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Publication date:April 2013105,000 households in Scotland will lose £53 million in housing support due to changes coming into force in April 2013. This is the result of new size criteria for social housing – dubbed the ‘bedroom tax’ – which will see working age tenants penalised an average of £11 per week for under occupying their homes. An estimated 83,000 households affected by the change contain at least one disabled adult.
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The impact of benefit reforms, changes and cuts on people and families in ScotlandPublication date:March 2013In October 2011, Citizens Advice Scotland published a briefing entitled The Impact of the Welfare Reform Bill on Scotland’s people and services. The briefing showed that an estimated £2.5 billion would be taken out of the local economy in Scotland during the lifetime of this Parliament and predicted what the impacts would be on people.
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Consultation responsePublication date:March 2013The Department for Work and Pensions is asking for ideas about how they can make jobsearch requirements work for in-work benefit claimants. Read CAS' response here.
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What Scotland needs from an independent Scottish welfare systemPublication date:March 2013The Scottish Government has set up an Expert Group to examine what a benefits system could look like in an indepedent Scotland. The publication sets out what CAS believes are the core principles for a new social security system for Scotland.
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Publication date:February 2013In November 2012, the UK Government launched its Government Digital Strategy . This paper sets out how the Government will transform the way it delivers services to citizens, including moving services online – a change in ethos to “digital by default”. Citizens Advice Scotland is concerned that a digital by default approach to welfare benefits could exclude some of the most vulnerable and marginalised members of society from accessing the very services they rely upon.
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Publication date:February 2013Citizens Advice Scotland welcomes the initiative from the Scottish branch of the Trading Standards Institute to address the problem of cold calling for the purposes of property maintenance and repairs. This briefing uses the evidence from the Citizens Advice Consumer Service helpline to demonstrate the consumer detriment caused by such practices.
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Publication date:February 2013The Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee launched an enquiry into the issue of underemployment which CAS and Norma Philpott (Chief Executive of CARF) were invited to provide oral evidence to on the 23rd January. This written evidence followed the oral session, reinforcing the arguments made on the day.
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Publication date:January 2013In April 2012, changes to the number of working hours that couples must work to be eligible for Working Tax Credit affected thousands of families in Scotland. Around 11,770 families, with over 23,500 children, faced losing their Working Tax Credit payments (worth an average of £2,600 per year) if they could not increase their working hours to at least 24 hours per week. Case evidence from bureaux and other sources suggest that claimants have struggled to increase their working hours in the middle of a double dip recession. The outcome of this change is therefore likely to be that thousands of low income families in Scotland have lost millions of pounds of support.
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Citizens Advice Scotland briefing for MPsPublication date:January 2013Background
The Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill was announced following the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement in December. It will introduce a cap of 1% for three years from 2013/14 on most working-age benefits and tax credits. MPs debate the Bill on Monday 21st January 2013.
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Publication date:January 2013Evidence from bureaux shows that welfare changes are driving an increased demand for benefits advice across the country, with a knock-on effect on the ability of bureaux to be able to help their clients. As the welfare reform agenda gathers pace in 2013, we expect demand for benefit advice to increase further.
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Energy issues brought to citizens advice bureaux in 2011/12Publication date:January 2013This report examines the types of issues on which clients sought advice with regards to their household energy in 2011/12. It also examines the client profile of people seeking help on such issues, thus allowing support to be targeted at the groups where it is most needed.
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Publication date:December 2012Citizens Advice Scotland's response to the Scottish Court Services consultation on the future of Scotland's Court services.
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How some online retailers are disadvantaging Scottish consumersPublication date:December 2012Over 1 million Scots are being ‘routinely ripped off’ by unfair delivery charges because of where they live, according to new evidence published by Citizens Advice Scotland.
By analysing over 3,000 customer complaints and over 500 online companies, we have uncovered a ‘postcode penalty’ that sees some Scots having to pay an average of nearly £19 extra when buying goods online. The problem does not just affect remote rural and island areas, but postcodes right across Scotland. It hits businesses as well as families.
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Publication date:December 2012As welfare changes begin to affect people across the country, Citizens Advice Scotland is producing briefings outlining their impact on people across Scotland in our Voices from the Frontline series. This briefing looks at the changes to Local Housing Allowance which significantly affected 4,400 claimants aged 25 to 35 across Scotland earlier in 2012.
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Publication date:November 2012Payday loans are increasingly becoming a significant area of advice need at citizens advice bureaux, particularly amongst younger clients who are in employment. While this form of credit may meet the needs of some customers who experience difficulties accessing mainstream credit, bureaux report that many customers have experienced financial difficulties as a result of poor policies and practices in the industry.
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The financial benefits of advice provision - the example of the Citizens Advice Service in ScotlandPublication date:November 2012The Fraser of Allander Institute, on behalf of Citizens Advice Scotland, has published a study on the economic benefits of the Citizens Advice Service in Scotland.
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Publication date:November 2012A response to the Scottish Government's consultation on the Procurement Reform Bill.
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Publication date:October 2012A briefing sent to MSPs ahead of the Stage 1 Perliamentary debate on the Scottish Civil Justice Council and Criminal Legal Assistance Bill.
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Publication date:October 2012As welfare changes begin to affect people across the country, Citizens Advice Scotland is producing briefings outlining their impact on people across Scotland in our Voices from the Frontline series. This briefing looks at the increasing number of sanctions that have been applied to jobseekers in the past two years and the effects that they have had on claimants.
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CAS response to the BIS consultation on the supply of goods, services and digital contentPublication date:October 2012The UK Government has consulted on their proposals to simplify consumer protection legislation. The new Consumer Bill of Rights aims to harmonise European legislation into our own consumer protection laws, as well as simplifying many disparate pieces of current UK legislation. Here, CAS gives its response to the proposals.
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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.