Freedom of the City award

Recently, Citizens Advice Portsmouth were honoured to be presented with the Freedom of the City award, by the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth – Councillor Frank Jonas - in recognition of the support we provided to the residents of the City of Portsmouth during the COVID pandemic. Citizens Advice Portsmouth continued to provide its valuable services throughout the pandemic including access to a limited face to face service, meeting unprecedented demand for support. In addition, we supported HIVE Portsmouth with wellbeing calls to our vulnerable residents and offered an adviser to assist with answering the City helpdesk line which was inundated with calls from those in the city needing help and support.

Freedom of the City is one of the greatest honours that can be bestowed by the city. Around 100 key workers and organisations were awarded Freedom of the City at the reception at The Portsmouth Guildhall. Speaking at the event, the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth said: "I'm really pleased we've been able to invite so many people to come and receive these certificates in recognition of what they did for Portsmouth during the pandemic…..Many of them feel they just kept doing their day jobs but their actions undoubtedly helped a lot of people and they should be very proud of that."

Sandy Bramley, CEO Citizens Advice Portsmouth said, "It's a real honour and it's great for our charity and our wonderful team to be recognised for all their hard work during such a difficult time."