Life Beyond Debt

Community Money Advice (CMA) is a charity, which enables the establishment of community debt advice centres through the provision of a range of services including: training; set-up; support; a freephone Adviceline; regional mentors; administration software; and information resources.

Completely free face to face money advice centres in every community across the nation, reaching anyone in need with unconditional quality advice from form filling through to personal insolvency.

This mission statement defines CMA’s work. We are committed to supporting local advice centres with a vision to help people in debt in their own communities. Our centres’ advisors work alongside the client, to end their indebtedness and - crucially - teach them how to manage their money effectively and stay out of debt in the future. Moreover, our advisors’ commitment to resolving a client’s often traumatic financial problems, also supports the client re-building their life.

CMA became a registered charity in 2003 and currently services seventy-three centres across England and Wales. CMA saw a 50% increase in centres over the 2007/08 financial year and this rate of growth is continuing through 2008/09. In addition CMA is now planning to extend its operations into Scotland. CMA’s working model is remarkably cost-effective: With a budget of less than £60,000 (07/08) this equates to under £1,000 per annum per centre, demonstrating tremendous value to those who support us financially.

CMA Centre statistics for the year 2007/08 include:

• Over 1300 clients helped

• More than twenty new centres opened

• 600 new advisers trained to generalist debt adviser standard

• Over £200 million of priority and non-priority debt being repaid

For more information please visit Community Money Advice