citizens advice tadley & district annual review 2017-2018 · 2018. 11. 22. · 2 citizens...

Citizens AdviceTadley & District Annual Review2017-2018

2 Citizens Advice Tadley and District Annual Review 2017-2018

Citizens Advice Tadley & District, founded in 1985, is a local independent charity and a member of a national association – Citizens Advice.

We provide free, confidential and independent advice to help people overcome their problems.We work to fix the underlying causes of these problems. We are a voice for people on the issues that matter to them.

We value diversity, promote equality and challenge discrimination and harassment.

We’re here for everyone.

Citizens Advice ServiceAims and Principles

We hold the Simple Quality Protects Gold Standard.

We also hold the Advice Quality Standard, the only sector-owned, independently audited standard that focuses on advice.

Citizens Advice Tadley and District Annual Review 2017-2018 �

This report is a spotlight on the work done over the past year and an opportunity to thank all who sup-port the work of our Charity.

It highlights the breadth of our advice work and the many projects we run that benefit our local resi-dents. It includes the impressive financial outcomes that we achieve for our clients and case studies of real people who we have been able to help. While the financial outcomes are more easily measurable, the impact on the wellbeing of the community is more difficult to quantify. We seek feedback from our clients and we can see how our work has had a significant impact on many lives.

We live in difficult times for many in the voluntary sector. With fewer funding sources available, we rely on the generosity of our many volunteers who give up their time to help others. They tell us that the satisfaction of being able to do this is the rea-son why they continue to volunteer for us. They do not seek public recognition but I take this opportu-nity to recognise and thank all who have contribut-ed in any way this year. This includes our paid staff and the Trustee Board who are also volunteers.

The Trustee Board ensures that we meet the standards of our national body’s new membership scheme by demonstrating that we have the struc-ture, volunteers, quality of advice, policies, financial management and funding and business plans in place to deliver to the standards required. We also continue to collaborate with Citizens Advice Bas-ingstoke to offer a consistent service across the borough.

Each local Citizens Advice is a charity in its own right and we are not funded by central government, so locally we have to find the funding to run and deliver the service. We could not do this without our many funders. The list of those who have sup-ported us financially can be found in this report. So whether that has been ongoing or one off funding we say thank you to all of them for the financial support given.

Finally, there was a changing of the guard at Citi-zens Advice Tadley in April 2018 when our Advice Services Manager, Linda Harvey, retired after many years of working with us in different roles. We hope she is enjoying her retirement and we wish her well. We welcomed back Rachel Campbell, who used to be our Macmillan caseworker, and who was successful in being appointed as her replace-ment. Our picture (above) shows left to right Linda, Sharon Dover, Rachel and myself at Linda’s leaving event.

This report reflects just a small part of what our service offers. I hope you will find it of interest and I commend it to you. Jo Slimin, Chair of Trustees

Foreword from the Chair of Trustees

L to R: Linda Harvey, Sharon Dover, Rachel Campbell, Jo Slimin

� Citizens Advice Tadley and District Annual Review 2017-2018

Citizens Advice Tadley & District is a relatively small rural office and that brings with it some unique challenges – and benefits. Our rural location means that some clients can struggle to access other services and we become a vital link to other agencies and information, but the upside is that we know some of our clients very well and have the ability to act for them over a long period of time as different events impact their lives.I took over from Linda Harvey in April 2018 so was not personally responsible for the good work reflected in this annual report. However, I know full well – having volunteered and worked here from 2009 to 2017 - what an incredible team of people it takes to keep us running. It was great to return to see so many familiar faces with all their years of experience, but we also continue to recruit new volunteers to help deliver advice face to face, as well as via our telephone service AdviceLine, email and webchat.It has been a year of great change and, I’m sure, seemingly endless training as we became a Hate Crime Reporting Centre, our new case manage-ment system was introduced and then prepara-

tions were made for the introduction of GDPR and the full roll out of Universal Credit.A big thank you to everyone – staff and volunteers – for embracing the changes and continuing to work so hard to improve the finances, health and wellbeing of our community.

Our Service – an introduction

Training Manager’s reportThis year we saw one new volunteer complete the usual 6 week Citizens Advice programme and an-other two volunteers spent an intensive fast-track week training to become assessors.

