Annual Review 2013 - 2014 - Citizens Advice · Annual Review 2013 - 2014 Free, Confidential,...

Cheadle Citizens Advice Bureau

Annual Review

2013 - 2014

Free, Confidential, Impartial, Independent Advice Charity Commission No: 1128833 Company No:6537196

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Meet the Team

Staff Members

Pat Greatbatch - Manager

Angela Brownsword - Advice Services Manager

Thérèse Davall - ASTF Project Co-ordinator/Trainer and PCT Caseworker

Dawn Keates - F2F Debt

Julie Billingham - F2F Debt

Matthew Frost - Administrator

Bianca Pedder - F2F Administrator

Janine Cresswell - ASTF Adviser

Zoe Ashley - Receptionist

Volunteer Advisers

Wendy Tipper

Brenda Fry

Barbara Rothwell

Elaine Beardmore

Jane Keeling

Gillian Smallwood

Frances Mulholland

Bob Loach

Robert Sunderland

Tom Castle

Volunteer Trainee

Advisers

Michael Smolarz-Lambert

Neil Johnson

Kim Taylor

Rosemary Thomas

Angela Weston

Maria Myklebust

Volunteer

Gateway

Assessors

Clive Shakeshaft

Elizabeth Purslow

Volunteer Admin

Brenda Riley

Brenda Philips

Alan Greatbatch

Dan Weatherer

Trustee Members

Tim Halliday

Ronald Locker

Jackie Patel

Margaret Locker

Ian Lingard

Ian Plant

Kathleen Amison

Helen Lingard

Neil Plant

Joyce Forshaw

Alan Banks

Gillian Burton

Peter Siddley

Last year the value of our volunteers was £64,911


Free, Confidential, Impartial, Independent Advice

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"A passing from one phase to another".

In 2013/2014 Cheadle Bureau entered a period of transition. Against a backdrop of

funding cuts and other austerity measures our staff and volunteers battled to help those

from our local community affected by the changes to the welfare system and increased

financial pressures in their household budgets. The statistics in this report that reflect the

work of the bureau shows they did so admirably, soaking up the pressures with their usual

blend of skill and good humour.

With difficult economic times and the loss of traditional funding streams came the

recognition that we needed to adapt and innovate to ensure the future of the service for

those dependent upon it. Thanks to funding from the Big Lottery Advice Services

Transition Fund we began that process by forming a partnership with Leek CAB, Age UK,

Your Housing and Support Staffordshire to provide a cost efficient, streamlined advice

service where "no door is the wrong door" for all of our clients.

Change also came in the form of new premises. After many months of hard work to find a

suitable property from our Manager and the Trustee Board we left Harbourne Road to

take up residence in the High Street in November. Whilst there was some disruption to

the service it was kept to a minimum, again thanks to the hard work and efforts of all

involved.

Finally, as the year came to an end our Manager of 16 years, Pat Greatbatch announced

that she was leaving the service at the beginning of April. Dedicated to the cause, she

has worked tirelessly to ensure the continuity of the Citizens Advice service in Cheadle

and we have much to thank her for, she will be sorely missed.

There is much change still to come and difficult times lie ahead but Cheadle Bureau is

well equipped with committed staff, skilled and generous volunteers and good external

partnerships to support the community, whilst looking for new ways to bridge the gap

between the support people want and what we are funded to do.

Julie Billingham - Interim Chief Officer

Report from the Interim Chief Officer



Of the 1769 enquiries dealt with last year: -

▲ 46.07% were dealt with at the gateway stage

▲ 33.60% were dealt with through general advice

▲ 15.54% were dealt with by a specialist caseworker

▲ 3.33% required information only

▲ 1.46% required advice and referral

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As Advice Service Manager my main role is to supervise the advice session to

ensure we maintain the quality of advice. The cases below are examples of the

types of help and advice we are able to give to our clients. We would like to say a

big THANK YOU to our dedicated volunteers without whom we would not be able to

provide this valuable advice service.

