Citizens Advice Gosport

Annual Report

2017/18

The charity for your community

Image courtesy of Gosport Borough Council

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Contents

Thank You Page 2

Chair’s Report Page 3

Chief Officer’s Report Pages 4-5

Citizens Advice Gosport’s Services Page 6

Satisfactions For Our Service Pages 7-9

How We Help Our Clients Page 10

The People We Support Page 11

Research and Campaigns Page 12

Recruitment And Work Experience Page 13

Citizens Advice Gosport Within The Community Page 14

Big Energy Saving Week Page 15

Hampshire Macmillan Citizens Advice Service Page 16

Money Advice Matters Page 17

Healthwatch Hampshire Page 18

Energy Page 19

The Year Ahead Page 20

THANK YOU

Thank you to all of our funders and local companies who have supported us during the year.

These companies and organisations have donated time, products and resources for which we are

extremely grateful. The support of local businesses enables us to provide our much needed

service.

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Chair’s Report

As in previous years the demand for advice from residents of Gosport remains high. We expect

this to increase with the further rollout of Universal Credit to Gosport later this year, the

continuing pressure on incomes as well as inflation on many basic requirements – especially those

imported to the UK following the weakening of the pound.

Although the use of the Citizens Advice internet-based advice is continuing to grow fast; the need

for face to face help remains and we will continue to provide and develop this well used and

respected service.

In the last year we have seen an increase in the number of problems clients have asked us to help

them with. The most prevalent issues concern debt – up 13% in the year- and benefits – up 8% in

the year.

During 2018/19 we plan to make our help more available and reach out to a larger group of people

by expanding the services we offer. During the second half of 2018 we will:

Add additional resources as set out in the Chief Officer’s report.

Refurbish our offices to provide more and better space for clients.

We are grateful to Gosport Borough Council for maintaining our grant without which we would be

unable to maintain our service.

I would like to say a big thank you to all our paid and volunteer staff who so often go beyond what

can reasonably be expected to help those in need. Without them the level of in-depth and

individual help would not be possible.

Richard Mackay

Chair

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Chief Officer’s Report

This year has been one of change and has seen us undertake a full review of the service we

provide. Clients that come to us for advice have increasingly complex issues requiring more

support and repeated visits to resolve. This is reflected in the statistical analysis contained within

this report.

The service review included looking at our current resources, the needs of our clients and the

welfare of our team of volunteers.

Due to funding restrictions, other community organisations have reduced the services they deliver.

This has led to some of those organisations utilising the services we provide. We are proud to be

able to support other community based organisations, however, this has an impact on our service

delivery. This, coupled with the ever increasing complexity of clients’ issues, has resulted in us

taking an in-depth critical look at what we can do to expand our existing service and improve the

client experience within our budgetary constraints.

We are pleased to announce we will be providing an additional outreach service within the

Community Hub at Gosport Discovery Centre. We will be offering this service each Monday and

Friday. This outreach is in addition to that already in service at the Town Hall on Wednesday

afternoons and Thursday mornings.

We are also pleased to announce an exciting new project called MoneyWatch. Working with

Citizens Advice and FirstLight Trust we were successful in obtaining funding to create this new

venture which will see us delivering face to face debt advice and financial capability service to

veterans and emergency services personnel. This new three year project is funded by the

Chancellor using LIBOR funds in partnership with Citizens Advice.

Pages 7 and 8 of this report contain the results of the client satisfaction survey we undertake

annually and run in-house. In addition, Citizens Advice carries out an independent client survey

where the anonymised feedback is collated by Citizens Advice. A copy of those results is included

on page 9. In 4 out of 5 areas, Citizens Advice Gosport has exceeded the national average. The

aggregate results of all questions show we have exceeded the national average for service

delivery. This is a testament to our hard working, professional and dedicated volunteers without

whom the service would not be possible.

The quality of our work is subject to regular scrutiny in the form of quarterly digital audits to

ensure we maintain the high standards required for us to maintain the Advice Quality Standard.

(AQS) The Legal Services Commission assigned ownership of the General Help Quality Mark to the

Advice Services Alliance in April 2012 and the quality mark became known as the Advice Quality

Standard. We were awarded the AQS for our generalist help for several years. In November 2017

we underwent a physical audit following which we were successful in achieving the AQS for the

quality of our casework and the AQS for telephone advice. These quality marks could not have

been achieved without our dedicated team of advisors who have all undertaken in-depth training

to ensure the advice they give members of the community is of the highest level possible.