All of our existing staff and volunteers have also had to complete a great deal of additional training. Everyone had to learn how to operate the new Case Record Management system which was success-fully introduced in September 2017. All assessors also completed additional AdviceLine training ready for the launch of the new platform later in 2018.

Due to the roll out of Universal Credit, all advisers and assessors received a day’s specialist training course on this new streamlined benefit so they were fully informed of the changes to benefits that will impact our clients. We would like to thank The Mayor’s Community Chest who provided a grant to cover the costs of the training day.

Training was also completed to allow Citizens Ad-vice Tadley to become a Hate Crime reporting Cen-

tre. We are also supporting the ASK programme, so that advisers can recognise and support victims of domestic violence.As usual, our volunteers and staff have respond-ed incredibly positively to all of these learning challenges.

Di Lewis, Training Manager

Rachel Campbell, Advice Services Manager


Our volunteers — the key to our successOur volunteers come from all walks of life and have excellent local knowledge; they are what makes our service unique.

We have volunteers in a number of roles at Citizens Advice Tadley – from reception, admin, IT support, fundraising, bookkeeping, research and campaigns, assessors and advisers as well as our entire Trustee Board. Some volunteers stay with us for a couple of years and then, having gained some valuable addi-tional skills, move on to other organisations; others stay with us for very many years. We are grateful to everyone that gives their time to us.

Most of our advice is delivered by volunteers who follow an extensive Citizens Advice training pro-gramme. This training is regularly refreshed and updated so that we make sure we keep up to date with changes and our advice is current.

Our recent internal survey showed that our volun-teers gain a great deal of satisfaction from help-ing others and feel happier themselves as a result of being involved in the wider well-being of the community.

Many of my classmates at University volunteered at their local CA which inspired me to do the same after hearing of their good experiences. Working at CA Tadley has been a challenging and fascinating experience and allowed me to help others in the local community.Alice, Assessor

Having been a volunteer for about 5 years I continue to enjoy the work: it is always interesting as every day brings new challenges and I never stop learning. I get great job satisfaction from helping and empowering people to solve their problems.Angela, Adviser

I love being a volunteer at Citizens Advice Tadley. It is teamwork at its finest. An amazing place to be.Ann, Reception & Fundraising volunteer since 2010

I started over 10 years ago. At that time I was looking for some structure to fill my days as I had been used to being busy at work. I’ve always enjoyed the company of the other people here as well as helping my community.Martin, Adviser

� Citizens Advice Tadley and District Annual Review 2017-2018

Our Team 2017-2018

Advice Services ManagerLinda Harvey/Rachel Campbell

Joint Strategic ManagerGraham Hatcher

Training ManagerDi Lewis

Office ManagersClare Hawkins Emma Mayoh

Advice Session SupervisorsHazel Baldock Sharon DoverJanette Hewitt David ListerRichard Williams

CaseworkersRachel Campbell/Petra Luberdova - MacmillanCaroline Sutton - Community Care - Rotary

Trustee BoardMembers of the board of Trustees are directors for the purpose of company law and trustees for the purpose of charity law.

The members who served during the period 1st April 2017 to 31st March 2018 are set out below

MembersJo Slimin Hon. ChairKate Wright Vice - ChairNeil Deller-Merricks Hon. Treasurer Katherine Birkinshaw Co. Secretary

Board Members Lorraine Bissell Michael BoundAlistair CheyneAndrew CobbSimone FriereJanette HewittAnna Illingworth Eddie McGrath

Derek Mellor HCC representativeSharon Bolt Volunteer representativeLinda Harvey/ Rachel Campbell Ex officio/ASM Martin Hart Ex officio/Citizens Advice

Citizens Advice Tadley and District Annual Review 2017-2018 7

Invaluable Volunteers

Advisers/AssessorsAngela Adams Lesley AnnableHazel BaldockMartin BartlettSharon BoltZelda CarstensCheryl ColeJonathan DanceSarah FilsellChristy GardnerFraser GleaveChris GossJanette HewittDavid Lister Pat MurphyMoira OramJane OstridgeCaroline SuttonKaylie TangJuliet TurnerAnne Watson Richard WilliamsMike Wilson

IT VolunteerRuth Porter

Admin/ReceptionHelen AngellMaria BarlowJackie CookAnn LamacraftSusan Long

Research and CampaignsChristine McGarvie

Fundraising groupAnne Bone Clare Hawkins Linda HarveyJane Johnston Ann Lamacraft

Research and Campaigns groupJulie Gibson David ListerChristine McGarvieJo Slimin Anne Watson

We are always looking for volunteers for a variety of roles.

