You are here

Publications

  1. Hyo Eun Shin - Strong Communities Team
    Publication date:
    March 2024

    CAS responded to the above consultation by the Ministry of Justice.

     

  2. David Scott
    Publication date:
    May 2022

    Employment advice accounted for 4% of all advice given by the Citizens Advice network in Scotland in 2021-22. Yet while our advisers are able to offer people information about their rights at work, many struggle to enforce these rights in practice.

    CAS is calling for:

    • A three-pronged approach to ensuring fair work in low-paid sectors, covering:
      • A preventative strand focused on awareness-raising for individuals and employers, working with schools and job centres to ensure those entering the workforce are fully informed of their rights and entitlements, and with enterprise bodies to ensure new employers understand their responsibilities.
      • An easy process, anonymised if necessary, where employees, employers, and witnesses can report concerns that result in swift investigative action.
      • A strong approach to enforcement when non-compliance is found, with responses guided by the severity and impact of the non-compliance.
    • Adequate funding for employment support and wider advice services. › A holistic view towards supporting fair work, in particular by providing a strong social security system and other policies to tackle the rising cost of living, in order to give people the security to challenge poor working practices without facing poverty.
    • A prioritisation of the Employment Bill and the introduction of a single enforcement body, adequately funded in order to effectively protect worker’s rights.
    Spotlight:
  3. David Scott
    Publication date:
    December 2021

    Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) welcomes the Scottish Government’s support for improving working practices across Scotland. Progress on equal employment access and pay for women, minority ethnic, and disabled workers is welcome, as is the commitment to introduce a requirement on public sector grants recipients to pay at least the real Living Wage to all employees by summer 2022. These actions will improve working conditions for many.

    However, the majority of people CAB see every day do not work in the sectors supported by the most ambitious Fair Work plans. They will instead be in low-paid and insecure work, often facing violations of very basic employment rights. For these people, the first step to a Fair Work Nation must be better enforcement of their already-existing rights.

    Advice services like CAB play an important role in informing people about their employment rights, giving them a more effective voice in challenging unfair work practices. This is particularly necessary for low-paid jobs where union membership is likely to be less concentrated.

    In 2020-21, Scotland’s Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) network gave 74,994 pieces of employment advice to clients – 8% of all advice provided across the network last year – making employment the third most popular advice area, behind social security and debt advice.

    Spotlight:
  4. Publication date:
    November 2021

    Citizens Advice Scotland response to the Scottish Government consultation on COVID recovery 

    Spotlight:
  5. Andrew Fraser
    Publication date:
    November 2021

    Citizens Advice Scotland has responded to the Scottish Civil Justice Council consultation on Rules Covering the Mode of Attendance at Court Hearings

    Spotlight:
  6. Publication date:
    September 2021

    Following CAS’ initial 2021 submission to the Low Pay Commission, we had further engagement from advisers in the Citizens Advice Bureau Network’s Employment Specialist Forum. Advisers shared additional insight and evidence from their frontline experience on issues for low paid workers, including:

    • Low pay and non-payment of statutory minimum wage rates
    • Furlough and Covid-19 changes
    • Social security
    • Enforcement of employment rights
  7. David Scott
    Publication date:
    June 2021

    This consultation response surveys the employment issues CAB clients have faced during the pandemic. 

    • During COVID-19, employment rose to the third most common advice need across the Citizens Advice Scotland network, with spikes in advice on redundancy and dismissal.
    • Many frontline low paid workers have seen their working conditions worsen as a result of insecure contracts and fire and hire tactics during the pandemic. Better pay and conditions for these essential roles must be a cornerstone of the recovery, valuing their contribution by allowing workers a decent standard of living, financial resilience, and job security. Moreover, higher wages offer more disposable income to be spent in local communities, supporting demand.
    • The pandemic has raised the cost of living for those on low-pay, with the extra time spent at home leading to increased food and utilities bills. Workers receiving the National Living Wage (NLW) still face budgeting struggles, through a combination of high costs, low wages, and limited and unpredictable social security support.
    • CAB cases show evidence of employers in low-paid sectors being non-compliant in other areas, even if they are paid NLW or higher, including unpaid holiday and sick pay. Much of this non-compliance has taken place within the furlough scheme, making it harder for workers to determine how their employment rights are being breached.
    • The pandemic and Brexit have hit tourism and hospitality particularly hard, where many roles will be low-paid. Brexit is also having an additional impact on EU nationals who advisers tell us may now face difficulties accessing social security they are entitled to.
    • We warmly welcome the decision to lower the age threshold of the NLW and would recommend that in future different rates for different ages are abolished altogether.
    • We also welcome the increase to NLW and other minimum rates but hope they can be raised further to at least meet the level of the independently-calculated voluntary Living Wage.
    • The Government’s recommitment to a single enforcement body is to be welcomed, but this work must be prioritised and well-funded in order to achieve its aims.
    Spotlight:
  8. Treasury Select Committee inquiry
    Rob Gowans
    Publication date:
    June 2020

    Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) welcomed the creation of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS): timely responses which protected incomes and prevented many jobs being lost. There are some gaps in the schemes, together with some misuse or non-use of the CJRS by employers, which have caused detriment to workers.

