Agenda item

To consider the annual update on Citizens’ Advice Bureau activity in the borough. 

11.1          The Chair welcomed the representative from North and West Gloucestershire Citizens’ Advice Bureau to the meeting and asked the Economic and Community Development Manager to briefly introduce the item. The Economic and Community Development Manager reminded the Committee that the Council had a service level agreement with the Citizens’ Advice Bureau which had been in place for a number of years and it awarded a grant on an annual basis for the services provided to residents. The Council had a longstanding and good working relationship with the Bureau. The Committee received an annual presentation which provided Members with information about the work of the Bureau but today’s presentation would also touch on the impact of the pandemic on its work over the last few months and into the future.

11.2          In commencing his presentation, the key points of which were set out below, the representative reiterated that, as well as covering the normal work of the Bureau, he would give a brief overview of some of the challenges experienced due to the pandemic:

·        Aims – To provide the advice people need for the problems they face; to improve policies and practices that affect people’s lives.

·        Principles – The Citizens’ Advice service provided free, confidential, independent and impartial advice to everyone on their rights and responsibilities. It valued diversity, promoted equality and challenged discrimination.

·        Locations – Citizens’ Advice now operated from 15 locations in the north and west of the County although obviously no face to face appointments were being carried out at the present time at any of the locations: Tewkesbury Public Services Centre; Prior’s Park; Bishop’s Cleeve; Winchcombe; Brockworth; Northway; Churchdown; Cheltenham (town centre); Up Hatherley; Gloucester (city centre); Cinderford; Coleford; Lydney; Newent; St Briavels. It should be noted that Tewkesbury Borough Council residents could get help and assistance at any of these locations should they be more convenient and accessible due to work or other commitments. This was one of the advantages of previous mergers as it gave the Bureau a greater reach to help those in need of its services.

·        How advice is requested – Majority still wanted face to face, approximately 80% of all contact, 10% via phone and the remainder online although this was not so popular. Face to face was a more expensive method of giving advice but was the preferred option for the people using the service. The reliance on face to face had presented a particular challenge in relation to the pandemic which had meant that only email and telephone services were currently available although there was a new channel over Zoom or WhatsApp but the representative was unclear as to what category that fell within.

·        Employment Status – Employed – 38.3% (31.6% the previous year); self-employed – 5.9% (4.5% previous year); carers – 6% (7% previous year); retired – 20.8% (20.5% previous year); permanently sick 13.6% (19.9% previous year) and unemployed 15.4% (16.4% previous year). It was notable that the number of employed had risen quite significantly with the number of sick falling - it was unknown as to whether this was due to Universal Credit but it was more pronounced in Tewkesbury Borough than any other area served by the Bureau.

·        Disposable Monthly Income – Under £999 – 48.8% (54.1% previous year); £1,000-£1,499 – 27.8% (24.3% previous year); £1,500-£1,999 – 13.5% (10.5% previous year) and over £2,000 – 9.9% (11.1% previous year). The movement from unemployment to employment had had an impact on the disposable income of people seen by the Bureau and there had been a significant reduction in the number of people earning less than £1,000 and a corresponding increase in those earning £1,000 - £1,400.

·        Disabilities – Physical disability – 10.1% (10.9% previous year); mental illness – 8.6% (8.3% previous year); long term health issues 22.4% (30.8% previous year) and not disabled – 58.9% (50% previous year). This mirrored the previous slide with the number of permanently sick people reducing and the number of not disabled people increasing. There was a consistent message coming from the statistics in that the Bureau was seeing more people who were employed and less who were permanently sick or disabled. On one hand this was good news as it appeared that more people were in employment, but it was necessary to ensure that disabled people were still getting the right level of support regardless of their employment status.

·        Issues dealt with – 3,370 in 2019/20 compared with 3,167 in 2018/19. Welfare benefits – 923 (781 previous year); Universal Credit 384 (147 previous year); debt – 702 (729 previous year); employment – 291 (308 previous year); relationships – 140 (288 previous year) and housing – 105 (246 previous year). The increases in relation to welfare benefits and Universal Credit were quite significant with housing and relationships falling. Whilst the increases could not be directly related to the pandemic, as the period covered ended in March and the pandemic did not impact until the end of this month; there may well have been an element of pre-planning as people could see what was coming in January and February and sought advice on benefits should they lose their jobs etc.