When Mr X’s mother had to move to a care home, our client was left living alone in private

rented property which was in his mother’s name only. The tenancy agreement had been

in existence for over 60 years. As his mother no longer lived at the property the landlord

offered to change the tenancy into our clients name but it would then be an assured short-

hold tenancy and he would have limited housing rights which could result in eviction after

a fixed term had ended. He had tried to claim housing benefit but had been told that

because the tenancy was not in his name he needed to provide evidence that he was

paying the rent.

We sought advice from NHAS and they told us that due to the age of the tenancy it was

likely to be a regulated/protected tenancy and as such, the landlord could end the tenancy

without grounds because the tenancy agreement was in his mother’s name and she was

no longer living there.

We explained to our client, the options and implications regarding his housing status, and

assisted him with his claim for housing benefit. SMDC accepted a certificate signed by the

landlord to confirm the amount of rent he was paying and our client was successful in

claiming housing benefit and was awarded 12 months backdated benefit.

Report from the Advice Service Manager

This year Cheadle Citizens Advice Bureau...

▲ Gave advice to 1,296 individual clients with 1,769 enquiries

▲ In the 12 month period we had 3407 contacts with clients

▲ Helped local people with 7,298 issues

Client attended because her husband had recently died and his private pension had

stopped. She expected it to continue to be paid to her after his death so she rang the

pension provider who said it was a single pension with no entitlement to a spouse's

pension.

The adviser checked through the original pension paperwork and found evidence that

her husband had selected a pension which included spouse’s rights. We advised client

to send copies of these documents and a letter of complaint to the pension provider and

if she was not satisfied with the response she could then complain to the Financial

Ombudsman Service.



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Mr A, 56, lives with his son. He has been suffering from a liver problem for the previous 8

months and was finding it difficult to cope at home. Our client suffers from hepatic

encephalopathy, psoriasis, hypertension and tinnitus. He is in receipt of an indefinite

award of Disability Living Allowance Higher Rate Mobility. He struggles to walk and is in

constant pain in his leg. Client was suffering from depression and lacked any motivation

to wash, dress and even eat.

Client wanted some advice from the bureau to complete an ESA50 form as he was

migrating from Incapacity Benefit to Employment and Support Allowance and also to

reassess his Disability Living Allowance claim as his condition had worsened.

He was referred to our benefits advisers Therese and Julie and they helped our client to

gather medical evidence from his GP stating that he was not fit for work. We also were

able to gather evidence from his consultant which further supported his claims.

Thanks to the help that he received from the bureau, he was award Middle Rate Care of

Disability Living Allowance at £53.00 per week in addition to the High Rate Mobility and

he also received a back payment of £424.00. Our client is unfortunately still awaiting a

decision to see if he now qualifies for Employment and Support Allowance.

We advised his son who cares for him on a daily basis that he could possibly claim Carers

Allowance and offered to help him to complete a benefits check, bringing possible further

funds into the household.

Unfortunately our contract to provide benefits casework has now finished and unless we

can find further funding, clients like the above may not get the help that they really need.

Benefits

This year Cheadle Citizens Advice Bureau…

▲ Dealt with 2,358 benefit issues equating to 32.35% of all issues

▲ The main benefit dealt with was Employment Support Allowance

▲ Assisted local residents to claim benefits worth £988,681 in annualised

payments and almost £89,270.40 in backdated payments/lump sums

It’s difficult to see how this much needed service could be

improved. I cannot praise the CAB enough. I have always received

excellent advice and help



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Debt

This year Cheadle Citizens Advice Bureau…

▲ Dealt with 3,499 debt issues equating to 48.01% of all issues

▲ The most common debt issue dealt with was Credit, Store and

Charge Card Debts

▲ In total we dealt with £8,157,110.18 of debt

Mrs S. returned to the bureau in May 2013 for further advice on an issue we first assisted with in 2011 - a Charging Order application by a creditor of Mr. S. although he had been making payments as ordered by the court under a CCJ the claimant had made a new application for a Charging Order. Although by this time Mrs and Mr S. had separated Mrs S. wanted advice on whether she, as an interested party, could put forward any arguments against a Charging Order ‘absolute’ being granted as she thought that this would affect her ability to sell the property in the future.

