First and last hope

It’s not the least of the ironies of recessionary times, that the one agency most needed by cash-strapped clients struggles itself to find the resources to meet an ever- greater demand on its services.

Two years ago its grant from Glasgow City Council changed to a contract for which it had to tender. In concert with other advisory organisations like Shelter, the Legal Services Agency and Move On it managed to win the bid.

Its manager, Vincent Chudy, gives you a thumbnail sketch of the main issues which propel the steady and growing stream of clients into the first-floor waiting room. Overwhelmingly they concern multiple debts and, increasingly, the impact of benefits that have been withdrawn.

He tells you too of numbers of Eastern European workers ripped off by landlords and employers alike, yet often fearful of complaining lest they become jobless and homeless. Of people trapped in impossible claims from loan sharks, yet fearful of a whole lot worse if they blow the whistle.

Keith, who looks after the training side of a set-up which is still overwhelmingly staffed by volunteers, tells you about the efforts being made to squeeze the maximum impact out of his pool.

Darren, an unemployed 20-year-old, is being given the skills to offer help and advice to the burgeoning ranks of the young jobless. David, an amiable American, is monitoring the recently-set-up email inquiries unit, and troubleshooting the IT. All the bureaux have access to AdviceNet which keeps them up to date on the latest intricacies of the welfare reforms, appeals processes, and rates of benefits. But the staff invariably build up specialisms depending on their own skills.

I sit down with Barbara and Liz, who are having a time out and a cup of tea as they wait for one of the six interview rooms to free up. Scheduling isn’t an exact science in a situation where clients may need 20 minutes or 90 depending on the complexity of their problems.

And, although Anne on reception has been noting down the general nature of the inquiry as she gives them a waiting room number to preserve their privacy, life -- and life going pear-shaped -- isn’t that simple.

Often, says Barbara, people will come in with one problem flagged up because they can’t quite bring themselves to reveal the real cause of their anxiety. Then, just as they’re about to leave, they’ll say “well, while, I’m here”, and you get down to the real back story.

The upside, says Liz, is that while people can often run up horrendous amounts of debt regardless of their social circumstances, they sometimes don’t have a clue how much can be done to start sorting it out.

The very business of talking it all out with a sympathetic stranger when they may have hidden everything from their nearest and dearest is, in itself, quite therapeutic she says. And when they sit down together and work out strategies to manage it all, you can almost see a heavy burden lift a little from their shoulders, she adds. It’s obvious the staff get a huge personal satisfaction from it all.

Which is not to say they are in the magic-wand industry. I sit in with Barbara’s next client with his permission: a man just over 60 with no regular work in 20 years, vascular problems in both legs, and a history of alcohol-related depression. He has been re-assessed for his eligibility to Employment Support Allowance, the successor to Incapacity Benefit, and turned down. He wants help in appealing.

In fact the bureau has been enormously successful in helping with appeals where there are obvious grounds. The general belief is that the assessment has become more of a box-ticking process than a genuine investigation of employability.

The building where most of the Glasgow assessments are carried out is known colloquially as Lourdes… since the sick go in one door and emerge, miraculously cured of what ails them, from another. Barbara’s client’s mobility problems are acknowledged in the points awarded him, but none of his other difficulties.

And, in some ways, he personifies the complexities around the benefits debate. Technically, he could acquire new skills. Technically, he could apply for sedentary jobs when he had acquired them. But actually, in the current market place, the chances of a man just shy of retirement age with his health profile and employment record getting a job are pretty well nil. But so long as he’s off the books, he’s off the statistics.

The latest quarterly snapshot from Citizens Advice Scotland, looking at the emerging issues from all bureaux, suggests that this scenario is becoming ever more frequent. In addition, people put on to Jobseeker’s Allowance are being sanctioned more frequently, often losing income for up to three months.

Nobody would argue with the claim that some unemployed people are less than assiduous about finding jobs, but the CAS case studies feature people who have been training for new skills but still had their benefits stopped because they weren’t out looking for work. In addition the Social Fund, set up to provide a safety net for the vulnerable, is regularly refusing payments to eligible people.

The snapshot also features another growing issue, people in work who arbitrarily find their hours cut and their pay rates reduced regardless of their contracts, by employers using cuts as an alternative to redundancy. Cold comfort, if you’re already on a tight budget.

The Citizen Advice Bureaux may be doing little more than putting a finger in the dyke in this environment, but an awful lot of folks would drown without them.