During 2010/11, our Volunteer Advisers made 8,771 contacts with clients or third parties on their behalf and dealt with 10,498 issues.
- Faversham Bureau provided 3,731 client or third party contacts and dealt with 3,569 issues
- Sheppey Bureau provided 1,890 client or third party contacts and dealt with 2,799 issues
- Sittingbourne Bureau provided 3,150 client or third party contacts and dealt with 4,130 issues.
68% of the contacts were personal contacts within the Bureau and a further 10% were client contacts by telephone.
Overall, Welfare Benefits (30%), Debt (27%), Employment issues (10%), Housing matters (9%) and relationship issues (7%) were the main enquiry areas. The chart below shows these categories broken down by Bureau.
Overall, Welfare Benefits were our largest enquiry area and accounted for 30% of all enquiries dealt with by our volunteers. Problems with Income Support, Incapacity Benefit and Disability Living Allowance accounted for a large proportion of benefit enquiries. We also identified benefits clients who were not claiming and helped clients to complete the necessary forms. If a client needed casework, rather than advice or help that could be given on the day, the client was often referred to one of the Specialist Caseworkers.
WHY DON'T PEOPLE CLAIM BENEFITS?
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We also provided help with form-filling for clients who are unable to deal with the demanding official forms required in order to apply for welfare benefits. The sensitive help available at the CAB enabled many clients to successfully claim Disability Living Allowance, Income Support/Incapacity Benefit, Attendance Allowance, Housing/Council Tax Benefits and a range of other benefits.
Debt was our second largest enquiry area accounting for 27% of all enquiries dealt with by volunteers.
The economic downturn leading to an increase in loss of employment and shorter working hours has led us to help an increasing number of clients who were working or who lived in mortgaged properties and were finding it impossible to manage these higher costs combined with credit card and other loan repayments.
Clients reliant on benefits are also struggling to meet higher heating and food costs and more and are often accumulating rent and council tax arrears as a result and require help budgeting and prioritising repayments.
TOP TIPS FOR DEALING WITH DEBT
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In 2010/11 10% of all enquiries dealt with by volunteers related to employment issues. The main enquiry areas were pay, terms of employment and dismissal. The CAB provided support to clients by helping to write letters to employers and by advising on contractual and statutory obligations.
Two volunteer advisors were able to provide considerable
help and support to clients who initiated Employment Tribunal proceedings.
Most cases involved redundancy and/or dismissal issues or involve unlawful
deductions from wages for notice and holiday pay.
CAB HELPS JULIE GET JUSTICE The
Problem What
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Housing, particularly issues around actual and threatened homelessness, accounted for 9% of all enquiries to volunteer advisors. Many of the enquiries were referred to our Housing Advisor and LSC Housing Caseworker for consideration, further advice and casework as appropriate.
These two categories of enquiry have been combined because of the overlap between them, amounting to 13% of all enquiries. The main enquiry areas were issues about divorce and separation and legal proceedings following the break-up of a relationship and the need for a financial settlement.
Other enqiries dealt with tax, immigration and community care, health, utilities and education and a wide range of other issues. These enquiries represent an important aspect of CAB work and enable clients key to access other services and specialist support.