Research and Campaigns

We are the leading information, advice and guidance organisation in Stockport, Oldham, Rochdale and Trafford. 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.

Take a look at our Medium site where you can see insightful information on our work on a daily basis.

Current campaigns- Winter/Spring 2024

Negative Budgets- National Red Index

5 million people across the country are now in a household with a negative budget. The National Red Index, produced by Citizens Advice sets out the scale of negative budgets across the UK for the first time and calls for urgent action to address living standards. 

Free school meals - Research by Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) and Greater Manchester Poverty Action (GMPA) shows that every North West local authority has at least 1,500 school-age children in poverty who are not eligible for free school meals because the qualifying criteria is so restrictive. The report looks at the role of schools and local authorities in FSM provision and considers the socio-economic benefits, including the impact on children’s socio-economic rights, that support a nationwide universal rollout of FSM.

Digital Landline Transition- The UK’s telephone network is being upgraded, and landline services are changing. For decades, landlines have been delivered through an analogue network, but this is being replaced with newer digital technology. The upgrade is expected to be complete by 2025.These changes will impact everyone who has a landline they’d like to keep using; soon these will all work via a broadband connection.

While the transition to digital phonelines will be straightforward for most people, it’s essential to recognise the potential impact on those who have additional support needs or rely heavily on their landline connection.

In addition to our policy work, we run awareness campaigns, sharing information and advice around scams, energy and wider consumer issues.

The national research areas

Welfare policy research

Welfare benefits is our largest advice area, giving us clear insights into the way the system works and the challenges it poses.

Consumer policy research

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.

Housing policy research

Covers all housing tenures, highlighting problems and providing solutions to help everyone have a safe and secure place to live.

Work policy research

Our employment queries give us an understanding of how the labour market is changing and the consequences for workers’ lives.