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Publication date:April 2014CAS has submitted evidence on food parcels to the Welfare Reform Committee ahead of an oral evidence session on the 29th April 2014.
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Publication date:April 2014Our series of briefings ‘Voices from the Frontline’ show the reality of the impact of current welfare changes on the people of Scotland. We highlight the experiences of the thousands of clients advised by CAB in Scotland and make recommendations for change.
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Publication date:April 2014Claiming sickness and disability benefits can be a stressful process, and many bureaux clients feel that the medical assessments for the benefit do not reflect their difficulties.
They often feel they need additional evidence from their doctor to demonstrate the true picture, but getting this evidence and having it considered can be difficult and costly.
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Case evidence and statistics from the Scottish CAB servicePublication date:April 2014The Scottish CAB service have seen payday loans as one of the fastest growing areas of work in the last year. This evidence report reveals case evidence and statistics from our 2013 payday loan survey.
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The Postcode Penalty: The Business BurdenPublication date:April 2014The Scottish CAB service has been campaigning on the issue of unfair delivery charges for the past four years.
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Publication date:April 2014
CAS provided written evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Welfare Reform Committee’s investigation into the new sanctions regime.
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Evidence to the Work and Pensions Select CommitteePublication date:March 2014
CAS has submitted evidence about the experiences of Scottish bureaux clients claiming Employment and Support Allowance and undergoing the Work Capability Assessment to the House of Commons Select Committee on Work and Pensions.
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Report for Consumer Futures Scotland – Final ReportPublication date:March 2014In 2014 Consumer Futures commissioned Verco and Cambridge Econometrics to assess the social, environmental and macroeconomic impact of investing carbon tax revenues in energy efficiency programmes for fuel poor households in Scotland. It follows on from a similar UK-wide study commissioned by Consumer Futures in 2012 that demonstrated that investing money raised through carbon taxes into household energy efficiency creates more jobs and growth than other kinds of major government investment or tax cuts, in addition to delivering environmental and social benefits. The 2014 report that can be downloaded below focuses specifically on assessing and quantifying these benefits within the Scottish context.
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Publication date:March 2014
As a member of the Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum, Citizens Advice Scotland is working closely with the Scottish Government and other organisations to ensure that, so far as is reasonably practicable, no-one in Scotland is living in fuel poverty by November 2016.
The Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum published it's final report on its review of the Scottish Government's fuel poverty strategy in March 2014. This included a number of recommendations, covering a range of issues that the Forum identified as needing to be acted upon if fuel poverty is to be eradicated by November 2016. Amongst others, these included recommendations on how the government can prioritise: areas of wider poverty and deprivation; fuel poor households who live remote from the gas grid and in harder to treat properties; and improving understanding of the links between fuel poverty and health or other social benefits.
CAS is supportive of the Scottish Government’s drive to eradicate fuel poverty in Scotland and has signed up to all of the recommendations contained in the final report.
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Publication date:March 2014The work of the Citizens Advice Service in Scotland helps our clients access the advice they so dearly need, but we do so much more.
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Repossessions in Scotland: A note on the experience of Citizens Advice Bureaux in Scotland 2011-2012
A note on the experience of Citizens Advice Bureaux in Scotland 2011-2012Publication date:March 2014In 2011/2012, bureaux across Scotland advised on almost 52,000 housing issues which represented a spectrum of housing-related problems from access to a tenancy, to problems with the condition of a property, neighbour problems and repossession.
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Response from Citizens Advice ScotlandPublication date:March 2014Clients facing problems with zero hours employment contracts have been increasingly reported by CAB. Based on their evidence, CAS responded to the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills' consultation on the issue.
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Working at the EdgePublication date:March 2014
National statistics show that more than half of the people living in relative poverty in the UK live in a household where at least one person works.
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CAS ResponsePublication date:March 2014
CAS have submitted evidence to the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee on the Housing (Scotland) Bill.
Citizens Advice Scotland broadly supports the Bill as introduced, but has some recommendations for areas where it could be strengthened or clarified.
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Written Evidence from Citizens Advice ScotlandPublication date:March 2014The Housing (Scotland) Bill is proposed to make a number of changes to the law affecting both social and private rental housing. Based on the experiences of CAB clients, CAS submitted written evidence to the Scottish Parliament Committee examining the Bill.
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Response from CASPublication date:February 2014
The Scottish Government is consulting on a draft Bill, the Welfare Funds (Scotland) Bill, which would make the Scottish Welfare Fund a permanent, statutory scheme. This consultation focuses on the contents of the Bill and arrangements for second tier review.
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Publication date:February 2014Citizens Advice Scotland responds to The Royal Society of Edinburgh’s interim report of their inquiry into spreading the benefits of digital participation.
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Issues brought to the Scottish CAB Service in 2012/13Publication date:January 2014Advice in Detail: Energy looks at the energy related issues which people brought to the Scottish CAB Service in 2012/13. The report, based on evidence from citizens advice bureaux and the Citizens Advice consumer service, shows that consumers continue to face many and varied problems with their energy, from high costs to poor selling practices. The report also demonstrates the value of CAB advice, with the financial gain for clients reaching almost a quarter of a million pounds in 2012/13 – up 15% from the previous year.
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Response from CASPublication date:January 2014
CAS has submitted detailed evidence to the Government-commissioned Independent Review of Sanctions.
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Publication date:December 2013Overall, 2012/13 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.
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.