·        Significant issues during the year – Tribunal hearings, increasing levels of personal debt, housing – repairs to private lettings and employment practices. Generally, there had been an increase in complex cases. There had been significant delays in Tribunal hearings and the help of local MPs had been sought culminating in an additional judge being allocated to the area which had improved the position significantly. There had been an increase in the level of personal debt that individuals were carrying which was very worrying given the current situation. The number of complex cases (where a person had more than one issue) was increasing year on year. There had been an increase from 2.1 issues per person in 2018/19 compared to 2.34 in 2019/20. 

·        Case Study A – Single mother with an arthritic hip, depression and anxiety and acts as Carer for her adult son who in turn suffers with chronic anxiety, was referred by her Housing Association for help with debts; receiving Universal Credit (UC), multiple debts including rent arrears, unable to meet basic household expenditure and unable to properly heat her home. Obtained Debt Relief Order writing off debts of £14,995 and saving £95.34 per calendar month Universal Credit deductions; successfully claimed Carers Allowance in respect of her son - £67.25 per week; reduced water rates from £30 per calendar month to £2.90 per calendar month; applied for Personal Independence Payments (PIP) – awaiting outcome. Client’s comment: Everything is so much better now, and I can sleep at night. Thank you so much.

·        Case Study B – 44 year old widowed home owner suffering with fibromyalgia, emotional personality disorder and depression. The client’s daughter lives nearby with maternal grandparents but very limited contact; receiving Universal Credit (UC); increasing bank overdraft currently £3,225; avoiding spending money on food and heating; emotional and anxious that she may lose her home. Suspended deductions from Universal Credit; reduced water rates to £2.94 per calendar month; reduced energy bill by £239.00 by switching supplier; unsuccessful Personal Independence Payment application – on appeal awarded approximately £4,500 back dated payment and £59.70 per week; obtained Limited Capability for work status, increasing Universal Credit by £341.92 per calendar month and removed stress of complying with work related activity requirements; overall increased annual income by £7,446.44 allowing the client to pay her bills as they fell due.

·        Achievements 2019/20 – Advice service at Cheltenham Oncology Unit opened (available three mornings a week covering employment rights and benefits for cancer suffers); established Help to Claim Service (now in year two and found to be very helpful to Department for Work and Pensions) and consolidated the enlarged organisation (Bureau now covering the area of four District Councils).

·        Future Plans 2020/21 – Provide services to assist EU Settlement applicants (EU citizens must apply for residence by the end of March); establish outreaches specifically for Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities (establishing discussions with the Friendship Café in Gloucester to assess requirements) and increase specialists to meet inevitable increase in demand (recently taken on two trainee debt advisors to help with post COVID-19 debt).

·        Impact of COVID-19 – Revised Operations – Face to face appointments suspended on 25 March 2020; virtual call centre set up and operational on 27 March 2020; Casework service continued remotely – introduced pre-printed pre-paid reply envelopes, supplied caseworkers with mobile phone each for text use and facilitated video interviews by Zoom and WhatsApp. General enquiries dealt with by phone and/or email – clients called back generally within two days and emails generally responded to by next day. Across the Bureau’s area, since the start of lockdown, 6,403 calls had been received 3,327 of which had required a call back and 1,028 emails had been responded to. Service had continued unabated despite the challenges of COVID-19.

·        Impact of COVID-19 – Activity in the Period 25 March – 25 August – Looking specifically at the Tewkesbury Borough area:

                                                            2019/20                     2020/21              COVID Related

Clients                         694                              667                              341

Issues                          1,437                         1,562                             828

Universal Credit          11%                             21%                        24%

Other Benefits             28%                             25%                        20%

Debt                            20%                             14%                              6%

Employment                10%                             19%                        28%

Housing                         5%                             10%                        12%

Other                             6%                             11%                        10%

·        Clients with non COVID-19 issues during this period numbered 326 with 734 issues which meant on average 2.25 issues per person which was in excess of 2019/20 at 2.1 issues per person. As expected in terms of matters dealt with, there had been a reduction in debt enquiries because there had been a moratorium on debt collections, a rent holiday and no house repossessions. However, as expected employment issues had been on the rise particularly COVID-19 related with an exceptionally large increase in enquiries  Whilst it was anticipated that the employment enquiries would remain high it was also expected there would be significant increases in debt and housing enquiries as furlough and the housing measures came to an end.