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In November 2018, Universal Credit will be rolled out in Gosport. This is expected to result in an

increased demand for our services as those in receipt of benefits may find themselves in debt or at

risk of homelessness because of the change in payments. We are taking steps to ensure we are

able to meet that demand. We will be providing additional resources for clients such as a guest

wifi and mobile device charging facilities in order to support those who need help making and

maintaining their benefit claims.

Our Money Advice Matters project, aimed at preventing homelessness, has had a very busy year.

The latest available figures show that we helped 55 families avoid homelessness. This figure does

not reflect the hidden clients. The hidden clients are those who have benefitted as a result of the

family member that sought our advice. These include the children, spouses, partners and parents.

The true figure may never be known. It is to be expected that these hidden clients will have seen

an improvement in their health and wellbeing as a result of the stress of homelessness being

alleviated.

In addition we recorded financial outcomes totalling £332,166. The true figure is likely to be higher

than that recorded. That is because clients do not always report back when, say, their application

for a benefit has been successful or when an appeal against a benefit decision has resulted in

payments being backdated. Nor do these figures include the value of enabling people to remain in

their homes, nor do they reflect the costs avoided in possession proceedings. Enabling people to

remain in their homes not only improves their health and wellbeing but also that of their wider

family. This project continues to be very successful and of real benefit to the community as a

whole. Our thanks go to Gosport Borough Council for their continued support for this work.

It has been a pleasure to offer work placements to young people such as those on the Princes

Trust scheme run by Hampshire Fire and Rescue. We have also provided short term internship

placements to young people from Austria and the Czech Republic who have come to the UK under

the Erasmus programme to gain valuable work experience.

We have recently engaged with a project run by Citizens Advice Hampshire to evidence the

improvement to mental health and wellbeing as a result of the service we provide. The evidence

has been collected using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS). Initial

findings show that people accessing our service report an improvement in their health and

wellbeing. That improvement will not only enhance the lives of those accessing our service but

also those of the ‘hidden’ clients, the partners, the children, the family and friends of those we

have helped.

The next year will see us enhance and improve our service delivery to those that need us most.

We are pleased to be part of the community hub at the Discovery Centre which will see us working

with other organisations to provide a truly holistic service. None of this would be possible without

the continued support and dedication of our team of volunteers who epitomise the meaning of

the word ‘team’.

Valerie Kelly

Chief Officer

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-Valerie Kelly -Valerie Kelly

-Valerie Kelly

Citizens Advice Gosport’s Services

We aim to provide the advice people need for the problems they face and improve the policies and

practices which affect people’s lives.

Our aims and principles.

To value diversity, promote equality and challenge discrimination

Website

www.gosportcab.org.uk

www.citizensadvice.org.uk

Our opening times

Citizens Advice Gosport is manned Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9am—5pm and 9am—7pm

Wednesday by staff and volunteers. The drop in service is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday

9:30—3pm.

For those in work or who have care needs meaning they are unable to attend during the daytime, we offer

an evening service on Wednesday 5pm—7pm.

Outside of our drop in service hours, we are providing appointments for our specialist casework projects,

manning the Hampshire Adviceline and National webchat service.

The Hampshire Adviceline is available Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9am—5pm, Wednesday

9am—6:30pm and Saturday 10am—12pm

In addition to the service provided at our own office we also have a drop in and appointment service at

the Council offices. With the support of Gosport Borough Council, appointments are available on

Wednesday afternoons, booked via the Housing Team at Gosport Borough Council and the drop in service

is available Thursday mornings 10am – 1pm.

For Advice, call 03444 111 306.

Calls to this service cost the same as calling 01 and 02 numbers.

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Satisfaction for our service

Each year, over a 2 week period, we invite our clients to participate in a satisfaction survey of our

service; this is to ensure our clients are receiving the best possible service. Here is an overview of

the responses to this year’s survey.

How easy did you find accessing our service? Very Easy 38 81%

Easy 9 19%

Difficult 0 0%

Very Difficult 0 0%

How happy are you with the times we’re open? Very Happy 27 57%

Happy 17 36%

Unhappy 3 6%

Very Unhappy 0 0%

How happy are you with the information and advice you have received? Very Happy 35 76%

Happy 11 24%

Unhappy 0 0%

Very Unhappy 0 0%

All though our clients find accessing our service easy, we have seen that a few of our clients would

prefer a change to our opening times. In the next year we will be looking at options to increase our

hours of availability.

