Annual Report
2006—2007
Annual Report
2006—2007
The following is a shortened version of the Annual Report. It includes reports by the Chair of the Board of Trustees and the Bureau Manager which provide an overview of the work of Harrogate CAB during the past 12 months.
Harrogate Citizens Advice Bureau and Disability Information Service
REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES AND MANAGER
Our aims and principles
The Bureau originally opened in September
1939 as part of Harrogate Citizens’ Guild of Help. On 11 June 1979 it was established as an independent unincorporated association and registered as charity No. 510619 in October 1980. The Bureau aims to:ensure that individuals do not suffer through lack of knowledge of their rights and responsibilities or through an inability to express their needs effectively;
exercise a responsible influence on the development of social policies and services, both locally and nationally; and
achieve equality of opportunity and access. Voluntary and paid staff are recruited—and our service provided—without regard to gender, age, income, ethnic origin, sexuality or disability. The service is free, confidential, independent and impartial.
CHAIRS REPORT 2006-2007 ANOTHER CHALLENGING YEAR
Although the number of people seeking help remained relatively constant, the complexity of issues stretched our resources almost to the limit. There were more instances of a client inquiry which initially appeared simple turning out to be complex, requiring more interview time to ensure correct and comprehensive advice was given. The “unknown” factor inherent in client inquiries makes the management of advice work very difficult.
Specialist workers reported more cases involving issues outside their specialism, for example, a disability problem leading to a debt problem. It became even more important that specialists had expertise in other areas of work and this necessitated additional training on top of already high work loads. However, the strong team ethic and peer group support, fundamental to our way of working, were the most important factors in enabling the service to deal successfully with these complex cases – no one works in isolation. Everyone must take credit for this.
In June Pamela Osborne, one of our DIS specialists, retired after 18 years service with the CAB Service both in a volunteer and paid capacity. We miss not only her expertise in disability but also her skill and experience in all areas of generalist advice. Grateful thanks go to her and we wish her a happy retirement.
The year saw a peaking in the number of migrant workers seeking advice and the issues around immigration status added an extra dimension when advising in such cases. During the year all advice workers underwent immigration training. We were able to deal successfully with this new client group because of our excellent support, consultancy and training resources and it demonstrated our ability to respond to change.
Demand for case work outstrips our case work resource in all areas of advice. However, a welcome addition to our debt team was the appointment of a Debt Case Worker funded by the DTI’s Financial Inclusion Fund. The worker provides debt advice for clients of Craven, Ryedale, Selby and Harrogate Bureaux. Valuable experience has been gained from this new example of partnership, which is working well.
A long wished for development in the generalist service was the appointment, in September, of a part-time Service Manager with the prime responsibility of supporting the volunteer advice workers. She took over the majority of the consultancy and case checking freeing up valuable time for the Manager and Assistant Manager to spend on other important areas of their work. The voluntary advice workers have welcomed this dedicated support and we shall endeavour to find funds to maintain this post.
The increasing time required for face to face advice high-lighted the value of our telephone advice service. Although the biennial feedback survey of telephone clients indicated a high level of satisfaction, over 50% were unable to get through first time. We shall strive to improve the availability of telephone advice which we recognise as an important way of reaching our diverse community.
The ultimate responsibility for the maintenance and development of the service lies with the Trustee Board and in 2006-2007 work was initiated to improve Governance. Three new trustees with differing skills and knowledge of the community were elected to the Board. We are committed to ensuring maximum use is made of their expertise in the strategic planning which is so necessary if Harrogate CAB is to continue providing a quality, appropriate and accessible service to the people in the Harrogate and District community.
However, it is recognised that the Bureau’s greatest asset is the professional and dedicated workforce. Sincere thanks go to everyone involved in the Harrogate Service.
Dorothy Johnson, Chair, Board of Trustees
Managers report…….ADVICE CHANGES LIVES
Thousands of Harrogate residents have had their lives changed by the advice they have received from Harrogate CAB in 2006/07. For the first time, through developments in our IT programmes, we are able to identify the 4,952 unique clients who accessed our service within this year – some 6.19% of the District population that we serve.
For many, this would not have been the first time they had approached our service for help with their problems, and for many it will not be their last. Research by Mori indicated 44% of the population has a problem on which they would have liked advice, and 24% of those seeking advice chose to use the CAB.
