Public

This is the Annual Report for Citizens Advice Scotland for the 2020-21 financial year.

CAS welcomes the Consumer Duty consultation paper. We believe that, in principle, Scottish public bodies should have an embedded duty to consider the impact that decisions related to policy, and adopted practice could, and does, have on those engaging in its services, particularly vulnerable consumers. Scotland’s Citizens Advice network regularly deals with clients who are impacted by a lack of regard to consumer outcomes or who fall victim to poor service design.

We believe that a consumer duty will strengthen consumer protection from unintended consequences resulting from public authority decision-making. It is essential that a consumer duty results in meaningful improvements in the consumer journey and achieves positive outcomes for public authority service users.

A new CAS report looks at how UC supported five groups who seek advice from CAB every day: people who are newly out of work; people who are looking for work; people who are in work; people who are unable to work due to caring responsibilities or a disability; and finally people with children.

Our research found real gaps in the support UC offered to these people. But our report also suggests fixes. Five policy changes would strengthen UC significantly, ensuring our social security system remains accessible and effective for everyone.

With the cost of living continuing to rise, we need to ask if UC is a strong enough safety net. Investing in social security is the right thing to do for our economic recovery.