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Publications

  1. CAS Financial Health team
    Publication date:
    September 2023

    CAS has responded to HM Treasury's Consultation seeking views on the design and scope of the ban on cold calling for consumer financial services and products, including a call for evidence on the impacts of the proposed ban.

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  2. Sarah-Jayne Dunn
    Publication date:
    November 2022

    Citizens Advice Scotland is launching the Mental Health and Money Good Practice Creditor Guidance.  We've prepared this Briefing Note to support the launch.

    We are actively encouraging creditors, both public and private to adopt our Principles. These set out the minimum standards someone experiencing mental health and debt can expect from their creditor when seeking support. Our guidance provides practical examples to firms and public bodies on how to achieve these minimum standards.

    Debt is often the cause and consequence of poor mental health and wellbeing. This intrinsic link between debt and mental health is well known with it estimated that 1 in 2 people in problem debt also have a mental health issue.

    Managing these issues can prove extremely difficult and people can often find themselves in vicious cycles where money problems impact upon their mental health and poor mental health worsens their financial situation.

    Our Citizens Advice Network routinely supports people in these situations and with the rising cost of living crisis now being felt by our debt clients and beyond, we have seen countless examples of people with mental health and money issues reaching out to creditors seeking support, only to find barriers in their way such as inaccessible processes, online only options and a lack of understanding around their mental health.

    These instances highlight the vast amount of missed opportunities to disrupt that vicious cycle. We believe that creditors, both private firms and public services can do more in breaking this link.

    To do this effectively, it is crucial that creditors have the tools to support people struggling with mental health issues. Our Good Practice Guidance seeks to do just that by providing tangible steps that creditors can take to make them more accessible for those dealing with mental health and money problems.

    By adopting our Principles, creditors can break this vicious cycle and care for their customers at a time when support for people’s mental health and money is needed now more than ever.

  3. Jemiel Benison
    Publication date:
    November 2022

    The report is compiled from a snapshot of Scottish CAB clients with complex or multiple debt issues; 2,987 of these clients had relevant data recorded. Complex debt refers to cases where there are multiple creditors or a single liability where the issue requires intricate legal or administrative work, for example responding to court action. The data was collected between April 2021 and March 2022 with the previous annual period used as a comparator.

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  4. Publication date:
    April 2022

    This briefing presents the impact of the Scottish Citizens Advice network over the last few years, and its value to the communities it serves. 

  5. Laura Toffolo, David Scott
    Publication date:
    January 2022

    Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) is supportive of the proposed approach to ending poverty and the need for food banks. The twin emphasis on prevention and response ensures the reasons for food bank use are tackled at source, rather than focusing only on how emergency support is delivered, and overall CAS would agree that moving towards a cash-first approach to food aid is a positive step. Measures which enable people to choose their own food can restore dignity in emergency food provision, enable people to buy food they enjoy and choose the items that will make the most difference to themselves and their families.

    However, there are additional dimensions to the need for food banks that CAS would call for further consideration of. These include:

    ›     The role of advice services in food bank referrals

    ›     Availability of social security support for different types of people

    ›     Debt as a driving factor in food bank use

    ›     Fuel poverty as a driving factor in food bank use

    ›     Housing costs as a driving factor for food bank use

    ›     Potential barriers to a cash-first scheme

  6. Publication date:
    October 2021

    In May 2019, The Scottish Government committed to establishing an independent Energy Consumers Commission (ECC) to enhance the voice of consumers who reside in Scotland within the energy market. The Commission was formed in July 2020 consisting of representatives with a wealth of experience in national consumer advocacy and advice bodies, academia and local groups serving energy consumers in their communities.

    Eradicating fuel poverty has been a policy priority for the Scottish Government since 2016, and has been a statutory obligation since the passage of the Fuel Poverty (Targets, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Act in 2019. While fuel poverty has been formally defined since 2019, and a fuel poverty strategy is expected in 2021, fuel debt has not been given the same attention by researchers and policy makers.

    Fuel debt is likely to become more prevalent and more unmanageable this winter as energy prices rise, and financial support such as the £20/week Universal Credit uplift and furlough end. This briefing, based on research commissioned from Changeworks, examines how fuel debt differs from fuel poverty, what key issues exist in Scotland, and the Commission’s recommendations on how to address rising levels of fuel debt.

