Our beliefs underpin the way we deliver services to the people that come to us for help and define the sort of charity we are.
Our mission
Everyone in the charity is dedicated to providing free, confidential, professional counselling and assistance in money management to financially distressed families and individuals. We also aim to help people understand money in order that they can manage their money better and use credit wisely.
Our service promise
We are a charity and conduct ourselves according to the rules and governing principles of the Charity Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Charity Commission. These principles are reflected in our service promise:
- We do not charge for our services. Everything is free, confidential and impartial - from our initial debt advice to our ethical repayment plans.
- We make our service accessible to all who need it, through both telephone and internet access.
- No matter how serious our client’s situation seems, we provide support and calming through empathy, understanding and emergency assistance - never being judgmental or apportioning blame.
- Our advice is tailored to the circumstances of the individual or family, providing as much time as needed and with supporting reference material to help the individual better understand the advice we have provided.
- We always suggest appropriate solutions to our client’s debt problems, recommending the best solution available.
- Where appropriate, we support clients’ repayment of their debts through a sustainable managed plan, asking their creditors to freeze interest, stop penalties, accept a longer repayment period and sometimes a reduced sum.
- Where a repayment plan has been set up, we provide aftercare and support to each client through dedicated guidance teams as well as regular reviews of changes in circumstance.
- We take great care in handling all our clients’ payments, holding the money in a trust account before making their payment to their creditors.
- We operate in full compliance with the Government’s debt management protocols and uphold the principles of all money advice industry guidelines.
Our values
Five values exist right across the organisation that help us maintain the CCCS approach on a day-to-day basis. These values shape the services that we provide and the way in which we support the people who turn to us for help:
- Commitment to our clients
- Honesty and Integrity
- Valuing each other
- Teamwork, Collaboration and Accountability
- Change and Continuous Improvement
Our ethics
Our reputation is critical to being the UK’s leading money advice debt management charity, being valued by the people that need us and trusted by the UK’s credit industry. This means we need to operate with the highest standards of ethical conduct.
The principles that govern the behaviour of our charity and employees are reflected in our Code of Ethics, our Values and our Code of Conduct. The combination of these codes provides guidance for employees through the many difficult issues that confront them on a daily basis.
Our governance
The principles of governance are set by the Charity Commission of England and Wales and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator as best practice for the way in which charities are led and managed, the structure and role of the board of trustees, relations with stakeholders and the framework of internal control.
Our boards of trustees for both charities are committed to proper standards of governance. Our governing documents, in the form of memorandum and articles of association, set out each charity's purpose and objects and how it is to be administered.