Public

During 2015/16 Citizens Advice Bureaux supported over 260,000 clients across Scotland with over 910,000 advice needs, none of which could have been achieved without the almost 2,400 volunteers and 1,000 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 2015-16' report provides all the detail, while the briefing paper covers the highlights.

Scotland’s CAB network provides a substantial amount of advice relating to problems at work. In 2015/16, citizens advice bureaux in Scotland advised clients on 48,530 new employment issues. 

Examples of unfair employment practices that have affected CAB clients include unfair dismissal; not being paid for work carried out; being paid considerably below the National Minimum Wage; being denied sick pay or paid holiday; and instances of bullying and discrimination including racism, and women who were dismissed when they became pregnant.

Scotland’s food and drink industry is one of the best in the world but some consumers in Scotland are getting a raw deal and facing poor quality produce and service by some leading food retailers and manufacturers.

Following our Round the Bend report we invited policy experts in public transport, consumer organisations, government officials and community representatives to discuss the issues facing rural communities and public transport.

The emergence of so-called new forms of employment relationships between
workers and employers has put a strain on existing employment protections. In
particular, the misuse of zero hours contracts has been a major concern for CAS over the past three years.

The CFU's Water Team has worked in partnership with the Water Industry Commission for Scotland, Business Gateway, Scottish Water and the Federation of Small Businesses to develop an information leaflet for new businesses about the non-domestic water market in Scotland.

The leaflet will help to improve outcomes for business consumers in non-domestic water market in Scotland. It is hoped that the leaflet, by targeting new businesses, will alert them to the wide range of options available, and to ensure customers get the best deals. the leaflet will be available from the Business Gateway advice network, as well as through other networks in the non-domestic water market.

Designing a new social security system for Scotland is a major opportunity and challenge. CAS has attempted to bring the best of our unique evidence base to inform the development of the new system based on the experiences of those who work with the current system on a daily basis. In developing a substantial response to the Scottish Government’s recent public consultation on the devolved social security system, CAS carried out specific engagement activity with 144 CAB clients and 102 CAB advisers with direct experience of the current system, in addition to CAB case information which provide real time insights into the daily operation of the system.

CAS is generally concerned about the restriction on families to only
being able to claim Child Tax Credits or Universal Credit for two children, and
would recommend the Government reconsider the policy in its entirety rather
than making exemptions to it.

The full report, which includes detailed statistics, an overview of activities and case studies, can downloaded below.

If you would like to access previous reports please contact the project team.