Citizens Advice offers confidential advice online, over the phone, and in person, for free. Through our national network of charities, we give people the knowledge and the confidence they need to find their way forward – whoever they are, and whatever their problem.

Do you want to work for an organisation that makes a difference, every single day, to people from all walks of life? The people that turn to Citizens Advice need help overcoming an obstacle in their lives – from debt to evictions to trouble at work – and you can be key to them getting the support they need in the quickest, easiest, and most effective way.

We particularly welcome applications from disabled and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates as BAME and disabled people are currently under-represented throughout Citizens Advice. We are a member of the race equality campaign at Business in the Community, the Prince’s responsible business network and are committed to improving employment opportunities for ethnic minorities across the UK. We also welcome applications from, LGB and Trans and non binary candidates.

We have made a positive commitment to employing disabled people and guarantee to interview all disabled candidates who meet the minimum essential criteria for the role as set out in role profiles.

We are looking for two outstanding people to recruit for the position of Policy Research Assistant in the Energy Retail Markets team and Policy Research Assistant in the Consumer & Public Services team at Citizens Advice.  

The roles 

As a member of our policy research teams, you will work across different policy areas, using a wide range of research methods and creating outputs including blogs, reports, presentations and events. Our strong brand will give you unique opportunities to engage with those who have the power to make change. You will feed into our work influencing policy makers such as parliamentarians, the civil service, regulators and industry and you will work closely with our world-class news, campaigns, public affairs and data teams.

Energy retail markets team 

In energy, our vision is for an energy market that treats everyone fairly, now and in the future. For the energy retail markets team this means tackling the root cause of the issues causing energy consumers harm today, whether it be insufficient support for people in energy debt, poor customer service, reducing the harm of supplier failures, or more help for people in vulnerable circumstances. 

In the longer term, it also means shaping the reforms that will be needed to help meet the UK’s net zero energy goals, by enabling more innovation and rewarding low carbon choices, while ensuring the market is inclusive and people get the right support and consumer protections to confidently participate. 

In recent years we have achieved significant protections for people on low incomes or in debt and stricter rules for suppliers to ensure they’re able to provide good levels of service. We’ve also helped secure changes which help small businesses engage in the market more readily, and better regulate intermediaries like auto-switchers. 

Consumer and Public Services team

Working in the Consumer and Public Services team provides an exciting opportunity to work on the big issues facing people across the UK today.  In recent years, we’ve helped challenge the “loyalty penalty” paid by loyal and vulnerable customers in essential markets, reducing bills by £260m, lobbied for the introduction of a ban on letting fees, which has saved renters £13million a month, and used our unique data to secure additional support for people during the pandemic. ​​​​​​​

Current work includes influencing policy affecting non-UK nationals with No Recourse to Public Funds; looking at accelerating digitisation in markets to ensure new technologies and sophisticated product design are working for people, not against them; and understanding the impact of the pandemic on debt and household finances. 

The National Citizens Advice Operates from offices in England and Wales, with 4 regional offices based in Cardiff, London, Birmingham and Leeds, therefore all successful applicants must be based within England or Wales.

Please note, in the event of a high number of applications, we reserve the right to close the application early. 

Closing date: 20/09/2021

Interview date: Late September

This vacancy closes at 23.59 on the closing date.