Publications

In our first report of this kind, we demonstrate the impact of the Scottish Citizens Advice service on the 310,000-plus clients who received help in 2015/16, as well as touching on the wider benefits of our work to the rest of society.

CAS financial statements for the year ended 31st March 2015.

Overall, 2014/15 has been another impressive year for CAS. We have faced many challenges, but have responded by being more active, delivering more funding and infrastructure support to bureaux and raising our campaigning and media profile. Together with our member bureaux, we believe we make the vital difference as the last line of support for many thousands of people across Scotland in these immensely difficult times.

In 2014/15 the Citizens advice Service helped over 323,000 clients living in Scotland.

Clients gained over £124 million with support from the service.

After taking on the Consumer Futures team in April 2014 CAS has now strengthened its voice in supporting and assisting consumers across Scotland.

In 2013/14 the Patient Advice and Support Service (PASS) supported 2336 clients and dealt with 7424 enquiries from clients relating to feedback, comments, concerns and complaints about the NHS in Scotland.  These were increases of 16% and 27% on the 2012/13 figures.  A range of work was undertaking in the year with a service review, the employment of a PASS Marketing Officer and the introduction of a PASS website.  Independent client feedback found that 93% of clients were very satisfied or satisfied with the service.  The Annual Report and Appendix present a brief picture of the work that has been done in 2013/14.

CAS financial statements for the year ended 31st March 2014.

Our Strategic Plan for 2018 – 23 sets out what drives our work and what we aim to achieve.

In April 2013, the general consumer advocacy functions of Consumer Focus and the Office of Fair Trading’s responsibility for consumer-facing education will both transfer to the Citizens Advice service. This is part of an on-going series of reforms to the consumer landscape in which the Government intends for the Citizens Advice service to become the publicly-funded voice for consumers.

This report presents the evaluation findings from the Energy Best Deal+ pilot project. The project was a result of the Fuel Poverty Summit in Scotland in October 2011 and coordinated by Citizens Advice Scotland and funded by Eon, EDF Energy, Npower Scottish Gas, Scottish Power and Scottish and Southern Energy. The pilot ran for eight weeks from July to September 2012 from nine Scottish citizens advice bureaux.