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Publications

  1. Manifesto by SCoRSS
    Publication date:
    March 2021

    The Scottish Campaign for Rights to Social Security (SCoRSS) believe it is time for a social security system that prevents poverty, treats people with dignity and respect and supports everyone to flourish.

    However, access to and experience of social security are greatly affected by deeply ingrained inequalities that ensure that groups including women, disabled people, Black and minority ethnic people and others are even more affected by poverty, insecurity and exclusion.

    The members of the Scottish Campaign on Rights to Social Security (SCoRSS) believe five fundamental principles underpin the real change required to achieve this vision.

    We must work together to:

    • „  Increase social security payment rates to a level where no one is left in poverty and all have sufficient income to lead a dignified life;

    • „  Make respect for human rights and dignity the cornerstone of UK and Scottish social security;

    • „  Radically simplify social security to ensure it is easy to access and that barriers to entitlement are removed;

    • „  Invest in the support needed to enable everyone to participate fully in society; and

    • „  Make social security work for Scotland.

  2. Emily Rice and Alastair Wilcox
    Publication date:
    March 2021

    Citizens Advice Scotland welcomes this consultation, which reflects the pace and scope of Scotland’s climate ambitions. We are pleased that the Scottish Government has proposed a principle-based, people-centred approach. 

    It is essential that the outcomes of this standard reflect the complex heating, cooling, and ventilation needs of Scotland’s housing stock, and widens accessibility to truly affordable, highly efficient housing for low income and fuel poor households. Developers should be encouraged to follow the best practices of community engagement and ethical business practice so that the full potential of the buildings covered by this standard is realised. To aid developers in making future proof decisions, clear, thorough, and accessible guidance should be issued alongside this standard.

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  3. David Scott
    Publication date:
    February 2021

    From March 2020 to January 2021, Citizens Advice Bureaux have provided over 131,000 pieces of advice on Universal Credit (UC).

    › The £20 a week uplift brought the value of UC back in line with increases to the cost of living over the past 8 years, following years of below inflation increases and freezes.
    › If the £20 weekly increase is removed, UC will be worth 11.5% less in real terms than it was when introduced in 2013.
    › The uplift increases the number of CAB clients with complex debt needs who are able to meet essential living costs by 28%.
    › Without the uplift, nearly 6 in 10 (58%) of CAB complex debt clients will be unable to meet essential living costs.
    › If the uplift is removed, 60,000 people in Scotland including 20,000 children will be pushed into poverty.

    CAS is calling for: The £20 a week UC uplift to be made permanent in the March 3rd Budget.

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    February 2021
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    February 2021
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    February 2021
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    February 2021
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  8. David Scott
    Publication date:
    February 2021

    The Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2021, passed yesterday on Tuesday 9th February, increases social security payments by the rate of CPI inflation (0.5%) from 1st April 2021. However, if the £20 a week uplift to UC is not made permanent in the Budget, this uprating is negated. From April, if the £20 weekly uplift is removed the value of UC’s Standard Allowance will drop by as much as a quarter (25%), when people need this money most. Removing the £20 a week uplift will leave the Standard Allowance for UC worth less in real terms in 2021-22 than when it was first introduced 8 years ago in 2013.

    CAS is calling for: The £20 a week uplift to be made permanent

  9. David Scott
    Publication date:
    February 2021

    The Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2021 increases social security payments by the rate of CPI inflation (0.5%) from 1st April 2021. CAS welcome any increase to social security payments including Universal Credit (UC). However, current legislation prevents the future of the temporary £20 a week uplift to Universal Credit (UC) from being included in this annual review of benefit rates – at a time when uncertainty around the future of the £20 uplift is growing. Due to the benefits freeze from 2016 to 2019, UC rates remained at 2015/16 levels, meaning that in real terms the value of social security payments have fallen.