A key strength of the CAB service has been our ability to get people working together to resolve or manage serious problems, overcoming the social barriers to accessing rights, and addressing the underlying causes. This is our core business; it is what we exist to do.
But there are dangers ahead. Last year the CAB service was mentioned 2,193 times in the national papers alone, as the universal solution for readers’ problems – “Go and visit your local CAB”, they all say. The challenge for our volunteer driven service will be to meet the needs of as many people as possible, in a way which suits them.
We are fortunate in our team of enthusiastic, dedicated and hardworking volunteers who remain committed to helping all sections of their community, particularly those most likely to experience exclusion, disadvantage or discrimination. My thanks go to all members of the Bureau team, including our wide range of volunteers, paid staff, and those who provide their specialist support pro-bono.
SOCIAL POLICY
The Bureau put substantial effort into Social Policy work in 2006/07.
Many Evidence forms were sent to Citizens Advice to provide evidence to support Citizens advice reports and campaigns and for the first time these forms were sent electronically.
Other work, such as a number of surveys, was also carried out to gain evidence. In particular a survey on the facilities and working of the County Court and an analysis of the possession cases seen at the Possession Court helped provide evidence for the report on Homeowners and Debt.
The Bureau has developed a good relationship with Phil Willis, the MP, and he helped Social Policy work by referring our evidence and concerns to Ministers and signing Early Day Motions. He also briefly attended the National Social Policy Conference.
The Bureau co-operated with the other North Yorkshire Bureaux in a Cluster Group and also with the North Region on some, often more localised issues. Within the Harrogate District we also worked with other local agencies supporting steering groups such as the Homelessness strategy group, and on joint work on issues of concern.
We used local radio and talks to groups to publicise Social Policy issues and to inform the public about them. In particular we ran a small campaign to try to help people keep out of debt at Christmas and another on the introduction of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme.
Debt work continued to be over one third of all Bureau work in 2006/07. Most of this work was case work which is both time consuming and costly.
A number of contracts enabled the Bureau to provide this amount of debt work. We have an LSC contract to provide debt assistance for clients who qualify for legal aid - a full-time and part-time worker work within this contract. In 2006 we also gained a debt worker through the Financial Inclusion Fund – although we share this worker with 3 other Bureau. DEFRA also provided some money which paid for the Possession Desk at Harrogate County Court.
In addition to the paid workers we also have a number of Voluntary Advice Workers who have specialised in debt and they too provided debt case work.
The year saw trends identified earlier continue. The number of possession claims and repossessions continued to rise. More clients used an insolvency measure – such as bankruptcy or an IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement) to resolve their debt situation. The size of many clients’ indebtedness caused much concern with many clients having both high mortgages and secured loans on their properties and many having very large amounts of consumer debt.
Many creditors became more assertive in their debt collection – in particular we saw the use of more Charging Orders. Locally, Harrogate Borough Council began to use bankruptcy as a way of collecting unpaid Council Tax
Once again, in 2006/07, we identified changes to the benefit issues presented by clients.
The number of clients seeking advice on issues relating to Jobseekers Allowance would correspond with the statements of staff from our local Jobcentre Plus Office, who have experienced a significant rise in claimant’s registering as unemployed and seeking work during this period.
However the enquiries are often the result of problems our clients have experienced following the shift from face-to-face to telephone contact for benefit claimants. This change has had a huge impact on the most vulnerable of our clients who either can’t use, or find it difficult to use, a phone.
This problem has been compounded by the Call Centre’s inability to deal with the volume of calls they receive, leaving clients with significant problems in accessing their entitlements, especially to benefits such as Crisis Loans. Research shows that 1 in 5 people on the lowest incomes do not have access to a landline, and have to rely on premium rate “pay as you go” mobile phones to pursue benefit payments, which have often been delayed by weeks rather than days.
In 2006/07 we have seen a further rise in the number of clients approaching the Bureau for help with understanding, or challenging Tax Credit decisions. In many cases we found that over-payments of Tax Credits had arisen due to an unacceptable level of official error, or a failure to act on the information provided when a client reports a change in circumstances that would affect their entitlement. Families have been left seriously out of pocket and confused because they are being asked to pay back Tax Credits which they had been previously told they were entitled to, and as a result are increasingly reluctant to claim again.
