The frontline in the coalition government’s changes to the benefit system and the current restricted pay increases runs right through the offices of the Wiltshire’s Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB).
In Marlborough on Tuesdays from 10.00 a.m. till 2.00 p.m. two volunteer CAB advisers are on duty at the Quaker Meeting House in The Parade. The CAB is a charity which helps people resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing free, independent and confidential advice.
At each Tuesday session between six and eight people (sometimes as many as fourteen) bring often complex problems for advice. People can ask for a benefit check to see what they’re getting, whether it’s enough and how they’ll be affected by the government’s changes.
Marlborough News Online visited the CAB in Marlborough to meet Wiltshire’s Advice Service Manager, Kerry Barratt. Also there, getting ready to meet clients, were volunteers David (who is also a supervisor) and Barbara.
Wiltshire used to be served by four district-based CABs, but four years ago they amalgamated into a county-wide organisation – mainly to stop competing for funds. Now Wiltshire CAB takes third place behind Manchester and Birmingham as to the area it covers.
Funding Wiltshire CAB is becoming increasingly difficult. Half its funding now comes from Wiltshire Council (set till April 2014) and the rest from grants and specific contracts with other organisations like the Royal British Legion, MacMillan Nurses, housing associations and a few GP’s surgeries. Last year it saw 23,000 clients with 76,000 problems.
Wiltshire CAB has seventy paid staff and 220 volunteers who all receive intensive training. But with that training, with the CAB’s sophisticated computer system (Adviser Net), with travel across such a large area as Wiltshire and parking charges , the cost of volunteers increases each year.
And then there are the paid staff – as David put it: “The volunteers couldn’t function without the spine of the paid staff.”
The great majority of problems concern debt and benefits. Behind them on the list come employment and housing issues. Sorting out sustainable re-payment schemes for those who fall into debt or have loans with big interest rates, has become a main strand of CAB’s work.
As Kerry Barratt explains: “Last year saw a nine per cent increase in debt and benefit problems – and we’re expecting another considerable increase this year. And, of course, we are working on reduced staff and income – we’ve lost the legal contract for debt and benefit issues.”
Kerry says that in Marlborough employment problems have become much more common over the past five years. A particular problem is reduced hours and the problems that causes for people on tight budgets.
Many people employed through agencies find problems with varying income. Another area is the increasing use by firms of ‘zero-hours contracts’ where a worker is expected to be available even if no work is offered during a week.
It is thought that country-wide at least 200,000 people are on these contracts and nearly a quarter of Britain’s largest firms use them. “If you are paid for thirty hours one week and only five the next, it makes it very hard to budget properly.”
Recent changes to the benefit system – including the ‘bedroom tax (or ‘spare room subsidy’) and the mandatory Council Tax payment – is adding to people’s problems. For some people, the former will add £14-15 a week unless they can move to single bedroom social housing, and the latter will add another £2-5 a week: “When you’re on a restricted budget, that’s impossible.”
The government’s ‘universal credit’ will bring fresh problems. It seems that if there is a problem with one strand of the ‘credit’, everything will stop – and could take six to eight weeks to sort out:
“These changes hit the most vulnerable in society – that’s our anxiety. And that leads to health issues – and can impact on mental health.”
Kerry told Marlborough News Online: “We’ve seen a vast increase in clients with mental health issues – largely stress related. Quite often we’re the first port of call – before the GP. For some people it’s quite a big thing to get here and talk about it.”
Another problem is that Council offices are usually miles away from Marlborough. David had advised a person who had become homeless and had to get to Devizes to see the appropriate Council officer. That meant a three hour bus journey via Swindon costing about £10 – “And he had no money.”
The Marlborough ‘outreach office’ can only operate due to the kindness of the Quakers who let them use their rooms at a minimum cost.
Wiltshire CAB have a good relationship with St John’s Academy and one student has trained as a volunteer and will be able to carry on her voluntary work when she goes on to university. Working for the CAB can count towards students’ International Baccalaureate and last year they ran a CAB poster competition.
For those with internet access the first help point can be CAB’s online service. In addition they run an advice telephone line for Wiltshire that is open Monday to Friday from 9.00 a.m. to 5 p.m.: 0844 375 2775.
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