Measuring What Matters: How Aviva Uses the B4SI Framework to Strengthen Financial Resilience Through its Partnership with Citizens Advice
The Challenge
In response to the UK’s escalating cost-of-living crisis in late 2022, Aviva began a partnership with Citizens Advice to bolster financial resilience among individuals and communities. The initial investment enabled Citizens Advice to hire additional staff, enhance their telephone Adviceline and increase their Content team’s capacity to develop online advice.
As their partnership evolved, it became about more than just funding, and they were keen to develop deeper collaboration opportunities. One of these was setting up a dedicated referral service for Aviva customers showing signs of vulnerability. This fell outside of traditional Community Investment under the B4SI Framework. To continue tracking the impact of this alongside its other community investments, Aviva needed support in identifying the correct way to measure it.
The Solution
Aviva worked with its B4SI account manager throughout 2023 to evaluate and redefine the referral partnership proposition under the B4SI Framework. Together, they identified parts of the partnership as a fit within B4SI’s Procurement for Social Impact route to impact, enabling Aviva to broaden how it delivers its pledge of investing 2% of Group Operating Profit into community impact.
This strategic reframing has allowed Aviva to adopt a more holistic approach to its support. In addition to funding the referral hotline—through which Aviva procures services to directly assist customers—the partnership includes Volunteer Adviser Secondments where its frontline colleagues train and become Citizens Advice advisers, executive level workshops on strategic topics, funding for transformation projects and community fundraising. This demonstrates meaningful engagement across all levels of the business.
Aviva has also introduced a comprehensive volunteering and skill-sharing programme, enabling employees from across the organisation, including experts in marketing, data, and customer insight, to contribute directly to Citizens Advice projects, helping to accelerate its digital transformation and enhancing service delivery.
The Impact
The continued partnership with Citizens Advice produces robust, measurable outcomes that Aviva can confidently communicate externally. In terms of impact on the organisation, Citizens Advice recruited over 50 new frontline staff across 30+ locations and increased its content team capacity by 53% with the initial funding, all the more important given that 2024 was the busiest year on record for local Citizens Advice since 2018.
For impact on the community, the partnership has enabled support for an additional 121,689 Citizens Advice clients, generating over £15.8 million in financial gains. Improvements to digital tools also led to a 10% increase in client self-service, while Aviva’s dedicated referral line has allowed the business to proactively connect its vulnerable customers to expert support.
Between January and June 2025, the referral service supported 665 Aviva customers with 3,347 issues, including by uncovering £963,140 in additional income for them.
As an impact on business, the partnership has enhanced Aviva’s ability to track, measure, and articulate its social impact—enhancing strategic alignment, reporting, and strengthening stakeholder confidence.
These collective efforts were recognised with the Business of the Year (Grand Prix) award at the 2025 Business Charity Awards (UK).
“Our partnership with Citizens Advice is built on shared purpose and practical collaboration. From our referral service ensuring that customers in vulnerable situations have access to tailored advice, to the Future of Chat project transforming digital access through improved webchat capability, our engagement with colleagues across all levels at Aviva enables us to deliver value. Together, we’re creating meaningful change that goes far beyond funding.”
USE YOUR ENTIRE ASSET BASE TO ADDRESS COMMUNITY NEEDS:
Designing programmes and partnerships that complement and ladder up to address the same social need, such as financial vulnerability, can help to maximise the social impact your company is creating.
TELL A STRONGER STORY, YEAR AFTER YEAR:
A consistent framework supports reliable, credible social impact reporting over time.
USE IMPACT METRICS TO ARTICULATE THE CHANGE YOU HAVE CREATED:
By moving beyond outputs and the number of people reached, impact measurement focuses on how lives, communities, and businesses have been transformed. It demonstrates the real value of your contribution.