Citizens Advice lobbys the Social Development Committee

Lucy Cochrane, Citizens Advice after the Informal Reception with the Social Development Committee at Stormont

Citizens Advice today met with members of the Social Development Committee at an informal reception in the Long Gallery at Stormont.

The meeting gave us the opportunity to inform Assembly Members of the increasing level of demand for our information, advice and advocacy services as a result of the current economic climate.    Over the last year our clients came to us with over 317,000 enquiries - 56% of which were social security related.

We told the Committee that the recession has brought the need for voluntary advice and information into sharp focus along with the proposed changes to social security benefits and restrictions in public expenditure.  Citizens Advice believes that there is a genuine and continuing need for the adequate provision of frontline advice services to fight against poverty and to protect the most vulnerable in our society.

The Committee members were also updated on our Benefit Uptake Partnership with the Social Security Agency which has ensured that many vulnerable people  have been able to access benefits that they were previously unaware of and entitled to.  In the last year this project helped people identify and claim £6.1 million in social security benefits which will eventually amount to £38.8 million over the average length of resulting claims.

We also informed Committee members that we have seen significant increases in problems relating to debt.  Debt enquiries now account for 21% of all issues dealt with by Citizens Advice.  In particular, our figures relating to mortgage debt more than doubled in the last quarter.  A number of changes to the benefits system have impacted on these figures:

• the reduction in the standard rate of mortgage interest used to calculate help with mortgage interest payments through the benefits system.  In October 2010 the interest rate was reduced to 3.63% leaving many people facing significant shortfalls in their mortgage payments which they are unable to meet from their benefit income. 
• we are starting to see the impact of another change to help with mortgage interest through the benefits system namely that Jobseeker's Allowance claimants will no longer receive help with mortgage interest payments if they have been receiving the benefit for over 104 weeks.

Both these changes are having serious implications for many of our clients who are now facing the real possibility of repossession of their homes.

The Committee members were then told that the raft of welfare reform changes announced by the Coalition Government have resulted in an increase in enquiries to local CAB offices as people have become very concerned and unsure about how the changes will affect them.  Citizens Advice is particularly concerned about changes to DLA which will have a significant impact in Northern Ireland given the higher number of DLA claimants here.

We also informed the Committee that we have been working closely with the Social Security Agency in relation to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) issues.  We have particular concerns about the number of Incapacity Benefit claimants who are going to be reassessed over the next couple of years.  Citizens Advice believes that this process needs carefully managed to ensure that the most vulnerable people including those with mental health problems do not find themselves pushed into a work situation they cannot cope with. 

Siobhán Harding, Citizens Advice after the Informal Reception with the Social Development Committee at Stormont