We are pleased to report that our clients continue to feel satisfied with

the service we provide, the length of the interview they have as well as

the information and advice given whilst they are with us.

100% of our clients would use our service again and would

recommend us to others

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The issues our clients face have a wide ranging impact on their day to day lives, with the advice we

provide, we are able to make an improvement to their lives, confidence and outlook on life.

98% of our clients stated that they felt more confident in dealing with their issue after seeing an

advisor. By receiving assistance from Citizens Advice Gosport, our clients can not only gather help

and assistance in resolving their problems, but the majority of our clients also see an improvement

in their physical and mental wellbeing. 60% of our clients also reported that since seeking help,

their relationships with friends and family are also improved.

100% of our clients felt they have increased knowledge of their situation

Prior to seeing an adviser, how did your problem affect your life?

Completely 16 36%

Significantly 20 44%

Slightly 7 16%

Not at all 2 4%

After seeking help, how do you think the problem will affect your life now?

Completely 8 21%

Significantly 17 44%

Slightly 9 23%

Not at all 5 13%

Do you feel you are better equipped to deal with any future problems?

A lot better 19 42%

Slightly better 23 51%

No better 3 7%

Has your physical and mental wellbeing improved since seeking help from an advisor?

A lot of improvement 14 33%

Some improvement 19 45%

No improvement 9 21%

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Over the year, Citizens Advice contact a selection of our clients who have indicated they are

happy to provide feedback on our work.

Below is a table of the showing how Citizens Advice Gosport scored for the year, as well as our

positivity results against the national average of all local Citizens Advice.

Question

Very

Negative

Negative

Neutral

Positive

Very

Positive

% Positive

responses

National

Average %

Positive

Responses

Please rate your

overall experience

of the service

1

2

2

19

31

91%

84%

How easy or

difficult did you

find it to access

the service?

0

4

7

24

18

79%

80%

To what extent did

the service help

you to find a way

forward?

4

5

13

22

12

84%

79%

To what extent is

your problem now

resolved?

5

3

10

16

14

83%

72%

How likely would

you be to

recommend the

service?

0

2

4

7

43

89%

84%

A selection of comments from our clients:

“Impressed by the speed of the response to my question/issue”

“Very nice people and very helpful”

“We found this very helpful, the advisor made it very easy to fill out the form”

“Very helpful! Gave me lots of help and advice”

“Excellent triage service to quickly receive a direction forward for circumstances on which I had a query”

“Such brilliant help, always wonderful to have such a service”

“Thank you so much for all your help, I am forever grateful and appreciate everything you have done!”

“This is my second visit and on both occasions I have been given excellent advice”

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How we help our clients

Citizens Advice Gosport has close to 60 volunteers who provide every aspect of our service, from

welcoming clients, undertaking our research and campaigns work, governing the service as a

trustee and of course giving advice and information to our clients. These volunteers are

supported and managed by 6 staff members and the entire team are dedicated to providing free,

confidential, impartial and independent advice to our community.

Our open door drop in service allows clients to walk in and receive information and advice for a

diverse range of issues, including debt, housing, employment, relationships and family as well as

benefits and tax. Our AQS trained advisers offer an initial interview where an assessment of the

client’s needs is completed and information is provided to the client allowing them to help

themselves. If another service is better suited to the client’s needs, we can signpost them to that

service or complete a confidential referral on their behalf.

If it becomes apparent a client will need additional assistance, they will be supported by a

volunteer advisor who will take a deeper look in to the client’s concerns and issues with a hands on

approach. This can include assisting a client with writing letters, making phone calls, negotiating

with third parties and providing financial capability support where required.

Help is not limited to our face to face service; we also provide advice via telephone within the

Hampshire Adviceline group and undertake webchat and email alongside the National Citizens

Advice Service.

All of the advice and information we provide is subject to on-going audit to verify compliance with

the Citizens Advice Scheme and the AQS Advice Quality Standard.

In addition to the service at our office in Martin Snape House, we have worked hard to promote

and increase the use of our outreach service at Gosport Borough Council Offices in the High

Street. This drop in has enabled us to assist to provide a rapid service for clients directly after

visiting a service provided by Gosport Borough Council, such as Housing Options, Council Tax and

Housing Benefit departments. By being there for client’s immediately, we are able to reduce the

distress, potential loss of income and destruction of mental wellbeing people can suffer during the

wait to receive help and guidance.

