Publications

CAS undertook a detailed survey research of 178 households in Scotland, over two thirds of which live in a flood risk area based on SEPA analysis.

On-going analysis of CAB case evidence over the last four years has shown that more and more bureaux clients are experiencing periods of no income, and are unable to afford essentials including food, gas and electricity to heat their homes, as well as priority payments such as rent. More worryingly still are the number of clients who present at bureaux having not eaten in a number of days. 

Mains gas is the cheapest way to heat a home but 23% of Scottish households rely on more expensive fuel types, such as bottled gas or electricity, to heat their property. Many off-gas households are located in rural areas and are vulnerable to fuel poverty owing to a number of additional factors, such as a greater prevalence of colder properties which are harder to treat with energy efficiency measures. 

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
works well.

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.

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.

A third of CAB clients find themselves digitally excluded, according to new research.

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. 

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.