Finally, we have increased the number of clients assisted with an initial or repeat claim for Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance. In many cases a successful outcome has also passported clients, or their carers, to further benefit entitlements.
The Disability Information Service has provided a specialist advice service for people with all types of disability and their carers for a number of years. Our work is varied and we deal with a full range of issues, providing casework to LSC standards. We have a dedicated helpline for clients, many of whom are unable to get into the office. In addition we often visit people throughout the district in their own homes.
Our service is run by three specialist Disability Rights Workers, one of whom only deals with casework referrals directly from the Community Mental Health Team.
With more centralisation our clients have been experiencing increasing problems accessing correct information and getting their full entitlement to benefits and community care services. Unfortunately it seems unlikely that this situation will be changing in the foreseeable future and demand for the service continues to be high.
Legal Services Commission
LSC (Legal Service Commission) was established to ensure that local needs and priorities for legal services are identified and that public money is targeted on the cases that need help most (vulnerable clients on low income). LSC directly funds the specialist debt and benefit casework we do for clients. We were contracted to provide 1100 hours of casework during the period. We ended the financial year having completed 1047 hours of direct casework time, virtually 95.23% of the required contract hours for that period.
Between April 2006 – March 2007, we opened 155 new debt cases, 38 new welfare benefit cases and 11 housing cases. In the same period we closed 133 debt cases, 28 welfare benefit cases and 8 housing cases. Our caseload (as at 31 March 2007) consisted of 112 debt cases, 3 housing cases and 23 welfare benefit cases. According to our recorded LSC outcomes, during the past year we helped 26 clients to file for their personal bankruptcy (total amount of debts included in bankruptcies was approx. £523,000).
Under LSC funding we also helped clients to get the total amount of approx. £11,300 of benefit awards and approx. £3625 of backdated lump sums.
FINANCIAL INCLUSION FUND
In August 2006 we were able to recruit a new debt worker funded from the DTI’s Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF). £45million of funding was provided nationally to increase the amount of face-to-face debt advice available to financially excluded clients. Our funding enabled us to appoint a full-time worker shared between us and 3 other Bureaux. Following an initial period of intense training the worker is now fully trained and seeing clients.
Between September 2006 and March 2007 the FIF worker saw 52 new clients, helped 17 of them file for personal bankruptcy (more than £364000 of debt), referred 3 for IVA or re-mortgage advice and set up repayment programmes for many of the others. We are hopeful that this funding will continue after March 2008 when the current contract ends.
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Thank you to our funders |
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We are grateful for the funding we receive from Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council. Their continued support has enabled us to maintain our core business and develop other funding partnerships. We are very grateful for additional funding received from the Legal Services Commission: the Rural Stress Information Network; Citizens Advice re the D.T.I. Financial Inclusion Fund (debt advice project); and for joint funding provided by NYCC/ PCT. We would also like to record our thanks to several anonymous donors.
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The following local solicitors
provided free legal advice sessions during the year:
v Fabers
v Hempsons
v R W Noon
v Taylor Fawcett
v Trevor Dale
v Alison Herbert
v Anne Jarvis & Co
v McCormicks
v Raworths
v Kirbys
v Atkinson McCall
v Hart & Co
v Berwins
v Forbes Bell
v Camidges
v Spencer Ewin Mulvihill
v Grahame Stowe Bateson
Under the Charities Act 1993, the trustees are required to prepare a statement of accounts for each financial year which gives a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity at the end of the year and of the incoming resources and application of resources in the year. In preparing the statement, the trustees are required to:
select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
state whether applicable accounting standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the statement of accounts
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue its operations.
The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity at that time and to enable the trustees to ensure that any statement of account prepared by them complies with the regulations under section 42(1) of the Charities Act 1993. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the trust and hence by taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. The accounts may be seen at any reasonable time at the Bureau offices.
The Board of Trustees of the Charity are appointed as either:
Part 1 members (individuals elected at AGM);
Part 2 members (representing organisations); or
Part 3 members (co-opted by the Trustee Board).
The Annual Report was approved by the trustees on 1 October 2007 and signed on their behalf by
Dorothy Johnson
Chair of the Board of Trustees, Harrogate Citizens Advice Bureau
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Harrogate Citizens Advice Bureau and Disability Information Service |
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Victoria
Park House |
Phone: 01423
567150 |