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"Measures to ensure the Scottish water and sewerage non-household retail market work well"Publication date:June 2016
The Consumer Futures Unit's response to the Commission's consultation seeking views on measures to ensure the Scottish water and sewerage non-household retail market
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CAS written evidencePublication date:June 2016
If conditionality is to be used within the benefit system, CAS believes it must be part of a holistic system that supports, rather than compels, jobseekers into sustainable employment. Sanctions should be always proportionate to the “offence” and should be operated as a last resort to ensure that claimants are seeking employment in exchange for their benefit.
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A review of local bus provision by Scottish Citizens Advice BureauxPublication date:June 2016
In 2015 Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) published a report, Remotely Excluded, which used our advice statistics to identify the major issues facing consumers in rural Scotland. One of the most important themes identified by Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB) and our clients was the difficulty people had accessing essential services, such as healthcare and work opportunities, using the bus network. To look more closely at what was happening with public transport across Scotland we carried out regional research lead by 16 of our local CAB members.
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Early Evidence of the Impact of Universal Credit in Scotland's CAB NetworkPublication date:June 2016
This report presents many of the Universal Credit cases that Scotland’s CAB network has advised on during the first year of the rollout. At this stage, it is a only a small fraction of the people who will eventually receive Universal Credit – single jobseekers with ‘simple’ claims. However, the evidence allows us to start to identify some of the challenges that may stand in the way of the success of Universal Credit and to make recommendations for how these obstacles can be overcome. These challenges fall into three groups – design challenges, transitional and administrative challenges and future challenges.
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Briefing for Scottish Parliament debate - 9 June 2016Publication date:June 2016
This briefing focuses on the opportunities that the devolution of social security powers to Scotland with a particular focus on disability benefits – it is the chance to design a system that has the principles of dignity and respect at its heart. The following pages outline the challenges and issues that the Parliament needs to address to make this system a reality.
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Briefing for MSPs - Scottish Parliament debate 2 June 2016Publication date:June 2016
This briefing focuses on the opportunities that the devolution of social security powers offers to Scotland – it is the chance to design a system that has the principles of dignity and respect at its heart. The following pages outline the challenges and issues that the parliament needs to address to make this system a reality.
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Publication date:May 2016
A third of CAB clients find themselves digitally excluded, according to new research.
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Publication date:May 2016
CAS response to Scottish Government response to the Report of Working Group on Consumer and Competition Policy for Scotland.
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Publication date:May 2016
CAS financial statements for the year ended 31st March 2016.
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UK Parliament Work and Pensions CommitteePublication date:May 2016
Citizens Advice Scotland is extremely concerned about the potential negative impact of the abolition of the ESA Work Related Activity component. The removal of support for the additional costs faced by disabled people through this component could have the effect of creating additional barriers to them gaining employment. The majority of people affected by the move are far from the labour market, with 73% of Scottish claimants in the ESA Work Related Activity Group having been in receipt of the benefit for more than two years, and in some cases will never be fit for work again.
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Publication date:May 2016
CAS financial statements for the year ended 31st March 2015.
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CAB Client Profile Report: Issue 3Publication date:April 2016
In this edition of the ‘Who Are You?’ series we take a look at those who came to CAB service points during November 2015. Information was collected on almost 17,000 clients, which is an increase in reporting of 6% from our first client profile data collection in 2014. In learning from the pilot phase of this work, a more accurate measure of comparison between the client profile and all clients seen in November has been developed. This indicates that the profile captures approximately 74% of all clients seen in November 2015, an increase of 6% from the proportion seen in 2014.
As with all surveys of this type not all clients wished to answer all questions; it is also not always appropriate to ask for such information. Because of this it is not possible to report on every category, but our analysis shows that comparison with the client profile data from 2014/15 is consistent and the data collected is robust enough to compare with the 2011 Census.
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CAB Client Profile Report: Issue 2Publication date:April 2016
Using data from the 2014 Client Profile survey, this second publication in the 'Who Are You? series looks at initial findings from an analysis of CAB clients by the type of advice provided to them.
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Publication date:April 2016
This report provides a snapshot of the key issues that are affecting consumers in Scotland, examining both national and local trends in consumer issues. This is based on data provided by Citizens Advice Bureaux in Scotland and data from the Citizens Advice consumer service and covers the period from April 2014 to May 2015.
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Publication date:April 2016
The Consumer Futures Unit of Citizens Advice Scotland and Citizens Advice (England and Wales) have responsibilities to represent energy consumers in Great Britain in accordance with the 2007 Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act.
This paper is their joint response to the provisional decision on remedies in the Competition and Market Authority (CMA)’s energy market investigation.
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An analysis of employment advice provided by Scotland’s CAB networkPublication date:April 2016
The Citizens Advice Service is the most common external source of advice for employees who experience problems at work. In Scotland last year, clients brought over 50,625 new employment issues to their local CAB.
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A Guide to Deemed ContractsPublication date:April 2016
The Consumer Futures Unit and the Water Industry Commission for Scotland have developed and published a leaflet aimed at small businesses who may be unaware they need to pay for water and sewerage services, and are allocated a supplier. The leaflet explains what a Deemed Contract is and what they need to do next.
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The Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland work plan for 2016/17Publication date:March 2016
Following our earlier consultation, we are pleased to launch our Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland work plan for 2016/17, covering our work in energy, post and water.
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Working for a Fairer ScotlandPublication date:March 2016
Overall, 2014/15 has been another impressive year for CAS. We have faced many challenges, but have responded by being more active, delivering more funding and infrastructure support to bureaux and raising our campaigning and media profile. Together with our member bureaux, we believe we make the vital difference as the last line of support for many thousands of people across Scotland in these immensely difficult times.
In 2014/15 the Citizens advice Service helped over 323,000 clients living in Scotland.
Clients gained over £124 million with support from the service.
After taking on the Consumer Futures team in April 2014 CAS has now strengthened its voice in supporting and assisting consumers across Scotland.
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CAS responsePublication date:March 2016
CAS has responded to the Social Security Advisory Committee's consultation on Decision Making and Mandatory Reconsideration.
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Stressed About Debt? High costs of energy, food and fuel mean that many people are finding it impossible to keep up, worrying about debt or falling behind on bills. The Citizens Advice network in Scotland is here for you, with free, confidential and impartial advice in a variety of ways.