Publications

Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) welcomes the Bill, which 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 amendments brought at Stage 2, which cover a number of further areas which CAS and others identified in evidence at Stage 1.

Earlier this year CAS undertook to research how accountable public services in Scotland are. This report presents the findings of that work. 

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.

Citizens Advice Scotland welcomes the moves to extend Winter Heating Assistance in the challenging context of COVID19 which has resulted in delays to wider measures on disability assistance.  We recommend the draft regulations are amended to better meet the policy intention and add clarity in a number of areas.

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.
• Wave 1 fieldwork was conducted between 24th and 27th March 2020 and received 1040 responses,
• Wave 2 fieldwork was conducted between 9th and 12th April 2020 and received 1048 responses,
• Wave 3 fieldwork was conducted between 7th and 18th May 2020 and received 997 responses,
• Results are weighted to the Scottish population by gender and age.

CAS welcomes the opportunity to respond to this consultation.

We want to ensure that the Heat Networks (Scotland) Bill delivers the best possible outcomes for heat network consumers, and gives parity with the rights and services afforded to consumers of the regulated energy market. Unfortunately we are aware of instances where heat network consumers have been disadvantaged due to the current unregulated nature of heat networks and are keen that this Bill works towards improving this as much as possible.