Citizens Advice has been accused of propagating racist stereotypes in a training document for advisers working with minority ethnic communities in England and Wales.

The training document listed “common traits” allegedly found within BAME communities, including a distrust of British authorities, evidence of gender bias and discrimination, early marriage and large families, low levels of literacy, and a cultural focus on honour and shame.

The charity’s own BAME group, and others in the sector, criticised the document, which has been taken down online, for reinforcing racist stereotypes.

Citizens Advice’s BAME Network Group condemned the organisation for publishing a training document that “propagates racist stereotypes which actively harm the communities we come from” in a statement that was shared with senior management and staff.

The group, which represents minority ethnic staff in the organisation, stated that the executive committee had not seen, let alone approved, the training document titled Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic: Financial Capability Best Practice Guide.

“Citizens Advice should be embarrassed about believing advisers could help these marginalised clients by using this training document as a shortcut for understanding the diverse stories of clients who are not white. The contents of the document are damaging, reductive and dangerous in the current climate,” the group notes in the statement.

A staff member who spoke to the Guardian anonymously said: “BAME staff feel really upset and angry about this incident, but we are not surprised it has happened. This stems from a culture where we are not involved in decision-making process.”

Fatima Iftikhar, an organiser of #POCIMPACT, a group that supports people of colour working in the third sector, said: “It’s so frustrating that an organisation that gets millions in pounds of public funding came out with this when trying to work with underserved communities.”

Iftikhar, who first tweeted screenshots of the document, said the incident pointed to an issue of “institutional racism that affects their staff, volunteers, and the community they serve”.

Kimberly McIntosh, senior policy officer at the Runnymede Trust, said: “It’s disappointing to see an organisation as revered as the Citizens Advice Bureau, an organisation tasked with supporting applicants to the Windrush Compensation Scheme, using such reductive language to describe black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.

“Misleading stereotypes can lead to bad policymaking and advice. More evidence and nuance should be the basis of their future reports and engagement with ethnic minority communities.”

The chief executive of Citizens Advice, Gillian Guy, said: “We agree these materials are not acceptable and apologise unreservedly.

“We have taken them down from our website and will be investigating how this has happened.

“Citizens Advice helps anyone, anywhere, whatever their problem. We strive to ensure our service is truly inclusive.”

• This article was amended on 15 August 2019 to clarify that it is Citizens Advice in England and Wales that has been accused of propagating racist stereotypes. Citizens Advice Scotland is a separate charity.