I looked up information regarding the legal position and established that if a creditor had obtained a county court judgment before 1 October 2012 (as was the case here) and there was an instalment order in place, the creditor was only entitled to a Charging Order if the defendant had missed one or more payments. If no payments had been missed the court should not grant a Charging Order (Mercantile Credit Co Ltd v Ellis in 1987).

As the defendant had not missed any payments under the court order the creditor had no ‘grounds’ on which to apply for a charging order. I drafted a letter to the claimant’s solicitor and the court pointing this out and the client received a response from the claimant’s solicitor stating that they had applied to ‘vacate’ the application.

However the judge decided the hearing should go ahead - he said that he had read the letter from the bureau and he wanted Mrs and Mr S to attend to tell them in person that he was dismissing the Charging Order application and was not awarding costs against Mr S (we had asked for this in our letter). He advised Mr S he should request a full statement of account from the solicitors to make sure that they had not added the costs of the application/their work on it to the account.

Dawn Keates, Debt Caseworker

Quote from letter Mrs S sent to bureau following our assistance - I am thankful I have come across such

gracious, caring and supportive people at Cheadle CAB. Your help will always be appreciated, without you I feel I

would have lost my family home

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Social policy work is one of two main aims of the Citizens Advice Bureau. It is about trying to help individuals and communities by identifying problems and issues that impact on them, seeking to raise awareness of these issues and where possible, trying to change them.

Social Policy

Client has Council tax arrears and bailiffs levied on his grandmothers car which was parked in

the driveway where he lives with his grandmother. This caused client to incur bailiffs fees and

charges. The bailiffs agreed to remove the £60 levy fee but would not remove other charges

including £18 second visit fee, £185 enforcement fee and £24.50 administration fee. The

original debt was £500 and has now increased to £703 which is a 40% increase in the debt.

Bureau made local authority aware of this problem and helped client to make a complaint.

Client is aged 91, went on holiday in June 2013 with her sister for two weeks. She took out

insurance cover with a company she had obtained from a website. She was taken ill whilst

away and received medical treatment over a 24 hour period. The hospital obtained

authorisation before commencing with her treatment but the insurance company is refusing to

meet the cost of the treatment, claiming that they were not informed that she was in need of

medical treatment and because of this she had not met the conditions and terms of the

insurance policy. Client advised to write letter of complaint to insurance company and client

received full payment

Client has received letters saying overpayment of housing and council tax benefit. This was

due to an official error by Stoke on Trent City Council when they miscalculated their

assessable income even though the income was correctly added on the original decision. The

housing benefit overpayment has been recovered as the client was not aware of the error and

the money had remained in their rent account. The bureau has assisted the client to appeal the

decision on the grounds of official error.

Mr and Mrs J had been living in the same social rented property for 30 years and came to the

bureau because they had heard about a “loophole” in the housing benefit system that meant

they should not be affected by the introduction of the under occupancy rules for housing

benefit which were introduced in April 2013 - The Bedroom Tax. As a couple living in a three

bedroomed house their housing benefit was being reduced by 25% as they were not

occupying two bedrooms. We wrote a letter to SMDC on behalf of our clients asking for their

housing benefit decision to be reviewed as they had been tenants in receipt of housing

benefit since before 1st January 1996 therefore their housing benefit should not be reduced.

The local authority reimbursed our client with the under paid housing benefit following our

intervention. The “loophole” in the benefit system has now been closed from March 2014.



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This year we have been successful in securing funding from the Big Lottery through the Advice Services Transition Fund. The £250,000 will fund a two year project called Staffordshire Moorlands Advice Partnership (SMAP). The SMAP partners are Cheadle CAB (as lead), Leek CAB, Age UK (North Staffs), Support Staffordshire and Your Housing. The aim of the project is to merge the services of multiple advice services in Staffordshire Moorlands. The new service will remove duplication, focus resources, increase capacity, help those in greatest need and offer a complete holistic approach to every client journey. In order to meet this aim the partnership has set the following objectives:- To have better trained, unified workers offering consistent advice and information

