Rushmoor
Aldershot CAB - Farnborough CAB - Heathlands CAB
CAMPAIGNING FOR CHANGE
All Citizens Advice Bureaux Campaign for Change. We call this Social Policy work.
Rushmoor CAB, believes that this is a very important part of our work. If we can get laws, policies, or procedures changed, it can improve the situation for our clients and for the community as a whole.
We look at local and national issues, and we carry out Social Policy work in a number of ways.
Local Liaison and Networks
We attend various local groups and meetings. We explain how policies and procedures affect our clients. This can have a major influence on how decisions are made.
The meetings we attend include:
- Liaison meetings with Rushmoor Borough Council.
- Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) Liaison meetings.
- Adult Mental Health stakeholder meetings and local Mental Health forums.
- Rushmoor Homelessness Forum.
We have met with both of our local MPs. Sometimes we work with them to resolve problems for individual clients. We also ask them to help influence national organisations.
We were involved in the setting up of the Well Being Centre in Frimley, which is providing statutory and voluntary services for Mental Health service users. We have a representative on the Centre’s Operational Group, which is helping plan its develpment.
Current issues
Social Policy Work continues in all three Bureaux. The issues we are especially involved in at the moment are:
- Employment Support Allowance. This is the benefit paid from October 2008 to people who are not well enough to work. We are watching how this benefit is administered and how it affects our clients. We are reporting ways how it could be improved.
- We are supporting the Citizens Advice Fair Welfare campaign. This is calling for a just, efficient welfare benefits and tax credits system. We have written to our local MPs asking for their support with this campaign.
- Click here to view a report we have prepared on the experiences of some of our clients with Farnborough Job Centre.
- We have worked with Rushmoor Borough Council to make it easier for people in hospital to join the housing register.
- Click here to read another of our reports on the employment issues that have affected our clients in the past.
- We want to know if energy salespeople are complying with their new rules. We will be reporting cases which might involve mis-selling of gas or electricity contracts on the doorstep, or failure to provide the information required under the new rules.
If we come across something that we think is unfair, or needs changing, we send a report to Citizen Advice central office. They use this information to campaign for change in laws and national policies and services.
We have listed below three examples of where our work has lead but for a more comprehensive list see
www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/campaigns.
National Achievements
Payment of Employment Tribunal awards
For many years we pointed out the problems some clients had getting the compensation awarded by Employment Tribunals. Citizens Advice highlighted the problems in their report Justice Denied.
In May 2009 the government announced that they would introduce tough measures to improve the payment of tribunal awards. These measures should mean that claimants have a much better chance of receiving the money they have been awarded.
Better protection for tenants
We have seen the effect the recession has had on many people and have highlighted some concerns. We have seen tenants who have had to leave their homes at very short notice because their landlord has failed to pay the mortgage on the property.
Citizens Advice reported on these problems and a MP has now introduced the Protection of Tenants Bill which would, if it became law, give the courts power to grant a 2 month breathing space for tenants before the property could be repossessed. This bill has widespread support and if it becomes law would benefit many tenants.
Improvements in the Doorstep Selling of Gas and Electricity
Over the years bureaux have reported many cases involving the mis-selling of gas and electricity on the doorstep. On 19 January 2010, tougher new rules were introduced which force energy salespeople to provide customers with much more information about the new terms they are offering.
Involving Clients in Social Policy Work
At Rushmoor CAB we try to explain our Social Policy work to clients, and encourage them to take up issues which affect them. This can be done in a number of ways.
1.
Support our Fair Welfare Campaign
Complete our
survey about your experience of back to work support. The Citizens Advice Fair Welfare campaign is calling for a just, efficient welfare benefits and tax credits system. It is a broad campaign incorporating several separate objectives for change.
2.
Complaining
Complaining directly to an organisation is one of the best ways of campaigning for change.
To help clients make complaints, we have added three links to some specific organisations, and intend to add others as we deem appropriate.
Our first link Consumer Direct is operated by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in partnership with Local Authority Trading Standards, and offers general advice on how to make a complaint, including template letters.
British Gas under 'Reason why you are contacting us', select 'Make a Complaint'.
DWP - Department for Work & Pensions Link to Complaints & Appeals
We are also always keen to recruit volunteers interested in undertaking social policy work. Just contact us by phone, email or letter – details are on the volunteering section, or the contact pages for each bureau.