  7. Publication date:
    September 2021

    Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) gathers evidence from the more than 171,000 clients a year supported by our network. Many of the problems faced by our clients are rooted in or linked to their incomes not being enough to meet their needs and live a dignified life. For many people coming to see us they simply do not have enough money to make ends meet: YouGov in May of this year indicated 1 in 7 Scots is struggling on their present income even with the temporary financial support measures put in place as a result of the pandemic. In fact, 56% or half a million pieces of advice provided by our network every year can be attributed to income maximisation. During the pandemic CABs unlocked £147million for people through things like social security payments, employment entitlements and lower bills for utilities. A Minimum Income Guarantee would mean the Citizens Advice network could ensure people have even more security and opportunity.

    This evidence base, from over 80 years as Scotland’s largest free, impartial and confidential advice network, gives CAS a unique understanding of the issues that IPPR proposes could be addressed by a Minimum Income Guarantee. In addition, our experience supporting clients over the course of the pandemic shows that even those who were coping before the crisis still found themselves vulnerable if their income dropped or costs went up even slightly.

  8. Publication date:
    May 2021

    Scotland’s Citizens Advice network empowers people in every corner of Scotland through our local bureaux and national services by providing free, confidential, and independent advice. We use peoples’ real-life experiences to influence policy and drive positive change. We are on the side of people in Scotland who need help, and we change lives for the better.

    Our 2021/22 Impact work plan outlines the areas where we will be working to secure changes on behalf of our network’s clients. It has been drawn together following extensive analysis of advice data and consultative workshops with representatives from the network to identify significant trends and areas of concern.

  9. Publication date:
    November 2020

    We work on the issues that matter to our network’s clients and our member CAB. Our focus is on delivering advocacy drawn from the experience and insights of the Scottish Citizens Advice network, which is rooted in communities across the country. 

  10. Debbie Horne, Jemiel Benson
    Publication date:
    September 2020

    In 2018-19, the Citizens Advice network helped over 270,000 clients in Scotland with almost 750,000 advice issues. With support from the network, clients had financial gains of over £131 million and our self-help website Advice in Scotland received approximately 3.7 million views. 

    The Citizens Advice network dealt with 110,439 debt issues around half of which were government or local authority debts. Advisers gave advice regarding benefit related debt problems, our main UK wide government debt issue on 5,557 occasions.

  11. Ruth Mendel
    Publication date:
    September 2020

    Citizens Advice Scotland has responded to the consultation on proposed guidance for firms on the fair treatment of vulnerable consumers. We are pleased to see the continued commitment by the FCA to protecting vulnerable consumers.

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  12. Publication date:
    July 2020

    The survey was commissioned by CAS and carried out and designed by Mark Diffley Consultancy and Research Ltd.

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  13. Publication date:
    June 2020

    This submission addresses issues of low pay and employment practices.

  14. Publication date:
    June 2020

    Technical details:
    • The survey was designed by Mark Diffley Consultancy and Research Ltd
    • Results are based on a survey of 1,050 respondents conducted using the ScotPulse online panel.
    • Wave 1 fieldwork was conducted between 24th and 27th March 2020 and received 1040 responses,
    • Wave 2 fieldwork was conducted between 9th and 12th April 2020 and received 1048 responses,
    • Wave 3 fieldwork was conducted between 7th and 18th May 2020 and received 997 responses,
    • Results are weighted to the Scottish population by gender and age.

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  15. Rebecca King
    Publication date:
    May 2020

    CAS welcomes the opportunity to feed into the work of the Scottish Government's Advisory Group on Economic Recovery. Central to our view of how to stimulate economic growth post-COVID-19 is the principle of protecting household incomes and helping with the cost of living. 

  16. Publication date:
    April 2020

    Technical details:
    • The survey was designed by Mark Diffley Consultancy and Research Ltd
    • Results are based on a survey of 1,050 respondents conducted using the ScotPulse online panel,
    • Fieldwork was conducted between 9th and 12th April 2020
    • Results are weighted to the Scottish population by gender and age

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  17. Mike Holmyard
    Publication date:
    April 2020

    This report looks at whether there is detriment in the PTD market.

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  18. Mike Holmyard and Linda Hutton
    Publication date:
    April 2020

    In this report the Financial Health team explores the current state of play in council debt collection across council tax, rent and water debt and presents a charter for change. 

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  19. Publication date:
    April 2020

    The survey was commissioned by CAS and carried out and designed by Mark Diffley Consultancy and Research Ltd.

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  20. Jemiel Benison
    Publication date:
    February 2020

    CAS responded to the Accountant in Bankruptcy's review of the Bankruptcy and Debt Advice Scotland Act 2014

    Spotlight:

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