over a wider area To improve quality of advice To have more influence on relevant policy and practice that affects clients lives To review availability and methods of service delivery To provide IT and support in outreach areas To improve relations with Local Authority To have a greater awareness of services for signposting To strengthen relationships with member organisations To have more diverse funding from a broad spectrum of funders and the ability to bid

for public service contracts together as a partnership

Thérèse Davall has been employed under this funding as Project Co-ordinator and Training Officer as well as Angie Gibbon (Adviser based at Age UK), Janine Cresswell (Adviser based at Cheadle CAB) and Matthew Frost (Administrator). After an audit of current advice provision in the Moorlands, Age UK decided to change their opening times so that they offer drop in advice sessions when Leek CAB are closed. This means that people over the age of 50 can now access advice 5 days a week in Leek. This is a good example to demonstrate how partnership working can benefit local residents. If anybody would like further details on the project they can contact Thérèse Davall, Project Co-ordinator and Training Officer at [email protected]

Advice Services Transition Fund



This year Staffordshire Moorlands Advice Partnership has…

▲ Assisted 655 clients across the partnership over a range of issues

▲ Held 15 successful training sessions

▲ Started the process to become a Legal Advice Assessment Centre to

provide Legal Advice QCF Qualifications

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One Friday morning at the end of August 2013 in between changing nappies and sterilising bottles I received a telephone call from Angela Brownsword at Cheadle Citizens Advice Bureau, offering me the position of Generalist Adviser. I had attended my first job interview in 13 years that week in a shabby (but chic) porta cabin, as you could imagine I was very nervous! I had spent the past 3 years looking after my 2 beautiful children, and previously 10 years as a Careers Adviser for the Connexions Service.

I was absolutely delighted to be offered the job, I felt it was the right time to get back into the world of work, and the job sounded so interesting; a real chance to make a difference, everyone I had met at my interview were so friendly putting me at ease straight away.

I wasn’t disappointed; on my first day in October I was made to feel so welcome. I shadowed Zoe on reception and bombarded her with far too many questions, I knew from that very first day that it was going to be a great place to work. My worries and fears that I had about leaving my children for the first time in Nursery, about starting a job after being out of employment for so long were soon at the back of my mind.

I can honestly say I couldn’t have asked for a better return to work experience. I never get that feeling on a Sunday night where I am dreading the return to work on a Monday morning; in fact I look forward to the working week. No day is ever the same, as well as wonderful staff and volunteers, I have had the pleasure of meeting some very interesting and lovely clients, who are so very grateful for any help and support the bureau can offer, often making life changing differences to their lives.

I’ve spent the past few months shadowing staff and volunteers, working through the Adviser training packs and attending training days. Working at CAB opened my eyes to all the important work that Citizens Advice do and how much impact they have on Government Policy.

In conclusion I can only hope that I have a very long career ahead of me at Cheadle CAB, however, if my 2 year contract cannot be renewed due to lack of funding I am confident that with the excellent training, support and positive experience I have had I will have little or no difficulty gaining related employment.

Many thanks to everyone at Cheadle CAB past and present; you should all be very proud of the excellent work and dedication that you offer to the Bureau.

Janine Cresswell - ASTF Adviser

Advice Services Transition Fund

It is charitable organisations like yourselves that help working class people like me who have no

idea about the law or how things work. I am grateful that there are places that we could go as well as people who are willing to help and advise

us through difficult times

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We are delighted that we have been able to recruit a further 6 volunteers to our bureau. Maria, Angela and Rosemary joined us as Trainee Advisers, Zoe as Receptionist, Dan as Social Policy Co-ordinator and Alan officially joined as IT Support. We would like to take this opportunity to formally welcome them to the team! Without the valuable support of our volunteers the service would simply cease to exist. We therefore truly value the time that our volunteers give freely to their local community. This year we have the benefit of additional training support from Staffordshire Moorlands Advice Partnership. Training Officer, Thérèse Davall has been running weekly benefit workshops for advice staff and volunteers who are either new to advice or require a refresher. The 9 workshops were well received and with attendees from across the partnership they offered the opportunity for advice workers to network and learn from each other’s experiences. Through the SMAP project we hope that next year we will be able to offer staff and volunteers nationally recognised qualifications in legal advice. If approved we will be one of just a few bureaux in the country able to deliver the Skills for Justice QCF qualifications. We hope that this will help us to recruit and retain our volunteers and help some of our volunteers with their work or further studies ambitions. As the qualifications will be delivered across the partnership we hope that quality of advice will improve and become more standardised, benefiting partners, staff and clients. Thérèse Davall - Training Officer