·        Impact of COVID-19 – Other Significant Management Issues – Some staff found home working stressful: blanket membership for all Citizens’ Advice staff and volunteers in a counselling service – Together All; Homeworking was more productive for some tasks: ensure future flexibility to maximise productivity; some clients needed face to face help for example due to cost, IT literacy and/or language: investigating use of posters and text service to advise how to arrange an appointment when the office was closed and consideration being given to using outreaches for appointments (some venues were able to achieve social distancing).

11.3          Prior to opening up a debate and questions the Chair asked that in future the presentation be provided to Members of the Committee well in advance to allow them to peruse the information beforehand and consider what questions they wished to ask. The presenter indicated that he would ensure that, in future, the presentation was provided at least a week, if not 2 weeks, if possible, before the meeting of the Committee. The Economic and Community Development Manager also undertook to ensure that this happened. A Member queried the outreach service and asked whether it was only specific Parishes, as opposed to all Parishes, within the Borough and, assuming that it was not all Parishes, questioned access for the rural areas in the Borough and what was done to make rural areas aware of the services of the Bureau. The representative explained how the outreach service worked and, in terms of access in rural areas, he indicated that the service had a good website but otherwise relied upon its national branding for people to be aware of what was available which perhaps could be considered a little complacent. He indicated that information was sent to some Parish Councils on an annual basis but maybe this could be done quarterly with reliance on the Councils to disseminate the information to its parishioners. The Member asked that all Parish Councils be contacted either quarterly or bi-annually as there were many elderly residents in the rural Parishes that she represented who did not have access to the internet and websites and she was sure that the Parish Councils would happily disseminate information to these people if it was provided to them. The representative indicated that he would organise a standard letter to be sent to all Parish Councils in the Borough on a quarterly basis. The Economic and Community Development Manager indicated that his team could also assist by sending out information to the Parishes with links to the website so that they were aware of what services were on offer; it could be raised at the next Parish Seminar, whenever that took place, and an article could also be placed in the next Borough News. He maintained that there were a number of things that could be done with the Bureau in order to spread the word including posters on Parish Noticeboards for those people who did not have internet access. The Head of Corporate Services indicated that the late summer edition of Borough News had just been produced but within the next month work would start on the winter edition and he would get the Communications Team to speak to the representative of the Bureau about an article. In addition, the Communications Team was starting to put together the quarterly E-Newsletter for Parish Councils – Parish Matters - and something could be included on the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and the services provided. It was left that the Head of Corporate Services would take the lead with the Communications Team and the Economic and Community Development Services Manager and the Bureau representative would put in place a plan to promote the work of the Citizens’ Advice Bureau throughout all Parishes in the Borough. The Chair asked that Members of the Committee also be included to receive any information sent out about the Bureau so they were able to answer questions from parishioners should assistance be required from the services that were provided.

11.4          A Member asked how the Bureau was funded and the representative explained that about one third funding came from local authorities, one third came from the national organisation via grants from government departments for specific projects and the final third from applications to organisations to support specific areas of activity. In total the Bureau received an income of £800,000 offset against costs of £780,000. Another Member sought more information on the plan to establish outreaches for the Black Asian Minority Ethnic communities and queried whether these would be exclusively for those communities - he was concerned that this could cause racial tension if a service was only available to one group when venues such as the Friendship Café in Gloucester were available to any section of the community and promoted harmonious relationships. The representative explained in detail the proposals and stressed that it would be a service for all designed to build on the harmony that currently existed. In thanking the Bureau for its sterling work, a Member queried whether access was limited to the area where the Bureau was located and was assured that anyone could access the services from anywhere within the whole area covered.

11.5          The Chair thanked the representative of the North and West Gloucestershire Citizens’ Advice Bureau for a very interesting presentation and, accordingly, it was

RESOLVED           That the Citizens’ Advice Bureau presentation be NOTED.