This report highlights the positive impact that the advice service is making on members of the Armed Forces community in Scotland while also identifying areas of difficulty, including income, employment and housing.
Since ASAP was launched in 2010 it has helped 7,342 people with more than 32,000 issues. It has seen clients gain more than £5 million in benefits they were missing out on or grants they were entitled to from charities. The project expanded geographically too, from five areas in 2010 to ten areas in 2015.
The report found that individuals accessing ASAP have raised proportionately more benefits, housing and health issues than non-ASAP clients as a whole with an average of 4.4 support needs per ASAP client compared to 3 for CAB clients. The top five issues presented are benefits (41%), debt (18%), finances (9%), housing (7%) and employment (7%).
For a printed copy of the report, or more information about ASAP, please contact claire.williams@cas.org.uk