September 9) with interest. As a volunteer adviser with Glasgow Central Citizens Advice Bureau I am only too aware of the funding constraints under which advice agencies operate. Over the years as the level of financial support has reduced this has affected their ability to support and train volunteers which, being the mainstay of CABs across the country, is essentially a lose-lose situation, but one to which I have become resigned.
My experience as a face-to-face adviser echoes Mr McIntosh's comments regarding the needs of vulnerable people accessing CAB advice, as do his comments that having some technical skills and access to technology, often via a mobile phone, somehow leads to an ability to resolve these issues is simplistic in the extreme; his reference to the direction future funding may take and the emphasis on online and telephone services therefore causes me real concern.
When the lockdown came into force and our bureau closed, I joined the CAS national helpline along with most of my colleagues. This has been a valuable source of information and advice to people across Scotland and I am happy to contribute my time in this way. However, it is notable that over the four-plus months I have been "manning" the phone line, I have spoken to only two people for whom English is not their first language and who struggled to explain their situation and to understand the advice I offered. This is in complete contrast to my experience within Glasgow Central CAB, where on most days the majority of service-users are refugees, or come from ethnic minorities or who may have good English but who need help to understand and navigate round our complex systems and institutions. Many such people need help to make phone calls on their behalf, complete paper and/or online forms and applications, or negotiate with agencies on their behalf (often having been referred by those same organisations); an inability to use a telephone or online service is the reason for seeking support from a CAB.
It's quite clear from my experience of working on the helpline that, however inadvertent, this form of support is simply not an option for many people. I wonder how many people feel abandoned by the very agencies which are there to help them, who now face a deterioration in their circumstances, financial, mental health or otherwise through no fault of their own. It may be a long time before "normal" service resumes and I worry about what will happen to those people who are effectively being discriminated against if we do not find the resources to support face-to-face services but instead channel people on to "accessible" online and telephone services which tend to serve only the most advantaged amongst us. The coronavirus affects different sectors of the population differently; it would be quite an indictment if advice agencies were complicit in entrenching disadvantage as a result.
F Raffaelli, Glasgow G44.
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