Citizens Advice Bureau - Annual Review 2025/26

PATIENTS’ ADVISORY & SUPPORT SERVICE (PASS) This service is also a free, independent and confidential service available to anyone who uses the National Health Service in Scotland and is provided from CABx. It gives support to help understand one’s rights as an NHS patient, make a complaint about NHS care or treatment and practical help to write complaint letters, prepare for meetings, understand NHS responses and ultimately, if necessary, refer a case to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman. PASS may be able to help anyone who feels they have had poor, unsafe or unfair NHS treatment, has difficulty navigating NHS complaints procedures or doesn’t understand their rights and responsibilities as an NHS patient. PASS can be contacted through the bureau: Online: www.patientadvicescotland.org.uk Freephone 0800 917 2127 Consultations are by appointment through any of those methods. OVERVIEW OF THE SERVICE Based in the Mitchell Library, the Glasgow (Central) Citizens’ Advice Bureau is in an excellent setting for integrating with the multiple services provided by the library. Its central location gives ease of access to all citizens of Glasgow. The service from the main office is by ‘drop-in’ and pre-arranged appointments. Over the last two years volunteer recruitment has been active as well as passive to restore the volunteer staffing level which became depleted during the Covid-19 lockdown. The frontline service from the main office remains volunteer-led supported by salaried staff and management. A multiplicity of outreaches, mostly specific projects for Money & Debt Advice, serve various parts of the city reaching those, often the most vulnerable, who cannot attend the bureau or would not normally engage with mainstream services. Outreach projects are served by paid staff and are by appointments made by referrals from the hosting organisations with whom the bureau works in other co-located venues and partnerships. From all points of service delivery, the general subject matter is very comprehensive although there is a predominance of financial inclusion, financial outcomes and the prevention of homelessness activity. Negotiations on clients’ behalf with third parties form the largest type of work. Enquiries continue to become much more complex and frequently involve several issues and often with a choice of options for a resolution. Compared with earlier years there has been a considerable reduction in consumer issues and relationship matters. Immigration enquiries have increased over recent years with the highest level so far between 2024 and 2026. In the last year there was an influx of enquiries about eVisa, a digital record of identity and immigration status and conditions of status. Being an holistic one-stop agency advisers often must address multiple issues for individual clients – some interrelated to one main issue and some completely different in isolation. While advice and information are offered on most subjects the main enquiries in recent times have been about state benefits, consumer debt, employment, housing matters and immigration. Help for money advice is often in the form of debt management. Consumer debt is mainly from store and credit cards and personal loans. Assistance is given in benefit checks, income maximisation, budgeting, bank accounts, financial capability, debt options, negotiations with creditors, bankruptcy, benefit applications, mandatory reconsiderations, housing options, negotiations with landlords, sustaining accommodation, recovery of wages, resolving employment disputes, Food Bank Vouchers, applications to the Scottish Welfare Fund, Blue Badge applications and any other enquiries presented or diagnosed to be underlying. Bankruptcy / sequestration (not suitable for everyone) does not increase income, but it can alleviate the burden of ongoing payments. Other gains include preventing evictions, sustaining tenancies, employers’ references and soft outcomes such as opening bank accounts, increasing income, introducing home insurance and energy efficiency. Where appropriate referrals are made to the Strathclyde University Law Clinic for Employment Appeals, the Legal Services Agency for the prevention of homelessness, the Ethnic Minorities Law Centre for complicated immigration cases and the Glasgow City Council Welfare Rights Team for Social Security Appeals. Client Financial Gains essentially come from social security benefits, backdated wages, debt forgiveness consumer redress. During the year there were additional national projects administered by Citizens’ Advice Scotland including Patients’ Advisory & Support Service (PASS), Help to Claim (Universal Credit), Money Talks Plus (incorporating Welfare Reform and Specialist Debt) and Gambling Awareness / Gambling Harms, a Council Tax Debt Engagement Project and Pensionwise. There is now a dedicated team of volunteers averaging 53, some with over 20 years’ service and commitment, retaining this advice agency. Support has been given by a team of 26 salaried staff which includes management, admin staff, project workers and specialists. Performance is measured against targets set by the various funders, equality and client profile monitoring, diagnosis of issues & underlying issues and effectively addressing them accordingly, internal case checking and compliance with the Membership Audits of Citizens’ Advice Scotland. It is always pleasing to staff and volunteers when they are shown appreciation by clients and management of hosting organisations. COMMUNITY BASED OUTREACHES From its office in the Mitchell Library, additional services (mainly Money & Debt Advice) are delivered by outreach at service points throughout the city. These include all three Glasgow City Council Social Work Casework Teams (northeast, northwest & south) plus Chara House, Elder Street Resettlement Centre, Rodney Street Assessment Centre, the City Health & Social Care Partnership. Housing Team in Borron Street (Connect), South Portland Street & Clyde Place Hostels, Hotels in the city centre commissioned to accommodate refugees; Govan Jobcentre plus; Glasgow Helping Heroes; Glasgow Life Community Libraries in Royston, Riddrie, Ibrox, Partick & Dennistoun; There is also an in-reach in the Mitchell Library where a member of the GCCAB staff walks round the building to offer assistance to any homeless persons taking shelter in the library.