Publications

The UK Government’s changes to Housing Benefit have had a significant impact on claimants in Scotland. In this briefing, we have concentrated on the developing impact of the ‘bedroom tax’.

The Work and Pensions Select Committee at the House of COmmons is holding an inquiry into the effectiveness of Jobcentre Plus, particularly in the context of current welfare reforms.

In early 2013, the Scottish Government put the Courts Reform (Scotland) Bill out for consultation.  The Bill embodies the changes envisiged in the Gill Review (2007) and includes proposals for the introduction of a new judicial tier as well as a specalist personal injury court.  This is the Citizens Advice Scotland response.

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”. The strategy includes an expectation that 80% of benefits applications will be completed online by 2017 .  This new strategy comes at the same time as the Government’s changes to the welfare system which, coupled with at least £18 billion of cuts to the UK welfare budget, will cause significant upheaval for citizens currently in receipt of benefits.

The Scottish Government consulted in early 2013 on the possibility of achieving better dispute resolution in housing through introducing a Housing Tribunal.  The consultation sought views on the creation of such a forum and the extent to which a tribunal should have powers.  This is the CAS response.

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. 

CAS's annual report 2011/12. Further copies and the full financial expenditure report are available on request.

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 clients who approached bureaux during January 2013.

Thank you to all bureaux for their feedback, without which this type of publication would not be possible.

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.