Publications

Citizens Advice Scotland is launching the Mental Health and Money Good Practice Creditor Guidance.  We've prepared this Briefing Note to support the launch.

We are actively encouraging creditors, both public and private to adopt our Principles. These set out the minimum standards someone experiencing mental health and debt can expect from their creditor when seeking support. Our guidance provides practical examples to firms and public bodies on how to achieve these minimum standards.

Debt is often the cause and consequence of poor mental health and wellbeing. This intrinsic link between debt and mental health is well known with it estimated that 1 in 2 people in problem debt also have a mental health issue.

Managing these issues can prove extremely difficult and people can often find themselves in vicious cycles where money problems impact upon their mental health and poor mental health worsens their financial situation.

Our Citizens Advice Network routinely supports people in these situations and with the rising cost of living crisis now being felt by our debt clients and beyond, we have seen countless examples of people with mental health and money issues reaching out to creditors seeking support, only to find barriers in their way such as inaccessible processes, online only options and a lack of understanding around their mental health.

These instances highlight the vast amount of missed opportunities to disrupt that vicious cycle. We believe that creditors, both private firms and public services can do more in breaking this link.

To do this effectively, it is crucial that creditors have the tools to support people struggling with mental health issues. Our Good Practice Guidance seeks to do just that by providing tangible steps that creditors can take to make them more accessible for those dealing with mental health and money problems.

By adopting our Principles, creditors can break this vicious cycle and care for their customers at a time when support for people’s mental health and money is needed now more than ever.

The report is compiled from a snapshot of Scottish CAB clients with complex or multiple debt issues; 2,987 of these clients had relevant data recorded. Complex debt refers to cases where there are multiple creditors or a single liability where the issue requires intricate legal or administrative work, for example responding to court action. The data was collected between April 2021 and March 2022 with the previous annual period used as a comparator.

Statistical briefing on advice given and client demographics including comparison to SIMD data.

The full report, which includes detailed statistics, an overview of activities and case studies, can downloaded below.

If you would like to access previous reports please contact the project team. 

This is the Annual Report for Citizens Advice Scotland for the 2021-22 financial year.

This research report looks at the private rented sector in Argyll and Bute and was made possible through the award of Small Impact Grant from Citizens Advice Scotland and delivered in-house by bureau staff. 

Scoping this work, the bureau had two overarching objectives:

-   to raise awareness of freely available advice and support to tenants, as all too often tenants are unaware of their rights or approach the bureau only at the stage when they are potentially facing eviction;

and,

-   to gain a better understanding of the challenges facing private rental tenants in the area which also has a thriving and important tourism sector.

Through a mix of print, radio and digital promotion, an estimated 20,000 people were reached, helping to raise awareness of the bureau and the advice and support available on a wide range of everyday issues facing local people including advice on housing, debt, employment and welfare.

Central to this research was a private sector rental survey which was designed to capture the views of those currently renting in that sector, as well as those looking for a private rental in the area.  Completing the survey in full, 155 people shared their views and experiences.  Focus groups followed and provided further opportunity to gain deeper insight into private rental experience. 

Delivering this report comes at a time of significant and potential change in the private and short term rentals sectors in Scotland.  The report seeks to provide useful insight into the private rental sector in Argyll and Bute, the challenges private sector renters face, and how closely aligned economic prosperity and the availability of safe, secure, warm and affordable homes are to the area.  

Key Points

• CAS is pleased to respond to this call for evidence on health assessments. We have long been calling for fairer processes which put people’s rights at the heart of it, and we want to see a fairer system of dignified, accessible, timely, and fair medical assessments that provide disabled people with the support they are entitled to.
• Although there will be no new claims for PIP due to the full implementation of Adult Disability Payment across Scotland from 29 August, we have responded to the questions relating to the future of PIP as we have a wealth of data and experience on the administration of PIP.
• CAS has restricted its responses to those where we have robust data to inform our responses.

Recommendations

• A range of assessment types should be available, face-to-face, telephone and in person, and the client should be able to choose their preferred method. Outcomes for each method should be monitored to ensure parity.
• Descriptors for both PIP and ESA should be reviewed to better reflect social and human rights models of disability and move beyond assessing a lack of functionality.
• The use of lived experience panels and user groups involved in the design and development of any changes made to the claims and assessment processes.
• Consideration should be given to the Social Security Scotland approach to assessment, in particular:
• The use of specialist assessors;
• Bringing the assessment 'in-house';
• Gathering evidence on behalf of the client; and
• Making a medical assessment the last resort.