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The people we support This year we have continued to see a diverse range of people in need contacting our service.

The below map of Gosport highlights areas as per their status within the Index of Multiple

Deprivation (IMD). The IMD is a UK government qualitative study of deprived areas in English local

councils and covers seven aspects of deprivation, such as income, employment and health

deprivation & disability. The darker the colour, the higher the level of deprivation. The figures

relate to the amount of new clients who have contacted us this year who reside in each area.

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Research and Campaigns Our Research and Campaign work tackles the causes of people’s problems and stops it happening

to others.

Citizens Advice Gosport continues to investigate unfair practices our clients report to us. This year

we have looked in to benefits and tax credits, including the impact of Universal Credit live service

(single claimants) when it was rolled out in Gosport (Gosport ceased new claims in December

2017), housing issues, including landlords & the private rental sector and predominantly

enforcement of water supply & sewerage debts.

We helped 111 people with 198 issues relating to water supply and sewerage debts this year, 177

of those issues related to debt repayments. We had noticed a spike in the use of high court

enforcement to settle debts for one company; a few people needed our help in coming to a

suitable arrangement for re-payment due to high levels of vulnerability. Here are some of their

stories, their names have been changed to

protect their identity:

Adam visited us with a high court

enforcement letter for a water debt of over

£1,800, this was just one debt of many for

Adam. He was claiming Job Seekers

allowance and Housing Benefit at the time,

but his Housing Benefit was subject to under

occupancy rules (Bedroom Tax). Adam is

incredibly vulnerable suffering from

repercussions from a past head trauma as

well as depression without medication and

had stopped opening his mail and with

minimal income, to pay the amount asked,

would mean he wouldn’t be able to buy food.

With our help, Adam was able to complete

forms to apply to suspend the enforcement

and we were successful in getting a hold on action for 56 days, giving him time and “breathing

space” to deal with his case.

Anna is a woman living alone, with learning disabilities, has limited ability to read or write and has

no assistance or support in managing her finances. She came to Citizens Advice Gosport after a

bailiff attended her home. As she is unable to read, she was not aware of the situation with her

bills. After initially arranging for the case to be put on hold, we successfully arranged for a

repayment plan to be put in to place.

We now have a direct link within Southern Water whom we contact when we see vulnerable clients

who either have a debt with or are facing enforcement action so we can take immediate steps to

assist them.

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Recruitment and work experience

This year we have been privileged to be able to provide work experience to the younger members

of our community through the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Princes Trust Team. As part of their

development journey, team members are placed with us to complete two weeks of work

experience. We have been able to assist 4 members during this year through this scheme and will

continue to do so.

In addition, we continue to work with Portsmouth University enabling law and marketing students

to gain real life experience by volunteering with us.

Alongside these programmes, gathering volunteers from within the community remains at the

heart of our recruitment priorities. We continue to advertise the varied roles we have on offer and

can tailor roles to a volunteer’s individual needs. For those who would like to use volunteering as a

gateway to work, we have an assortment of roles with a reduced training period, enabling the

volunteer to quickly develop skills needed by the present job market and move on to employment

and independence from the benefits system. We are engaged with Gosport Voluntary Action on

their SPLASH project to provide support and encouragement to volunteers with disabilities.

PRINCES TRUST:

Feedback from the Princes Trust Team Leader of Hampshire Fire and Rescue.

“Good news for you on Tyler who you had on placement. He has been offered and accepted a job from

IBM. So proud of him that’s for sure, definitely feel that not only his time on team helped boost his

confidence but working with you also made a huge difference to his life.

So thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing him to have a placement with you.”

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Citizens Advice Gosport within the community

We’ve continued to be active within the community this year, taking part in both national

and local events to celebrate our volunteers, our campaigns and advice available to all.

As part of the annual Volunteers Week celebrations, our social

media campaign involved the volunteers themselves talking

about what they had done to make a difference. Using the

#VolunteersWeek we were able to advertise all of the hard

work our volunteers do every day. This is a national event,

celebrated by many charities from 1st to the 7th June.

