Public

As part of the Scottish Government funding to help bureaux mitigate the impact of Social Security changes, CAS commissioned an external researcher to carry out qualitative research to increase our understanding of:

• The main drivers of effective partnerships between bureaux and other organisations in reaching out to individuals
• The benefits to the organisations involved
• The added-value for clients supported.

The study also set out to capture the impact on individuals and the bureaux as a result of the changes to social security benefits and the roll out of Universal Credit. 

Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) welcomes the opportunity to provide evidence to the Committee’s inquiry. In 2015/16, citizens advice bureaux in Scotland advised clients on 227,561 new issues related to social security benefits. Of those, 98,699 (43%) related to the six legacy benefits that are due to be replaced by Universal Credit. It is likely that Universal Credit will eventually become the largest single issue that Scotland’s CAB Network provides advice on, and in areas where Full Service Universal Credit has already been rolled out, it is quickly beginning to take up a significant proportion of CAB advisers’ time.

The Consumer Futures Unit is publishing a series of briefing sheets that draw together evidence and recommendations on issues relevant to energy, post and water consumers in Scotland.  This briefing gives an overview of recent energy price rises by major suppliers in Great Britain. 

Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) warmly welcomes the opportunity to respond to this consultation. These draft regulations represent the first piece of legislation as part of the social security powers devolved to the Scottish Government under the Scotland Act 2016. The use of the Universal Credit flexibilities has been of considerable interest to CAS, alongside the wider rollout of Universal Credit, which is already a significant impact on many CAB clients.

This is the Annual Report for Citizens Advice Scotland for the 2015-16 financial year. It was approved at the Citizens Advice Scotland AGM on 28 March 2017.

CAS welcomes the Government’s ambition to reduce the disability employment gap, which is important in ensuring equality, fairness in the workplace and helping people with disabilities and health conditions maximise their incomes. However, it should be recognised that there are people who will not be able to undertake paid work because of their condition or impairment, in a number of cases for the remainder of their life.

The Consumer Futures Unit (CFU) has responded to the Scottish Parliament’s joint call for evidence as part of its scrutiny of the Scottish Government’s third draft Climate Change Plan.

The CFU is pleased to have had the opportunity to comment on Scottish Ministers’ plans for meeting Scotland’s annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets. In responding to the Scottish Parliament’s joint call for evidence we have limited our comments to areas of the draft plan that are directly relevant to our remit.

In this publication we present our written evidence to the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee. Our evidence to the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee and the Economy, Jobs and Fair Work Committee is available separately and can be downloaded below. 

The Consumer Futures Unit (CFU) has responded to the Scottish Parliament’s joint call for evidence as part of its scrutiny of the Scottish Government’s third draft Climate Change Plan.

The CFU is pleased to have had the opportunity to comment on Scottish Ministers’ plans for meeting Scotland’s annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets. In responding to the Scottish Parliament’s joint call for evidence we have limited our comments to areas of the draft plan that are directly relevant to our remit.

In this publication we present our written evidence to the Economy, Jobs and Fair Work Committee. Our evidence to the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee and the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee is available separately and can be downloaded below. 

The Consumer Futures Unit (CFU) has responded to the Scottish Parliament’s joint call for evidence as part of its scrutiny of the Scottish Government’s third draft Climate Change Plan.

The CFU is pleased to have had the opportunity to comment on Scottish Ministers’ plans for meeting Scotland’s annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets. In responding to the Scottish Parliament’s joint call for evidence we have limited our comments to areas of the draft plan that are directly relevant to our remit.

In this publication we present our written evidence to the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee. Our evidence to the Economy, Jobs and Fair Work Committee and the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee is available separately and can be downloaded below.