    Spotlight:
  9. Publication date:
    June 2020

    This submission addresses issues of low pay and employment practices.

  10. CAS supports principles of single enforcement body but warns it must be adequately resourced and resist centralisation
    Nina Ballantyne
    Publication date:
    January 2020

    Citizens Advice Bureaux across Scotland dealt with over 40,000 employment issues in 2018-19 alone, and recorded more than 300 detailed case studies related to employment. Employment advice is consistently one of our top five advice areas, and the advice categories “terms and conditions” and “pay and entitlements” are the most commonly recorded client inquiries. Between, 2016-17 and 2017-18, employment issues related to terms and conditions, and pay and entitlements grew slightly as a proportion of all employment issues we dealt with.  This Citizens Advice Scotland response is based on our previous research in this area and analysis of detailed case studies submitted by frontline advisers between April 2018 and September 2019[i].

    Spotlight:
  11. CAS calls for better notice of shifts and shift cancellation
    Nina Ballantyne
    Publication date:
    January 2020

    Citizens Advice Scotland is publishing its response to a UK Government "Good Work Plan" consultation. This consultation looked at unfair one-sided flexible working practices, where the employer expects the worker to be flexible and respond to shift changes with no or little notice, while not reciprocating. In this response, CAS provides examples of workers suffering detriment as a result of one-sided flexibility and makes recommendations to address this.

  12. Low Pay Commission consultation
    Rob Gowans
    Publication date:
    June 2019

    Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) welcomes the opportunity to respond to the consultation. In 2017-18, Scotland’s CAB network advised clients on a total of 47,254 issues related to employment. Of those, the largest proportion related to Pay and Entitlements (13,697), with Scottish CAB advising clients on 454 issues specifically related to the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage.

    Spotlight:
  13. Scottish Government consultation
    Rob Gowans
    Publication date:
    April 2019

    Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) welcomes the introduction of the Job Grant, which will provide much-needed support to young people who have been unemployed for six months or more as they start in a job.

  14. Scottish Parliament Economy, Energy and Fair Work Committee Inquiry
    Rob Gowans
    Publication date:
    September 2018

    CAS supported the devolution of employment programmes, as it represents the opportunity to provide schemes that more effectively support long-term unemployed people into work, based on the positive employability programmes already existing in Scotland.

  15. Scottish Parliament Social Security Committee inquiry
    Rob Gowans and Olive Hill
    Publication date:
    August 2018

    In 2017/18, Scotland’s CAB network provided advice on 19,047 issues related to Universal Credit (UC), which by the end of the period had only been rolled out to around half of Scotland’s local authority areas. Additionally, CAB advised clients on 10,562 Working Tax Credit and 11,499 Child Tax Credit issues, which are the main in-work benefits that will be replaced by UC.

  16. Scottish Affairs Committee
    Rob Gowans
    Publication date:
    February 2017

    Scotland’s CAB network provides a substantial amount of advice relating to problems at work. In 2015/16, citizens advice bureaux in Scotland advised clients on 48,530 new employment issues. 

    Examples of unfair employment practices that have affected CAB clients include unfair dismissal; not being paid for work carried out; being paid considerably below the National Minimum Wage; being denied sick pay or paid holiday; and instances of bullying and discrimination including racism, and women who were dismissed when they became pregnant.

    Spotlight:
  17. Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee
    Rob Gowans
    Publication date:
    December 2016

    The emergence of so-called new forms of employment relationships between
    workers and employers has put a strain on existing employment protections. In
    particular, the misuse of zero hours contracts has been a major concern for CAS over the past three years.

    Spotlight:
  18. UK Parliament Work and Pensions Committee
    Rob Gowans
    Publication date:
    May 2016

    Citizens Advice Scotland is extremely concerned about the potential negative impact of the abolition of the ESA Work Related Activity component. The removal of support for the additional costs faced by disabled people through this component could have the effect of creating additional barriers to them gaining employment. The majority of people affected by the move are far from the labour market, with 73% of Scottish claimants in the ESA Work Related Activity Group having been in receipt of the benefit for more than two years, and in some cases will never be fit for work again.

  19. An analysis of employment advice provided by Scotland’s CAB network
    Rob Gowans
    Publication date:
    April 2016

    The Citizens Advice Service is the most common external source of advice for employees who experience problems at work. In Scotland last year, clients brought over 50,625 new employment issues to their local CAB.

    Spotlight:
  20. Report Stage and Third Reading
    Rob Gowans
    Publication date:
    November 2015

    This briefing focusses on amendments tabled to the Scotland Bill addressing areas where the
    Bill does not appear to meet the intent of the Smith Agreement. Citizens Advice
    Scotland is concerned that, as currently drafted, there are risks of detriment
    to CAB clients, who sought advice on 220,000 new
    benefits issues in 2014/15 and who have been subject to recent changes to reserved tribunals which have
    had a marked and detrimental effect on consumers in Scotland.

Pages