During July, we helped residents stay Scam Aware as part of a National month long

campaign. We tested residents’ knowledge

by hosting stalls at the Gosport Discovery

Centre and local market, asking residents

to spot the scam in the spam. From the

event we were also able to widely advertise

about a recent occurrence of bogus “CAB”

callers who were contacting people out of

the blue to offer loans and gather personal information by claiming to be from our service.

On the 25th January we took part in

Gosport’s employment fair at

Gosport Leisure Centre. This event

gave us the opportunity to advocate

volunteering as a gateway to

employment and received a number

of enquiries from prospective

volunteers interested in our training

programme.

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Big Energy Saving Week

Our biggest event this year by far was our Big Energy Saving Week Roadshow, where

we brought energy advice to the people.

The aim of the week was to increase the knowledge of the Citizens Advice Price Comparison Tool,

aid residents in completing a price comparison and promote the social tariffs and other help

available to pay utility bills for those struggling financially.

On the Wednesday of our event, we also opened our doors to allow residents to drop in & receive

dedicated energy advice and assistance in completing the switching service. One client who visited

us on this day and completed a switch saved over £600. We also took the opportunity to ask our

clients how they feel about their energy costs. 62% of respondents stated that they feel their

health and wellbeing would improve if their fuel costs were lower and a figure of particular

concern is that 40% stated that their winter fuel bills are a financial strain and they have to switch

their heating off or not pay their fuel bill to afford other household bills.

We also produced a video guide which is available on our website www.gosportcab.org.uk. Clients

can follow this easy to use tool which was initially designed specifically for residents of Gosport.

The feedback for this tool was extremely positive. It has now been provided to other local

organisations and to national Citizens Advice so that other offices throughout the Country can

make use of it.

We also received an immense amount

of support from local businesses who

provided prizes for our raffle. We

would like to express our gratitude to:

Homebase,

Aldi

Leons Restaurant

Waitrose

Monkey Bizness

TeamSport Go Karting

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Hampshire Macmillan Citizens Advice Service

The Hampshire Macmillan Citizens Advice Service provides free, confidential, impartial and

independent advice to those who have been affected by cancer. The support is open to

patients and family members alike via telephone, in hospitals and hospices as well as within Local

Citizens Advice offices throughout Hampshire.

In 2017/18 our specialist caseworker supported hundreds of clients with benefit and money

issues, employment advice, travel and health cost support as well as grant applications and other

family and household matters. Here is just one of the people helped by our team this year. To

protect their identity, a pseudonym has been used.

Anton first came for help when he had just received a terminal diagnosis at

Queen Alexandra Hospital. He wanted to keep working for as long as he

could because he enjoyed his job so much; the nature of his cancer

prevented this so it was an added blow.

The caseworker helped with a disability benefit claim which he was already

claiming, applying for a grant so he can have a short break in Brighton and

with an earnings replacement benefit of Employment and Support Allowance.

Before seeking help, he was incorrectly claiming a type of disability benefit,

which was based on the income of his partner who works full time. Upon

reviewing the paperwork and speaking with the Department for Work and

Pensions it was highlighted that Anton hadn’t submitted his claim wrongly

and the mix-up was due to a DWP error. By negotiating with the decision

makers within DWP it was agreed that the overpayment will not be recovered

by the DWP.

The caseworker then assisted Anton in submitting a claim for a contribution

based benefit, which he qualified for based on his National Insurance

contributions. This will still be a reduction in earnings based on working;

however with this new benefit he will be able to claim housing and council tax

benefits to help bolster the household income.

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Money Advice Matters

The Money Advice Matters Project is funded by Gosport Borough Council and is our homelessness

prevention project. This service supports clients whose debts are affecting their housing options

and is a successful project linking the Housing Departments and Citizens Advice Gosport with

clients directly referred to the service.

One such client was Jeff*, who was helped over the Christmas period. Jeff was 48 and suffers with

mild learning disabilities and mental health issues. He came to the service when he lost his part

time job. Due to the lack of income he fell in to rent arrears and his home was at risk.

After a full assessment of Jeff’s situation, our MAM caseworker helped Jeff negotiate an acceptable

and sustainable repayment plan with his landlord, empowered Jeff to complete his claim for

Employment and Support Allowance, ensuring he also applied for special relief from Council Tax.

By claiming the Disability Premium for Council Tax, Jeff’s Council Tax arrears were cancelled and he

is no longer liable to pay Council Tax in the future.

