Agenda item

We welcomed Shirley Lightfoot and Darren Williams from Citizens Advice Bureau who presented their report to the Committee.

Citizens Advice Service

•       Nationally the service comprises of 316 local organisations delivering services across 2,600 locations, by telephone, web chat and face to face.

•       There is a consumer service, Pensionwise and Witness Service functions.

•       7000 staff (6500 in the network) and 21,600 volunteers.

•       Over 2.5 million clients are dealt with, directly helping with 6.2 million advice issues.

•       Four out of five clients state that the advice given improved their lives, including reducing stress and improving finances

Merged Service

•       The three offices in Abergavenny, Caldicot and Chepstow merged in September 2013 and commenced provision in Monmouth in July 2015.

•       There are a total of 9 paid staff and approximately 82 volunteers with a Trustee Board with 8 members who are also volunteers.

•       Along with Shirley Lightfoot, there is an office manager and 2 advice services manager, one north and one south, to manage the service with the other staff delivering the projects for specialist advice.

•       The specialist service includes in depth advice and support with applications for benefits, appeals against refusal and overpayments.  

Funding

•       The annual budget set for 2016/17 allows for income of approximately £180,000 with expenditure at around £195,000.

•       CAB are contracted to Monmouthshire County Council to provide advice services across the county for which we receive £57,000.

•       Each of the Town Councils give a grant and income is also gained from the community councils.

•       Payments are also made by Citizens Advice Cymru for the provision of the BABL project the funding for which comes from Welsh government.

•       Any remaining income comes from donations and fundraising.

Service Delivery

•       Services are provided at 4 sites across the county in Abergavenny, Caldicot, Chepstow and Monmouth.

•       Offices are open 4 days a week and the service is delivered 5 days a week in the north and the south of the county.

•       There is also a telephone advice service with access to appointments on tel. no. 03444 77 20 20 from 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday through Adviceline the Wales wide service.

•       Specialist advice through the Better Advice Better Lives project and the Frontline Advice project is available at main sites and at some outreach locations by appointment.

Statistical Information

•       In the financial year 2015/2016 the service saw a total of 2,747 unique clients.

            Total no of issues                    6,391

            Benefits                                   2,173

            Debt                                        1,389

            Housing                                   400

            Employment                           462

            Relationships & family            453

Outreach Locations

•       The BABL project operates outreach at the Adult Community Education centre in Abergavenny on Tuesday afternoons.

•       The BABH project operates outreach at Trellech doctor’s surgery and Chepstow Hospital.

•       They currently operate generalist advice from Usk and Wyesham (by appointment) for one half day a week each.

Training and Skills

•       All staff and volunteers are trained to generalist advice standard and receive regular up-dates on issues like benefits and changes in legislation.

•       Specialists are trained to a higher level and volunteers are encouraged to explore as many training opportunities as they can.

•       Training is provided both in house and by outside agencies e.g. National Citizens Advice, GAVO and CPAG.

Member Scrutiny:

The Chair called for clarity and referred to the lack of synergy across agencies as the report highlighted considerable areas of overlap and suggested inviting Monmouthshire Housing to speak to the Committee in future to discuss.

Members spoke about how it was essential that people who volunteer for the Citizen’s Advice Service were impartial and highly qualified. They were pleased to hear about the continuous in-house training and ongoing self-assessment carried out by the service.

It was commented that the access to people with issues gave the service a unique point of view and that as a Council we need a better understanding of how we can help maximise the use of these visits to ensure we gain valuable insights to the needs of the population.