Piloting short-term crisis support alongside holistic advice.

A briefing for bureaux and partners.

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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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CAS has responded to the Finance and Public Administration Committee's call for views on the sustainability of Scotland's finances.

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CAS briefing for Stage 1 debate.

The Scottish Parliament will consider the general principles of the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill on 22 February 2024. This is an important Bill which seeks to reform the regulation of legal services in Scotland to promote “competition, innovation and the public and consumer interest” in the Scottish legal sector. This briefing outlines the views of Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) on the implications of the Bill for consumers of legal services and reflects on recommendations in the stage 1 report.

CAS welcomes the introduction of the Bill in response to longstanding calls for wholesale reform of legal services regulation in Scotland. Voices from across the spectrum of stakeholders deemed the current system too rigid, unsuitable for supporting and engendering a thriving and dynamic legal services landscape, and too complex and difficult to understand and navigate for the public. Throughout our engagement with efforts to reform the regulatory framework CAS has therefore supported changes aimed at placing the interests of consumers and rights-holders at the heart of legal services regulation.

The draft Bill does not provide for the independent regulatory model which we continue to strongly support. In its current form, we have concerns that some of the proposed changes may not be of benefit for consumers and their interactions with providers of legal services as outlined below.

Nevertheless, CAS takes the view that MSPs should support the general principles of the Bill to allow for reform of the current system. Legal services play a vital role in supporting people to protect and realise their rights and freedoms, in upholding the rule of law and providing access to justice. We urge MSPs to strongly consider the implications of the Bill on these essential functions and help to realise a Bill that centres on the public and consumer interest in the regulation of legal services.

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Citizens Advice Scotland has provided written evidence to the House of Commons Public Bill Committee in relation to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill.

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Our advocacy priorities are drawn from the issues people bring into the network: and so the solutions and outcomes we deliver aim to address those issues at source and prevent them from occurring or otherwise limit their impact on our clients.

The advice we offer is practical and holistic, and so our advocacy solutions are similarly pragmatic.

Much of what we do aims to maximise people’s financial wellbeing or reduce the cost of living, but we also seek to improve access to essential and public services, support people to take action themselves through our campaigning work, and build a voice for communities through boosting the capability and capacity of CAB to act as agents of change in their own communities.

By tackling these challenges our advocacy and campaigning work makes a practical contribution to the following Scottish Government national outcomes:

• Communities: We live in communities that are inclusive, empowered, resilient and safe
• Economy: We have a globally competitive, entrepreneurial, inclusive and sustainable economy
• Fair Work and Business: We have thriving and innovative businesses, with quality jobs and fair work for everyone
• Health: We are healthy and active
• Human Rights: We respect, protect and fulfil human rights and live free from discrimination
• Poverty: We tackle poverty by sharing opportunities, wealth and power more equally

You can read our Impact Work Pan for the year ahead below:

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We have responded to the Scottish Government's consultation on how the mobility component of the new Adult Disability Payment is working.

In addition to stressing the critical role of advice and support in improving the claimant experience and reaching everyone who needs support, the key points that we have made are:

• Adult Disability Payment is different from Personal Independence Payment in several ways. If these changes are delivered, they will have a positive impact on the lives of our clients.    
• Adult Disability Payment uses the same points-based criterion to assess mobility needs. These criteria do not consider social, practical, and environmental barriers that prevent disabled people from exercising choice and control. The criteria are difficult for claimants to understand and force claimants to focus on what they can’t do.
• The 20-meter distance measure is arbitrary and not evidence based. It prevents claimants with complex mobility restrictions from accessing the level of support that they need.
• The application process needs to be modified to promote a better understanding among claimants of how the criteria apply to mental health and “invisible” conditions.
• The application process needs to be modified to encourage a complete picture account of a claimant’s mobility needs, not of “good days”, “bad days” or even “average days”.  The decision makers guidance needs to be modified to better support decision makers to understand the impact of fluctuating conditions that do not follow predictable patterns.  
• To minimize the risk of claimants falling through the cracks a “safety net” criteria is required.  
• To identify differences in how ADP is working for people with various health circumstances, data recording the main reported condition of new processed ADP applications by award type is necessary. Similarly, data recording assessment method (telephone, video, in person) by award type is necessary to pick up on any detriment being experienced due to chosen assessment method.
• Scotland needs human rights-based disability assistance that has a clear purpose, is paid at an adequate rate, supports independent living and full participation, provides whole-of-life support, is well-connected to other services, and is resilient in the face of change.

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This report looked at data about illegal eviction from the Citizens Advice network in Scotland dating from 1st April 2019 to 31st December 2022 (Q1 2019/20 to Q3 2022/23) inclusive.

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Summary of Key Points

• Scotland’s Citizens Advice network supports thousands of people across Scotland each year to understand their rights and responsibilities and seek access to justice, through holistic advice provision across a wide range of civil justice issues, including tribunal support and representation, and in-court advice projects operating in a number of CAB. However, insecure funding arrangements can pose significant obstacles for service continuity, securing outcomes for clients, and for staff retention in these vital, community-based advice services.
• CAS believes that no-one should be excluded from accessing justice on the grounds of cost, geography, digital skill level, and/or the legal specialism of their issue. Data from across the Citizens Advice network shows that these barriers to access to justice for people across Scotland still remain.
• Increasing digitisation of information, services, and legal proceedings which are vital to accessing justice can create barriers for the significant proportion of people in Scotland who do not have regular and reliable internet access – whether due to barriers of cost, digital skills and confidence, or connectivity infrastructure. While CAS supports the use of technology to enhance access to the justice system, channel choice for individuals as opposed to channel shift is vital to ensure all can access justice.
• Since 2020 the Citizens Advice network in Scotland has seen an increase in demand for advice on legal aid and accessing a practitioner, incapacity (including power of attorney), and simple procedure (particularly court documents and procedures following the introduction of civil online).
• CAS believes the Legal Aid system should help ensure that everyone who has a legal issue is able to find help to resolve it. We believe that significant reform of the Legal Aid system is required, placing the user at the heart, and shifting resources towards early intervention and prevention.

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