Across Scotland, thousands of people visit a Citizens Advice Bureau each week.
Their cases inform the work Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) does and build a body of evidence which allows us to campaign on a range of issues, from faulty used cars to benefit sanctions. CAS carries out national campaigns across Scotland, with a particular focus on local action through the CAB network.
Campaign hub
Our current and upcoming campaigns
On Monday 4th November, we are launching our campaign with a focus on young people and their employment rights. Our campaign outputs will feed into our longer term engagement on young people’s rights at work, seeking to get a fair deal for young people. We want to gather the experience of young people and raise awareness of their rights at work, empowering them to take action on issues and increasing their public confidence and awareness.
The campaign will run for two weeks, during that time we will be working with a range of national partners such as NUS Scotland, Young Scot, Scottish Trades Union Congress and the Poverty Alliance. We will be supporting the Living Wage Foundation’s ‘Living Wage Week’, which launches on Monday 11th November, an ideal time to spotlight and highlight the need for fair pay in Scotland.
The Food on the Table campaign ran throughout September and October 2018. The aim of the campaign was to give the Scottish public a voice on the affordability, choice and access to food through a public survey.
Although the survey has now closed, the results have been published and we will continue to look for opportunities to ensure that the lived experiences of those in food insecurity are heard.
National Consumer Week is an annual campaign, this year focusing on online marketplaces and the rights of consumers using them. This year's campaign launches on Cyber Monday - Monday 26th November.
Each year, National Consumer Week raises awareness of specific consumer issues. Every year covers a different topic and in previous years, the campaign has promoted awareness of issues such as electrical safety, subscription traps, and consumer rights. Launching on Cyber Monday, the campaign will focus on raising awareness of issues that consumers can face when using online marketplaces. Online marketplaces sell goods, such as GumTree, eBay and Amazon Marketplace. Generally the platforms don't own the good being sold, so the sales are often consumer to consumer.
This is a national awareness campaign and we hope to educate consumers about their rights when using online marketplaces, raise awareness of routes to redress where something goes wrong, and raise understanding amongst private sellers of their responsibilities when selling goods online.
We want to make sure you know what your rights are when buying something online, and how they might be different from buying goods from different sellers or buying in person from the high street.
Take a look at our leaflet for an overview of your consumer rights when you use online marketplaces and information on what to do if something goes wrong.
The Scams Awareness 2019 campaign took place in June 2019.
Information on the campaign is below, along with the national campaign evaluation.
Campaign news
Citizens Advice Scotland is taking action to help an estimated 80,000 low income households in Scotland that could be paying too much Council Tax.
Ofgem has announced there is to be a £150 cap on the amount energy companies can charge for installing pre-payment meters in customers’ homes.
Citizens Advice Scotland has launched a national survey to find out peoples’ views on the quality and reliability of Scotland’s bus services.
Citizens Advice Scotland has joined forces with consumer group Which? to launch a campaign to urge Scots to protect themselves from nuisance phone calls.
Today we are calling for a halt to the 'accelerated rollout' of Universal Credit, the major new UK benefit. In Scotland, we know Universal Credit has already caused problems for thousands of people – and we believe the issues with it must be addressed before it affects hundreds of thousands more.
Our past campaigns
Scotland is the most affected area of the UK in regards to nuisance calls. 3 of the top 5 affected cities across the UK are in Scotland: Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
Because of the prevalence of nuisance calls in Scotland, the Scottish Government formed the Nuisance Calls Commission that included experts, regulators, businesses, consumer charities, and enforcement agencies. The conclusion of the commission was that more has to be done to help protect consumers, in particular vulnerable people.
In September 2017 we worked with Which? to inform consumers about the practical steps they can take to reduce nuisance calls.