Recruitment and Training report

If you would like further information about our qualifications or becoming a

volunteer then contact Thérèse Davall by email: [email protected]

Transition from Gateway

Assessor to Adviser

This year, after I had

completed my gateway

training, I started on the

advisor training. I felt I had a

need to see problems

through and I had been so

well supported in my

gateway training that I felt

confident enough to

progress further. Little did I

know how much more there

was to learn! To date, I’ve

worked through several

enquiry areas and am about

to go on my first two day

course.

Today I helped a man who

had recently lost his job and

suffered a relationship

breakdown. He was clinically

depressed and needed a bit

of help to get back on his

feet. After some form filling

he was going to receive

some council tax reduction,

we gave him a food voucher

to help out this week and a

promise of help with his

mortgage payments in 13

weeks time. He went away

feeling a bit happier, very

grateful and not quite so

alone. I went home with a

smile on my face – I had

made a difference and

helped someone.

Kim Taylor - Volunteer



Volunteer Story

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This year has been one of many challenges. Early in 2013 we were served with notice to

vacate the bureau in Harborne Road where we had been situated for 16 years and were

faced with the task of searching for new premises as SMDC wanted to build a housing

development on the bureau site and car park. It was difficult to identify potential premises

in Cheadle and when we found the office at the rear of Lulworth House which was the old

police station social club, it required re-fitting to make it suitable for our needs. However,

after months of preparation and organisation the premises were ready to occupy in

November 2013.

I would like to particularly thank Pat Greatbatch the Bureau Manager for ensuring the

smooth running of the bureau during the upheaval of relocating the premises and special

thanks to her husband Alan who worked tirelessly setting up the IT and telephone

systems.

We have seen major funding contracts come to an end this year including the PCT

contract which enabled us to employ a specialist benefit adviser and the Staffordshire

County Contract which we used to manage jointly with East Staffs CAB. On a positive

note the bureau was awarded a grant from Big Lottery – Advice Service Transition Fund -

this funding is for 2 years.

I would like to thank the volunteers who give their time unstintingly, without whom the

bureau would be unable to function. Also, thanks to my fellow trustee board members for

their hard work and dedication.

Tim Halliday - Chair

Adviceline

Last word from the Chair of Trustees

We help to provide the Staffordshire Adviceline Telephone Service on a rota system with all the Staffordshire Bureaux. We operate the service for one morning a week and usually answer calls from 5 or 6 clients from across the county during that time

The Staffordshire Adviceline (03444 111 444) is open on….

Mondays: 9am till 5pm Tuesdays: 9am till 8pm Wednesdays: 9am till 5pm Thursdays: 9am till 5pm Fridays: 9am till 4.30pm Adviceline is closed on weekends and bank holidays

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How to contact us

Cheadle Citizens Advice Bureau Rear of Lulworth House, 51 High Street, Cheadle, Stoke-on-Trent, ST10 1AR

Drop in (no appointment necessary)

Mondays, Tuesdays & Wednesdays 10.00 am to 1.00 pm

Staffordshire Adviceline

03444 111 444

24 hour internet advice www.adviceguide.org.uk

Follow us online



We are extremely grateful to all of the following organisations and individuals whose

generosity enables the bureau to help those most in need in our community.

Cheadle Citizens Advice Bureau received funding and other support in 2013/14

from: Staffordshire Moorlands District Council ▲ Cheadle Town Council ▲ Staffordshire

County Council ▲ North Staffordshire Primary Care Trust ▲ BIS ▲ Big Lottery Fund▲

We have also received kind donations from a number of private individuals.

Thank you to our Funders


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Annual Review 2013 - 2014 - Citizens Advice · Annual Review 2013 - 2014 Free, Confidential,...

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