Publications

In 2018-19, the Citizens Advice network helped over 270,000 clients in Scotland with almost 750,000 advice issues. With support from the network, clients had financial gains of over £131 million and our self-help website Advice in Scotland received approximately 3.7 million views. 

The Citizens Advice network dealt with 110,439 debt issues around half of which were government or local authority debts. Advisers gave advice regarding benefit related debt problems, our main UK wide government debt issue on 5,557 occasions.

Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) welcome the opportunity to contribute to the Spending Review process and provide our insight and data. Protecting and maximising household incomes and averting mass unemployment are the essential foundations on which the Spending Review in this time of COVID-19 must be built. The Government can do this by committing to the following actions;

• Implementing targeted job protection initiatives to avert unemployment,
• Strengthening the Universal Credit safety net by ensuring level of payments are maintained at least at current levels,
• Making Universal Credit work for those in work.

Citizens Advice Scotland has responded to the consultation on proposed guidance for firms on the fair treatment of vulnerable consumers. We are pleased to see the continued commitment by the FCA to protecting vulnerable consumers.

Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the draft regulations. CAS warmly welcomes the introduction of the Scottish Child Payment (SCP), which is an excellent example of imaginative use of Scotland’s devolved social security powers to provide much-needed support to Scotland’s citizens. Scotland’s CAB network regularly advises clients who have required crisis support from the Scottish Welfare Fund or food banks due to their social security entitlements not being adequate to pay for essential costs. The Scottish Child Payment promises to be an effective tool for reducing child poverty in Scotland.

Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) has responded to the Equalities and Human Rights Committee’s inquiry into the impacts of COVID-19.

Impact report on 10 years of the Armed Services Advice Project (ASAP).

Scotland has redefined fuel poverty and set targets towards its eradication by 2040. The Warm Home Discount scheme exists, by definition, to support fuel poor households and fuel poverty risk groups. This report examines the effectiveness of Warm Home Discount in the context of the new fuel poverty definition in Scotland.

'Mind the Fuel Poverty Gap' sets the policy context around the key issues, provides insight into research conducted by Changeworks for CAS, and makes a series of recommendations. 

Scotland has set some of the most determined climate goals in the world, and home energy efficiency has a large role to play in Scotland’s transition to a low or no carbon society.

The Scottish Government has set ambitious goals for Scotland’s housing stock, which will be measured by a home’s energy efficiency rating as described in an energy performance certificate (EPC). However, consumer knowledge of EPCs is low, and even though they contain recommendations on how to make a home more energy efficient, they seem to be a poor motivational tool.

CAS commissioned Changeworks to gather feedback about how EPCs are viewed, understood, and interacted with by consumers, and how they could be improved to be better understood and more motivational.

Through a combination of ISM workshops and online testing, research found that:

• Many people view energy efficiency as a luxury for those who can afford it
  

• Barriers to home energy efficiency improvements are essentially cost and hassle
  

• EPCs are not considered useful, and most homeowners just put them in a drawer
  

• People who consider themselves highly environmentally conscious are no more likely to know their home energy efficiency rating or be familiar with an EPC than someone who is disengaged with environmental issues (value-intention gap)
  

• People are mainly motivated by cost, but social desirability plays a large role as well. People may be more motivated by the cost of not acting than potential fuel bill savings, especially if this is linked to Scotland’s carbon targets or the climate emergency
  

• A 1-2-3 style EPC, designed like a home report, may be easier for consumers to understand and engage with
  

• Consumers value simplicity and colour, but for many the preferred style and layout was subjective. Energy efficiency advice accompanying an EPC is crucial to ensure consumers understand the document and are able to make the choices most suitable to their property
  

Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) welcomed the creation of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS): timely responses which protected incomes and prevented many jobs being lost. There are some gaps in the schemes, together with some misuse or non-use of the CJRS by employers, which have caused detriment to workers.