Publications

Citizens Advice Scotland welcomes the opportunity to respond to this consultation. Above all, we want to ensure that a market framework improves outcomes for heat network consumers. We have been calling for heat network consumers to have access to the same rights and services afforded to customers of the regulated energy market for several years.

CAS welcomes the opportunity to feed into the work of the Scottish Government's Advisory Group on Economic Recovery. Central to our view of how to stimulate economic growth post-COVID-19 is the principle of protecting household incomes and helping with the cost of living. 

Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) welcomes the opportunity to provide evidence on the Bill. The Bill provides an opportunity to make minor amendments to address issues which have been identified since the passage of the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018, including making provision for the introduction of the Scottish Child Payment. CAS welcomes the Bill and is broadly content with its provisions, although there are a number of areas that the Committee may wish to consider in its scrutiny.

Technical details:
• The survey was designed by Mark Diffley Consultancy and Research Ltd
• Results are based on a survey of 1,050 respondents conducted using the ScotPulse online panel,
• Fieldwork was conducted between 9th and 12th April 2020
• Results are weighted to the Scottish population by gender and age

In this report the Financial Health team explores the current state of play in council debt collection across council tax, rent and water debt and presents a charter for change. 

Throughout March 2020, the Scottish Citizens Advice network saw substantial changes in the types of advice sought and the ways people accessed that advice as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

CAS welcomes the ambition of the Scottish Government to bring every owner-occupied home in Scotland to Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) band C. This will not only increase the energy efficiency of Scotland’s housing stock, but also reduce carbon emissions and alleviate fuel poverty. We believe a warm, dry, energy efficient home that is affordable to heat should be the standard in Scotland, not a privilege.

In its response to the Scottish Government's principles of charging for investment period 2021-27, Citizens Advice Scotland has called on the Scottish Government:

• To commit to the principle of affordable charges for all
• For responsive, robust and sustainable affordability policy that adequately protects low income households
• To ensure debt recovery achieves a balance between revenue collection and consumer protection as part of Scottish Water's developing ethical framework and its work with local authorities

Scotland is one of the first nations to sign up to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDG 6.1 specifically targets “universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all”. Scotland has a significant challenge in achieving this goal by 2030 for more than 190,000 people who are not served by the public supply.