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Spotlight on: Children and families
Around four out of ten bureau clients have caring responsibilities, with almost a third of clients caring for dependent children. One in nine clients is looking after a member of their family who has a disability.
Our Kinship Care service operates across the country to support the thousands of people who care for children whose natural parents are unable to do so. These are often grandparents, aunts and uncles but can also be family friends. We are then able to reflect the experiences of our clients in evidence reports which throw the challenges kinship carers face into sharp relief.
News
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7 Apr 2020
If you are in a Debt Arrangement Scheme and struggling to make a payment because of a drop in income due to coronavirus, speak to your money adviser and they can arrange a payment break for you. If, for whatever reason, you cannot access your money adviser Citizens Advice Scotland has developed a helpful guide which outlines the steps you can take to request a payment break yourself.
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18 Mar 2020
by Susan Hunter, Co-ordinator of the CAS Kinship Care project
NB This article appeared in the Herald newspaper on 18 March 2020.
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13 Aug 2019
Today
The new website for the Kinship Care Advice Service for Scotland will be launched at our event for Kinship Carers at the Five Sisters zoo in West Lothian on Tuesday 13th August 2019. The website contains information about the service, up to date news and how to access support. There will be a section where our publications will be accessible, this is still in the development stage and should be up and running shortly, please have a look at https://www.kinshipcarescotland.org.uk/. If you wish to have copies of any of our leaflets or guidance sheets please get in touch with me susan.hunter@cas.org.uk or with your regional Kinship Care officer.
Publications
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Publication date: April 2017
This fact sheet tells you about divorce in Scotland. It includes guidance for what to think about and the practical steps you need to take. If you need it, you can get more advice from your local CAB.
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CAS calls for better notice of shifts and shift cancellation
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.
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Scottish Parliament Social Security Committee inquiry
Publication date: May 2017
CAS is generally concerned about the restriction on families to only being able to claim Child Tax Credits or Universal Credit for two children. Advice on Child Tax Credits is one of the most common issues that clients seek advice on, with 13,363 new issues during the year, an increase of 14% compared with the previous 12 months. A CAB client profile survey in November 2016 showed that 9.3% of clients (1 in every 11) who were given advice on an issue related to Child Tax Credits were from a large family, with three or more dependent children.
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Publication date: April 2017
This fact sheet tells you about ending a relationship when you've been living together. It includes guidance for what to think about and the practical steps you need to take. If you need it, you can get more advice from your local CAB.