To register your interest please call us on 0118 981 7567 email [email protected] or drop in during normal opening hours


Our Clients

Nationally, Citizens Advice help 7 in 10 people solve their problems. 4 in 5 clients say that our help improved their lives in other ways such as reducing their stress, improving their physical health or their finances.For every £1 spent on the Citizens Advice service, we benefit our clients by £12. In 2017/18 we saved government and public services £435 million, and we estimate that our total social and economic value to society was £2.6 billion.

Our wider social value can also be seen in the way we bring local people together, through our army of volunteers, our support for diverse local commu-nities and our national network.

Locally we helped 1,763 people face to face, by phone, email or webchat, resulting in 7,086 interac-tions with or on behalf of those clients.People sought our help with 4,126 issues, of which 31% related to benefits.

Basingstoke and Deane Local Authority

The darker colours on the IMD map show higher levels of deprivation

Clients seen Index of multiple deprivation6 170

Boundary Member Bureau Outreach

Citizens Advice Tadley

The darker colours on the IMD map show higher levels of deprivation


Boundary Member Bureau Outreach The darker colours on the IMD map show higher levels of deprivation


Boundary Member Bureau Outreach


Bene

fits/

Un

iver

sal

Cred

it

Cons

umer

Debt

Empl

oym

ent

Heal

th &

Co

mm

unity

Care

Hous

ing

Lega

l

Oth

er

204 8 80 14 21 50 38 59 9 62

58 5 6 9 2 5 6 8 3 16

19 3 2 3 0 0 3 3 0 5

4 0 4 0 6 13 2 1 0 2

13 0 3 0 0 3 1 4 1 1

29 0 9 6 2 1 3 3 10 14

16 0 15 6 0 1 1 2 0 2

8 2 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 5

66 0 27 12 1 6 5 7 3 17

78 10 29 9 4 19 18 4 13 28

26 3 2 8 1 0 2 6 0 2

5 0 1 2 0 1 1 1 0 1

8 0 17 8 3 2 0 2 0 1

55 14 23 27 25 28 15 35 7 26

140 11 67 27 11 27 20 30 7 44

63 8 18 13 2 27 5 25 5 15

792 64 306 147 78 183 120 190 58 241

78 2 24 6 2 12 1 6 0 7

49 6 12 31 0 11 4 16 7 29

65 2 57 21 4 12 3 22 3 13

33 1 5 1 0 5 5 12 1 9

27 4 24 15 8 8 3 23 2 17

252 15 122 74 14 48 16 79 13 75

302 97 107 175 14 188 138 153 2 136

1346 176 535 396 106 419 274 422 73 452

Baughurst and Tadley North

Bramley and Sherfield

Brighton Hill

Brookvale and Kings Furlong

Buckskin

Burghclere, Highclere and St Mary Bourne

Chineham

Kempshott

Kingsclere

Pamber and Silchester

Popley

Rooksdown

Sherborne St John

Tadley Central

Tadley South

Other B&D Wards

Basingstoke & Deane Total

Aldermaston

Burghfield

Mortimer

Sulhamstead

Other West Berks Wards

West Berkshire Total

Other Local Authorities

Total Issues 2017-18

The Local Picture

Many of our clients have multiple issues. For example, somebody with an employment or relationship enquiry may also have a housing or debt issue. The issues they face are becoming more complex, requiring multiple appointments.

For simplicity this table only shows the type of issues we see per ward and does not reflect the amount of time and work we do on our clients behalf.

