Spotlight on: Consumer

Since our foundation in 1939, bureaux have been recognised as a place where people can take their consumer problems. The role of the Scottish CAB Service is now being further developed, including working with Citizens Advice (England and Wales) to deliver the Citizens Advice consumer service phone and web advice service (formerly Consumer Direct).

News

Payday Loans – Scots urged to report their experiences in CAS survey

27 May 2013

Citizens Advice Scotland want to hear from Scots who have been treated unfairly by payday loan companies in the last 6 months. As CAB colleagues in England and Wales today publish the findings of a survey of payday loan customers there, CAS is extending the Scottish version of the survey to allow more Scots to come forward and report their negative experiences. The survey is at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ScotlandPDLs .
Glowing praise for CAB work and evidence in Holyrood digital access debate

15 May 2013

On 14 May, CAS released Offline and Left Behind: Digital exclusion amongst Scotland's CAB clients. The report shows that over three quarters of clients with benefit issues say they will struggle with the UK Government's move to 'digital by default' - moving people on to applying for benefits online only - with the UK Government having a target of 80% of applicants doing so. A total of 76% of CAB clients said they would struggle to apply for a benefit online including 39% who said they could not apply online at all and so are at risk of losing their only source of income as a result.
76% of Scottish benefit claimants struggle with internet use

14 May 2013

Over three quarters of Scottish benefit claimants say they will struggle with new rules forcing them to apply for their benefits online, and so may lose their only source of income as a result.

Publications

Consumer Snapshot - June 2013

Advice trends in Scotland

Publication date: June 2013

This report examines trends in the kinds of issues that consumers in Scotland approached the Citizens Advice Service for advice on in 2012/13.

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Consultation response on a New Food Body for Scotland

Keith Dryburgh

Publication date: May 2013

Citizens advice bureaux, and a range of other community organisations, have reported a significant rise in the number of service users who are either struggling to afford adequate food or who are experiencing a crisis where they cannot afford food at all. A range of factors are causing this trend, including falling incomes, a rise in food prices, and benefit cuts. This represents a worsening of a situation where many families were already struggling to afford adequate food. The establishment of the new food body in Scotland represents a timely opportunity to address many of the wider food-related issues that particularly affect Scotland, including food poverty, poor diet, obesity and ill health.

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Offline and left behind

Digital exclusion amongst Scotland's CAB clients

Sarah Beattie-Smith

Publication date: May 2013

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Snapshot February 2013

January cases

Publication date: February 2013

Citizens Advice Bureaux in Scotland help hundreds of thousands of people with over half a million new issues each year. Snapshot uses evidence on these issues to act as an early warning system for government, service providers, and private sector companies, of where policies and practices are failing or inefficient. These monthly briefings use very recent evidence and are an excellent way of spotting trends to social policy and tracing the impact of recent policy changes.

This edition is based on the advice needs of clients who approached bureaux during January 2013.

Thank you to all bureaux for their feedback, without which this type of publication would not be possible.

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