    If the £20 a week uplift to UC is not made permanent, any inflation-related uprating is negated. People on UC are at risk of a serious shock to their income, including the millions claiming for the first time as a result of the pandemic. To avoid a rise in poverty, greater strains on public services and harming economic recovery, the £20 a week uplift must be maintained.

  10. Andrew Fraser
    Publication date:
    February 2021
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  11. David Scott
    Publication date:
    January 2021

    MP Briefing in support of 18 January Opposition motion to keep the £20 a week UC uplift.

    An unprecedented number of people have claimed UC for the first time since March, with the total number of UC recipients in Scotland doubling since January 2020 to 475,000 people. At the start of the pandemic, CAS welcomed the UK Government increasing UC payments by £20 a week – an annual increase of £1,040. CAS now recommends that the £20 increase to Universal Credit is made permanent in the Spring Budget.

  12. David Scott
    Publication date:
    January 2021

    In this submission CAS sets out two much needed policy actions that must be included in the Budget. The first is to ensure that Universal Credit (UC) is maintained at an adequate level to effectively fulfil its function as a vital safety net and public service. Making the £20 a week increase permanent is the first step to ensuring that UC can meet the needs of the increasing number of people relying on UC. The second is to allow UC to become a better tool for recovery and support more people into work when the economy can open back up, as well as those already in work and claiming UC.

  13. David Scott
    Publication date:
    January 2021

    CAS recommends the £20 a week increase to UC is made permanent.

    If the uplift is removed, it will have the following impacts:

    • People across Scotland on Universal Credit will face a significant income shock and be pushed into poverty.
    • Financial hardship will be exacerbated, with wider health and economic impacts.
    • Those already struggling will be hardest hit. An additional 1 in 6 Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB) clients in complex debt will be pushed into an income crisis.
  14. MPs will debate excess delivery charges at Westminster on 9 December 2020. CAS has campaigned on this issue for a number of years - read CAS's briefing to MPs here.
    Tracey Reilly
    Publication date:
    December 2020
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  15. Debbie Horne
    Publication date:
    December 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 issued 311,714 pieces of advice on benefit issues, the single largest area of advice for the network in 2018-19. Since February this year the network has provided over 85,000 pieces of advice on Universal Credit alone.

  16. This document contains data on housing advice code trends and the most common housing advice codes.
    Nina Ballantyne
    Publication date:
    December 2020

    This document summarises trends in advice code data related to housing. All charts are based on advice code data. These are recorded by advisers every time advice in relation to a particular topic is issued. All figures are expressed as percentages of their “parent” advice code category: e.g. housing advice is expressed as a proportion of all advice issues, and PRS advice is expressed as a proportion of all housing advice. This allows for more effective comparisons between months when overall numbers of clients fluctuate and/or there are changes in advice provision (e.g. the shift to telephone and email at lockdown).

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  17. Debbie Horne
    Publication date:
    November 2020

    At the start of the on-going pandemic, CAS welcomed the quick action taken to boost the level of payment of Universal Credit (UC).

    Since March, Scotland’s Citizens Advice Network has provided over 85,000 pieces of advice on Universal Credit. The role of UC in the social security safety-net has never been as important as in the current crisis.

  18. Debbie Horne
    Publication date:
    November 2020

    CAS produced this data briefing alongside a policy briefing calling for the £20 a week increase to Universal Credit to be made permanent.

  19. Debbie Horne
    Publication date:
    November 2020

    Citizens Advice Scotland recommends the draft regulations are amended to change or clarify a number of areas to improve the social security support provided to disabled children and young people.

  20. Michael O'Brien
    Publication date:
    November 2020

    CAS welcomes a one-year extension to the Warm Home Discount scheme to 2021/22. As a result of the time pressures for securing this extension, we recognise the limitations of the proposals outlined. To have a meaningful impact, future changes to the scheme design must be complimented by an increase to the spending envelope. CAS also welcomes a discussion around devolution and the recognition that fuel poverty targeting could potentially be done more effectively at a national level. 

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