News from
Citizens
Advice
1066
inside advice
J a n u a r y
2 0 1 5
Bureau gets pension wise
Inside this
issue:
Bureau gets 1
pension wise
Progress
towards one
service
1
Research
and
campaigns
2
Calling all
volunteers
2
People news 3
Reception
round-up
3
And finally ... 3
There is welcome news for Citizens Advice
1066 and the people of East Sussex and
Brighton and Hove this new year. The
bureau has successfully bid for funding to
become a delivery centre for the new
pensions guidance service - now formally
known as Pension wise.
a financially stable retirement.
“People who have diligently saved year
after year towards their retirement deserve
to choose how to make the most of their
pension pot and good guidance is central
to helping people make the right decisions
for them.”
Chancellor George Osborne announced in
July last year that Citizens Advice would be
a key partner to deliver face-to-face
pensions guidance sessions to consumers
over the age of 55. The aim of the service
will be to provide guidance on new options
made possible by the pension reforms
announced in last year’s Budget.
Essentially, new rules will make it easier for
people to dip into their pension pots when
they want, and to leave their unused
pension funds to others, at lower rates of
tax. Clearly, with more choice it will be
important that consumers make informed
decisions.
Citizens Advice chief executive Gillian Guy
said the right guidance could be the key to
Recruitment of new Pension Guidance
Guarantee Caseworkers and Agents
closed on 12 January. Successful
applicants will be appointed in time for
April 2015 when the pension changes are
introduced.
Progress towards one service
An important date for your diary will be Monday 26
January when our chief executive Dina Christodoulou will
be giving a presentation on Citizens Advice’s one service
strategy.
The organisation began consulting last August on how
we can improve what we do for our clients over the next
five years. At the event Dina - aided by Dee Woollard will be relaying some of the early outcomes from that
consultation.
For those in the bureau the consultation document can
be found on Cablink by clicking on The service,
Strategies and developments followed by Strategy and
plans.
Page 2
Research and campaigns
Last month we revealed that changes from
CitA called for a smarter more focused
approach to highlighting campaign issues.
As well as looking for more innovative
ways of sharing evidence and research other than writing a Bureau Evidence
Form - it asks for campaigns to be:

Assessors and Advisers will no
longer spend time creating BEFs
which do not progress anywhere

it will not take responsibility for
creating a BEF away from
Assessors and Advisers

evidence based


it will allow targeted training in BEF
writing
solution focused


tackling the “right” issues

right for the bureau
it should result in a smaller number
of higher quality BEFs in line with
the changes from CitA
Martyn Loft reported at the December
Workers’ Meeting that we would be
explaining what this will mean in practice
over the coming weeks.
As a first step it has been decided that
Gateway Assessors and General Advisers
should no longer complete a BEF in the
first instance when they identify potential
cases. Rather they should check the
appropriate box on Petra. Martyn will then
review these on a regular basis, agree
which should progress to a BEF and ask
the relevant Assessor or Adviser to do this.
We still need to find other ways of raising
concerns with CitA and one suggestion
was for an outrage book. While it need not
be called this, it seems a sensible way
forward. Such a book could be used to
raise all concerns that we wish to escalate
- not just those we wish to raise with CitA.
For example, it could be used to highlight
consumer issues that we think should be
raised with Trading Standards.
If you have suggestions for the content of
such a book- or any alternative
suggestions - please let Martyn know.
This should have the following benefits:
Calling all volunteers
Recruitment of new volunteers under the new recruitment drive is going
well. While it is still early days, targets for numbers and speed of
recruitment are being met. You may have already seen some new faces
around the bureau and can expect to see more soon.
Despite this there will be no let up in our push to increase recruitment. We
are planning advertisements in the local Press, local amenities such as
libraries and supermarkets, and on social media. If you know of anyone
who would like to volunteer, please remember to give them our new
dedicated mailbox for enquiries and applications:
[email protected]
inside advice
Page 3
People news
Congratulations go to Lindsey Anderson who has qualified as a Gateway Assessor. And
to Serina Ahmed who has just started as a trainee Gateway Assessor. Serina will be
volunteering on Monday and Wednesday afternoons
Tracy Cornwall is extending her role as administrative support. As well as supporting work
on General Advice and Research and Campaigns, she will additionally be helping out on
Money Advice Unit.
Reception round-up
The Hub reception has been very busy as always. Here is a summary of activity over
December:
Reception activity
Total number who received Reception desk information or were signposted
to other organisations in person or by telephone
105
Clients received with pre-booked appointments
214
Number who used benefit helpline in kiosk
36*
Number referred to Housing Services helpline
0
Number who called in without an appointment to see their adviser and were
assisted by Reception
55
Number referred directly to HARC
3
Number referred to a Gateway Assessor
195
Number turned away for face-to-face assistance
19
Number who left before Gateway interview
7
Number who used kiosk PCs
7
Number assisted in using kiosk PCs
0
Total number of information and advice service users
641
* service suspended on 16 December
And finally ...
This is just a reminder that HARC have cleared their backlog and are taking appointments
once more.
inside advice