By using the Money Advice Matters Service, Jeff’s housing is now secure, he is claiming all the

benefits he is entitled to, ensuring he has the maximum income available to him, enabling him to

manage in the future. The subsequent improvement to his mental health and wellbeing is

immeasurable and he is very grateful to the service and especially the caseworker for their

support.

* Name changed to protect client’s identity.

Below is a snapshot of the top issues clients referred to the service seek help with.

Debt Issue Number of issues

Debt Relief Order 174

Council Tax Arrears 126

Rent Arrears – Local Authority 77

Water Supply & Sewerage Debts 55

Unsecured Personal Loan Debts 44

Benefit Issue Number of issues

Housing Benefit 109

Employment Support Allowance 46

Personal Independence Payment 16

Child Benefit 12

Working & Child Tax Credits 12

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Healthwatch Hampshire

Healthwatch Hampshire is the independent consumer champion created to gather and represent

the public view on different issues in relation to health and social care.

Citizens Advice Gosport provides information, advice and

signposting on local health and social care services as part of the

Healthwatch Hampshire Network. This year we continued to

support clients, giving them a voice and empowerment to speak

freely. For those who need additional support we referred

suitable clients to the Advocacy Service, which is on hand for

those residents who are unable to see through the NHS

complaints process alone.

In addition to our face to face work, we have created several

reports to anonymously feedback to Hampshire County Council,

the commissioner of this service on trends and concerns. This

style of reporting is Hampshire wide, allowing us to provide an in

depth view of a particular concern for the entire county. This

year, we have reported on Residential Care, Hospital discharges,

Non-Mental Health Community Care and Urgent Care.

To gather client experiences of urgent care services they have

used in the past year, we promoted a survey via social media,

asked every client who visited us to complete a survey and thanks

to Gosport Borough Council, we were also able to capture

opinions from those waiting in their reception area. Below is a

selection of the results.

Urgent Care Service Number % of responses

Pharmacist 36 27%

NHS Direct Helpline 40 31%

Hospital Accident & Emergency 42 32%

Other 13 10%

Satisfaction Of Urgent Care Service Used Number % of responses

Very Satisfied 25 33%

Satisfied 43 57%

Not Satisfied 5 6%

Very Unsatisfied 3 4%

Page | 19

Energy This year we were proud to support Gosport residents in reducing their energy costs through the

Ofgem funded Energy Best Deal Extra project.

We helped residents with over 200 issues, including managing fuel debts, getting a better deal and

financial capability assistance. Our volunteer advisors were able to secure over £6,000 for Gosport

residents by way of income gain, reduced rates or switching suppliers.

Thomas is single and lives in his 3 bed mortgaged home. He works full time, taking home

£1,350. With Mortgage and maintenance payments amounting to £1,000 a month he is

looking to reduce his outgoings.

When attending the service, his supplier was SSE on a 1 year fixed dual fuel deal ending in

September 2018 with an early exit fee of £25 per service. His monthly direct debit was set

at £122 per month. This amount was based on his annual usage rate over the last 12

months. Since that calculation he separated from his wife and the number in the

household reduced along with his fuel usage. An energy comparison was completed with

the client using the Citizens Advice Price Comparison Tool and Thomas could save between

£43.34 and £47 per month. Taking the exit fee in to consideration a significant saving could

still be made by switching provider. In addition, the advisor spoke with Thomas about

having water meters installed in his home, with annual savings of £5.49 with Portsmouth

Water and £44.66 with Southern Water. He was also provided with details on applying for

free water saving gadgets through Portsmouth Water.

Beside the presenting issue of energy costs the advisor gave information on how Thomas

can check that the maintenance costs he was paying were set at the correct rate as well. He

was also given direction on how to use an online benefit calculator to check his eligibility for

Working Tax Credits. He was also given information on increasing his income by taking in a

lodger.

Top Issues Number of issues

Utilities & Communications 153

Financial Services & Capability 26

Consumer Goods & Services 14

BENEFITS

3%

CONSUMER

7% DEBT

3%

FINANCIAL

SERVICES

12%

OTHER

3%

UTILITIES

& COMMUNICATIONS

72%

Client Issues

Page | 20

The year ahead...

We are looking forward to another busy and productive year in 2018/19. This will see us

enhancing our service provision by making the most of our current resources and expanding our

service offer to reach as many residents as possible. The outreach at the Community Hub and our

joint working with FirstLight will reach members of the community who may otherwise not feel

able to ask for our support.

citizens

advice