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Publications

  1. Citizens Advice Scotland response
    Fraser Sutherland
    Publication date:
    September 2014

    CAS responds to the CMA's consultation on whether the personal current account market should be investigated.

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  2. Citizens Advice Scotland response
    Fraser Sutherland
    Publication date:
    August 2014

    CAS have responded to the The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) consultation on plans to introduce a price-cap on high cost short term credit products.

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  3. Keith Dryburgh
    Publication date:
    August 2014

    The rise in payday lending in the UK has led to a concurrent rise in the number of credit brokers who offer to search for loans for consumers for a fee. Evidence from the citizens advice service indicates that consumers can experience significant detriment and hardship caused by the (often unintentional) use of a credit broker. While brokers can offer a legitimate service, many of the industry practices, including providing misleading information, sharing personal details with other brokers, offering customer applications for the highest commission, and refusing to offer refunds, are in urgent need of change. 

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  4. Fraser Sutherland
    Publication date:
    June 2014

    New research from Citizens Advice Scotland has found that many bereaved Scots are finding it hard to pay the growing costs of burying their loved ones.

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  5. Keith Dryburgh
    Publication date:
    April 2014

    CAS has submitted evidence on food parcels to the Welfare Reform Committee ahead of an oral evidence session on the 29th April 2014. 

     

  6. Case evidence and statistics from the Scottish CAB service
    Fraser Sutherland
    Publication date:
    April 2014

    The Scottish CAB service have seen payday loans as one of the fastest growing areas of work in the last year. This evidence report reveals case evidence and statistics from our 2013 payday loan survey.

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  7. CAS briefing for policy makers
    Publication date:
    December 2013

    This briefing was provided for a Scottish Parliament members debate on the Financial Conduct Authority’s Plans to Regulate the Payday Loan Industry. Citizens Advice Bureaux across Scotland deal with 100 cases every week regarding problems with payday loan debt. CAS have made a number of recommendations that we believe will help alleviate the biggest issues clients are seeking advice on.

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  8. Publication date:
    November 2013

    Citizens Advice Scotland carried out a year-long survey of members of the public who had used payday loans (November 2012 to 2013). This followed the introduction of a payday lenders ‘Good Practice Customer Charter’ which 90% of payday lenders signed up to and committed to stamping out bad practice. Our results, backed up by case studies seen at CAB, show that one year on, many of the problems still exist for borrowers, and the code of conduct is being ignored repeatedly.

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  9. CAS response
    Fraser Sutherland
    Publication date:
    October 2013

    CAS has responded to the Financial Conduct Authority's consultation on how they approach achieving their objectives in regulating financial products.

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  10. Advice trends in Scotland
    Sarah Beattie-Smith
    Publication date:
    September 2013

    This report examines trends in the kinds of issues on which consumers in Scotland sought advice from the Citizens Advice Service in the first quarter of 2013/14.

  11. CAS response
    Publication date:
    September 2013

    CAS has issued a response to the Competition Comission's payday lending market investigation drawing on evidence from Citizens Advice Bureaux across Scotland and callers to the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline.

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  12. Beth Reid
    Publication date:
    May 2013

    CAS responds to the HMRC's consultation on supporting customers who need additional help.  We focus on our experience of supporting clients with tax credits issues.

  13. The impact of benefit reforms, changes and cuts on people and families in Scotland
    Keith Dryburgh
    Publication date:
    March 2013

    In October 2011, Citizens Advice Scotland published a briefing entitled The Impact of  the Welfare Reform Bill on Scotland’s people and services. The briefing showed that  an estimated £2.5 billion would be taken out of the local economy in Scotland during  the lifetime of this Parliament and predicted what the impacts would be on people. 

  14. Sarah Beattie-Smith
    Publication date:
    February 2013

    In November 2012, the UK Government launched its Government Digital Strategy . This paper sets out how the Government will transform the way it delivers services to citizens, including moving services online – a change in ethos to “digital by default”. Citizens Advice Scotland is concerned that a digital by default approach to welfare benefits could exclude some of the most vulnerable and marginalised members of society from accessing the very services they rely upon.

  15. Publication date:
    February 2013

    Based on the responses from bureau advisers to the recent Social Policy questionnaire, the Policy and Communications team have put together a forward work plan for 2013/14. This covers the issues that we plan to address over the coming year and the ways in which we plan to undertake this work.

  16. Keith Dryburgh
    Publication date:
    December 2012

    As welfare changes begin to affect people across the country, Citizens Advice Scotland is producing briefings outlining their impact on people across Scotland in our Voices from the Frontline series. This briefing looks at the changes to Local Housing Allowance which significantly affected 4,400 claimants aged 25 to 35 across Scotland earlier in 2012.

  17. Keith Dryburgh
    Publication date:
    November 2012

    Payday loans are increasingly becoming a significant area of advice need at citizens advice bureaux, particularly amongst younger clients who are in employment. While this form of credit may meet the needs of some customers who experience difficulties accessing mainstream credit, bureaux report that many customers have experienced financial difficulties as a result of poor policies and practices in the industry.

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  18. Publication date:
    October 2012

    Citizens Advice Bureaux in Scotland help hundreds of thousands of people with over half a million new issues each year. Snapshot uses evidence on these issues to act as an early warning system for government, service providers, and private sector companies, of where policies and practices are failing or inefficient. These monthly briefings use very recent evidence and are an excellent way of spotting trends to social policy and tracing the impact of recent policy changes.

    This edition is based on the advice needs of over 15,000 clients who approached bureaux for advice in August 2012. These clients were better off by nearly £7.9m as a result of the advice that they recieved.

  19. Keith Dryburgh
    Publication date:
    October 2012

    As welfare changes begin to affect people across the country, Citizens Advice Scotland is producing briefings outlining their impact on people across Scotland in our Voices from the Frontline series. This briefing looks at the increasing number of sanctions that have been applied to jobseekers in the past two years and the effects that they have had on claimants.

  20. Case evidence and statistics from the Scottish CAB Service
    Citizens Advice Scotland
    Publication date:
    October 2012

    This report provides a snapshot of the issues that are affecting consumers in Scotland, examining both national and local trends in consumer issues. This is based on data provided by the majority of citizens advice bureaux in Scotland and data from the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline. We will aim to publish Consumer Snapshot on a regular basis to provide an up-to-date overview of the issues facing consumers in Scotland.

    This report covers the first two quarters of the financial year 2012/13 from April-September 2012.

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