Towards the end of last year (2025), the Poverty Truth Network (PTN) attended the annual Citizens Advice Conference in Birmingham, writes Sarah Metcalfe, new Partnerships Manager at PTN. We left feeling deeply encouraged!

What we saw and experienced was a powerful sense of alignment between our two organisations – not just in what we want to change, but in how we believe change happens. We are excited about where things may go next.

There was one main plenary discussion at the conference, of over 600 people, and this was led by the Poverty Truth Network. Our Co-Director Martin Johnstone chaired a conversation and Q&A between two of our Trustees, Claire Brown and Joanna Young. Claire is our current Chair of Trustees and was a Community Commissioner in the North East. Joanna was a Commissioner in Morecambe Bay and CEO of Citizens Advice North Lancashire.

The discussion and questions were lively and engaging, and Citizens Advice CEO Claire Moriarty reflected in her closing remarks that Poverty Truth Network and our relational approach were stand-out lessons for her from the Conference.

Our organisations have much in common:

• Both Citizens Advice and the Poverty Truth Network are committed to tackling poverty, promoting social justice, and improving the systems and services people rely on.
• Almost two in three Citizens Advice clients are struggling against poverty, and its highly respected policy insights begin always with people’s stories.
• We share a similar shape. Citizens Advice describes itself as one service with many leaders, drawing parallels with the way individual Poverty Truth Commissions operate locally and then collaborate through the PTN.

Citizens Advice wants to do more to involve their clients in shaping services and getting upstream of systemic issues. It was exciting to see the reaction, in the audience and tearoom afterwards, to the relationship-based approach of Poverty Truth as a potential way to do this.

Since the conference, we have been delighted by the number of local Citizens Advice offices getting in touch to explore hosting Poverty Truth Commissions. We are also in conversation with Citizens Advice nationally about how Poverty Truth might inform service design, strategy, and policy development.

Looking ahead to this year (2026), we would love to see local Citizens Advice at the heart of new Commissions, and nationally perhaps a small, exploratory joint project – a chance to learn together, test our complementarity, and see what becomes possible when our shared commitments are put into practice side by side.

We will keep you up to date with developments!