Case Study: Citizens Advice achieves collaborative workforce planning and smarter use of funding with Vena Solutions

Workforce Planning With Vena Helps Citizens Advice Make Better Use of Their Funding

Citizens Advice is one of the largest charities in the UK, offering free advice to millions, and its biggest cost is staff. Before Vena, workforce planning was concentrated in finance and managed with error‑prone spreadsheets, leaving budget holders with poor visibility and low engagement—making it hard to plan projects efficiently and get the most from limited funding.

After implementing Vena in 2020, Citizens Advice gained a single source of truth for budgeting and forecasting using a native Excel interface and workflow automation, with nightly ERP feeds and monthly HR uploads. Budget owners now own their headcount and OpEx inputs, reporting is instant and auditable, and the finance team spends less time on spreadsheets and more on strategic analysis and scenario modeling (including “funder budget” scenarios), enabling better use of funding and faster responses to change.

Citizens Advice

Kate McKenna

Senior Management Accountant