career journey to where you are today? 

I originally volunteered at Citizens Advice Sale in 1987, after leaving university and wondering what my next move would be. I progressed into full time advice roles and worked for local Citizens Advice in Stockport, Leigh and Halton. In 1995 I joined Oldham as their Deputy District Manager and within 7 months was appointed as Chief Officer. I’ve been in my current role here in Manchester for 16 years. 

I’ve always believed that the best way to fully understand an industry is to learn by moving through the organisation from the grassroots operation to strategic management. I think by understanding the industry in that way, it better equips you to keep the strategic vision in touch with things on the operational side. 

What does a typical day look like in your role? 

Every day is completely different and brings different challenges. It could be talking with a politician, commissioner, an internal stakeholder within Citizens Advice or one of our external partners, such as Electricity North West or Cadent Gas. It could be developing strategic policy options for our trustees or signing off a business case for additional staffing. A typical day usually involves responding to 100s of emails, attending a whole bunch of meetings, writing lots of reports and trying to win investment and funding for the charity. 

What are some of the main focuses for the charity at the minute? 

At the moment our big focus is on the next five years, and shaping what our charity should look like. In the short-term our funding looks good but we know that stakeholders, whether that’s government, council or corporate, will be looking to recover some of what they’ve invested to deal with the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis and we have to plan for this. 

We’re also looking to redefine how our service is delivered in the future, making sure this is resilient and sustainable. Part of this is a big culture shift from face-to-face advice to a digital and telephone-first service. We’ve been in the process of doing this for several years but the pandemic has really sped that up. 

What impact is the charity making during the cost of living crisis?

I think we’ve made a massive impact. It’s not too dramatic to say that advice saves peoples lives and we’ve been there as the ‘fourth emergency service’ throughout both Covid and now the Cost-of-Living Crisis. We’ve helped people stay living in their homes, made sure people can access the right benefits they’re entitled to and helped people to re-budget and get back in control of their finances.  

What are you most proud of during your time here? 

I’m really proud of how we develop our people within the organisation through the opportunities we give to them to come and work here. To give people who are unemployed or have health problems a pathway back into employment, then see them develop through the organisation and deliver a really good frontline service and make a real difference to people. I’m proud that we’re one of the largest organisations in the Citizens Advice network and I’m proud of the team that work here, they’re all absolutely fantastic people to work with. 

What would you say to someone thinking about joining our service? 

If you want to be in a job that makes a real difference to people in vulnerable positions and put something back into the community, then this is absolutely the career to be in. If you want to make massive amounts of money, it’s unlikely you’re going to be able to do that in the charity sector, but there are lots of other huge benefits. You make a difference to people’s lives, it’s as simple as that.