Citizens Advice joins Voucher Magpie: how your shopping can help pay for free advice on money, debt and benefits

Citizens Advice has joined Voucher Magpie. From today, you can choose it as your cause, and whenever you shop through one of our codes or deals, we'll give 50% of the commission the shop pays us to the charity. You pay the same price and still get your discount.

Most people in Britain know the blue speech bubble. Citizens Advice gives free, confidential advice to anyone who needs it, and last year it helped more than 2.4 million people one to one. Now the shopping you do anyway can help pay for that advice.

At a glance

• Who: Citizens Advice, the operating name of The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, registered charity 279057, based in London and working across England and Wales.
• What it does: gives free, independent advice on money, debt, benefits, housing, energy, work and consumer problems, online, by phone and in person.
• How to help through us: choose Citizens Advice on its page, then shop as normal.
• What it costs you: nothing. The money comes out of our commission, not your basket.

Born on the second day of the war

War was declared on 3 September 1939. The next day, the first 200 Citizens Advice Bureaux opened. Volunteers ran them from public buildings and private houses, helping people with evacuation, rationing, missing relatives and lost ration books. By 1942 there were 1,074 bureaux.

Our photo is from the bureau in Croydon in 1940. A volunteer, Mrs Wraight, is helping the widow of a civil servant whose pension has been held up. Debt soon became one of the main problems people brought, as family incomes fell when men were called up. More than 85 years later, money and debt are still at the top of the list.

What Citizens Advice does today

Citizens Advice is a national charity working with a network of independent local Citizens Advice charities. Together they work from about 2,400 locations across England, Wales and the Channel Islands, with 19,000 volunteers and 12,000 staff. Its aim, in its own words, is to give people "the knowledge and confidence they need to find their way forward - whoever they are, and whatever their problem."

In 2025-26 it helped more than 2.4 million people with one-to-one advice:

• 689,000 people face to face
• 1.62 million by phone
• 800,000 by email or webchat
• 61 million views of its online self-help advice

Citizens Advice is the statutory consumer watchdog for energy and post, and it campaigns on the causes behind the problems people bring.

The charity says its advice saved government and public services at least £900 million last year, and that for every £1 spent on the service, its clients benefit by £9.20. Since the cost-of-living crisis, it says, "record numbers of people are turning to us for help." At times it has helped more than two people every minute with crisis support.

How your shopping helps: a worked example

Say you spend £80 a month on your food shop, toiletries and Christmas presents at shops that pay us 4% commission. That's £3.20 commission, and £1.60 of it goes to Citizens Advice. Over a year, that's £19.20 from shopping you were doing anyway.

If 1,000 supporters did the same, Citizens Advice would get £19,200 a year. Commission rates differ from shop to shop, so your own total may be higher or lower.

What you can do now

1. Choose Citizens Advice. Go to its page on Voucher Magpie and tap Choose. You don't need an account; we remember it on your device.
2. Shop through us for the weekly shop and Christmas. Iceland's Bonus Club gives you £1 free for every £20 you save, Ocado matches Tesco.com prices on more than 10,000 products, and Boots has free click and collect when you spend £15.
3. Use it for everything else too. Clothes, gifts, broadband and holidays all count.
4. Volunteer. Most of its local advisers are volunteers, and it trains you. You can find out more on its Support us page.
5. Get help if you need it. The Adviceline in England is 0800 144 8848, and the debt helpline is 0800 240 4420. Both are free from mobiles and landlines. Its contact page has the numbers for Wales and the opening times.

Questions

Does choosing Citizens Advice cost me anything?

No. The shop pays us a commission for sending it your order, and we give half of it to Citizens Advice. Your price and your discount stay the same.

Does the money go to my local Citizens Advice?

It goes to the national charity, The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, which supports the whole network. Local Citizens Advice offices are separate charities, and many take donations directly too.

When does Citizens Advice get the money?

A shop confirms a sale, usually 30 to 90 days after the order, once the return period has passed. We pay each cause its confirmed commission every quarter.

Can I change my cause later?

Yes, any time, from any cause's page. Your future shopping then goes to the new cause.

Sources: Citizens Advice, introduction to the service, our history, contact us, support us, Imperial War Museum photo D 522