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Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) welcomes the general principles of the Bill which has the potential to create a new social security system that will make a positive difference for tens of thousands of Scotland’s citizens. There are, however, a number of areas that could be included on the face of the Bill as opposed to being left to regulations and guidance.

Citizens Advice Scotland have published our annual report on burial and cremation charges across Scotland.

“Generally, we believe that the new regulations provide greater protection to those consuming private water from Type A supplies, and greater accountability for those responsible for supplying private drinking water.”

The Consumer Futures Unit (CFU) undertook extensive research to get to the root of the frustrating surcharges consumers face in parts of Scotland. This report summarises the findings, and makes recommendations for possible solutions. 

Statistical briefing on advice given; client demographics based on an annual survey of CAB clients undertake for 4 weeks in November 2016; map of coverage within the 4 weeks and comparison to SIMD data.

During 2016-17 Citizens Advice Bureaux supported almost 275,000 clients across Scotland with over 930,000 advice needs, none of which could have been achieved without the almost 2,400 volunteers and 938 paid staff.  If standard opening hours are used as a benchmark, that would imply that one advice query is dealt with every 19 seconds!  

The 'Advice in Scotland 2016-17' report provides all the detail, while the briefing paper covers the highlights.

The Consumer Futures Unit at Citizens Advice Scotland supports ambitious climate change targets. We understand that the negative economic and social impact of climate change on future generations will be greater if action is not taken now.

However, the near term impacts on the citizens of Scotland must be carefully managed to ensure that decarbonisation policies consider affordability and consumer needs and acceptability in a way that will build positive trust and lead to mutual positive outcomes.

Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland has produced this guide for organisations supporting PPM users. It sets out 5 key support areas and how these can be tailored to PPM users. Organisations should use these guidelines to ensure they are providing appropriate and effective support to PPM users, both in-house and through partnership work.