Social policy

CAS has issued a response to the Competition Comission's payday lending market investigation drawing on evidence from Citizens Advice Bureaux across Scotland and callers to the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline.

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, to show where policies and practices are failing or inefficient. These monthly briefings use very recent evidence and are an excellent way of spotting trends and tracing the impact of recent policy changes.

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

CAS responds to the Fourth Independent Review of the Work Capability Assessment, part of Employment Spport Allowance.  In our submission we focus on the need for effective gathering of medical evidence, on some of the adminsitrative problems seen in bureaux, and the increasing severity of the consequences of getting entitlement decisions wrong.  We make a number of recommendations to improve the system.

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, to show where policies and practices are failing or inefficient. These monthly briefings use very recent evidence and are an excellent way of spotting trends and tracing the impact of recent policy changes.

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

The Work and Pensions Select Committee at the House of COmmons is holding an inquiry into the effectiveness of Jobcentre Plus, particularly in the context of current welfare reforms.

The UK Government’s changes to Housing Benefit have had a significant impact on claimants in Scotland. In this briefing, we have concentrated on the developing impact of the ‘bedroom tax’.

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.

CAS responds to the HMRC's consultation on supporting customers who need additional help.  We focus on our experience of supporting clients with tax credits issues.

In November 2012, the UK Government launched its Government Digital Strategy .  This paper sets out how the Government will transform the way it delivers services to citizens, including moving services online – a change in ethos to “digital by default”. The strategy includes an expectation that 80% of benefits applications will be completed online by 2017 .  This new strategy comes at the same time as the Government’s changes to the welfare system which, coupled with at least £18 billion of cuts to the UK welfare budget, will cause significant upheaval for citizens currently in receipt of benefits.

105,000 households in Scotland will lose £53 million in housing support due to changes coming into force in April 2013. This is the result of new size criteria for social housing – dubbed the ‘bedroom tax’ – which will see working age tenants penalised an average of £11 per week for under occupying their homes. An estimated 83,000 households affected by the change contain at least one disabled adult.