Rela

tions

hips

Utili

ties &

Co

mm

unic

atio

ns


Client Profile 2017-2018

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Client Disability


Client Ethnicity


Client Age

Client Gender

Initial Contact Streams

��%Not disabled

28%Long-Term Health Condition

8%Disabled

��%White

2% Mixed1% Other 2% Black

2% Asian

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��%Adviceline Phone

�0%In Person

11% Webchat

�% Email


�0%Female

�0% Male

11%��-��

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Advice issue statistics for Tadley 2017/18

Utilities & communications

Benefits & tax creditsBenefits Universal CreditConsumer goods & servicesDebt

DiscriminationEducationEmploymentFinancial services & capability

Health & community careHousingImmigration & asylumLegal

OtherRelationships & familyTaxTravel & transport

Advice Issue statistics for Tadley 2017-18

2%2%

2%

7%Legal

2%

10%Employment

13%Debt

4%Consumer

31%Benefits & tax credits 10%

Relationships &family

1%

10%Housing

3%

1%

1%

Top 3 Benefit issues Top � Debt issues

Top � Housing issues Top � Employment issues




Employment Support Allowance 20%

Personal Independence Payment 1�%

Housing Benefit 10%

Credit, Store & Charge Card Debts 1�%

Unsecured Personal Loans �%

Council Tax Arrears 8%

Private Sector Rented Property �2%

Housing Association Property 1�%

Environmental & Neighbour Issues 1�%

Dispute Resolution 1�%

Terms & Conditions of Employment 1�%

Pay and Entitlements 1�%


Our impact in 2017-18

Who we helped

�1%of advice issues related to benefits

7,08�interactions with or on behalf of the client

1,7�� peoplehelped face to face, by phone, email or webchat

�,12� issuespeople sought our help with

What we helped with

8�%of our clients feel less anxious or stressed after visiting us

The difference this makes

100%of our clients reported they would use Citizens Advice again

£�17,�70gained for our clients this year (including Macmillan)

��%of our clients feel confident to deal with the problems they face

Citizens Advice Tadley helped 12% of our clients prevent a crisis such as homelessness, repossession, unemployment, bailiff action, court proceedings or disconnection of gas/electric, etc.

Citizens Advice Tadley and District Annual Review 2017-2018 1�

The impact of our advice

Habitual Residency issue with Income Support claim Both our client and her partner are disabled. She receives Carers Allowance and her partner is in receipt of DLA. They were also receiving ESA as a couple, but this had been stopped a few weeks previously, following a work capability assessment.We assisted our client to claim Income Support and she was given a food voucher. However, the Income Support claim triggered further investigation into her immigration status, despite her being an EU citizen who had worked here for many years before having to stop work to care for her partner when he became ill. Whilst we waited for the Habitual Residency decision, we also assisted our client to write to her MP and he confirmed he would speak to his DWP contact to try and help resolve the issue. However, in this period our client’s only income was Carers Allowance and DLA and she could not afford to buy food. Burghfield food bank delivered a second food parcel. A month later DWP informed our client she did not pass the habitual residency test and we supported her to ask for a mandatory reconsideration of this decision. A third food parcel was also given.Some ten weeks after our client had first been to see us, we heard that her mandatory reconsideration had been successful, Income Support was in payment and our client had received £1800 in backdated award. She was so grateful for the help provided by us and Burghfield foodbank that she made a donation.

Assistance for homeless clientOur client’s relationship broke down and he was forced to leave the family home where he lived with his partner and children. He does not work due to ill health and has no income. When he came to us for help he was living in his car. Client has physical disabilities from polio contracted when he was a child. His health is deteriorating and will continue to do so as he ages. He cannot read or write. He has no money and is unable to pay for prescriptions for pain medication. He has a mobility car which is paid for by his Personal Independent Payment. He had claimed ESA in the past but this had been refused; we felt his application form hadn’t been completed correctly and our client should have been eligible.We helped our client with a new claim for ESA and arranged with the DWP for this to be processed quickly. In the meantime we gave the client a food bank voucher. He felt able to contact the council housing department and present himself as homeless.Our client is now in receipt of ESA. His ex-partner has since moved out so he has returned to the family home and is therefore no longer sleeping in his car. His son stays with him three days a week.We arranged for our client to receive a Christmas food hamper from a local charity.

2 locationswhere we provide free and independent support

��dedicated local staff and volunteers

£18�,18�Annual estimated value of 192 hours per week donated by our volunteers

1� Citizens Advice Tadley and District Annual Review 2017-2018

Community Care

Our Community Care project continues to run due to the funding and support of the Turbary Allot-ment Charity and Ambrose Allen.

This service is provided by our Specialist Casework-er, Caroline Sutton, and is designed to help vulner-able people in the community, especially those who are isolated or need additional support.

Unlike many Citizens Advice offices, we are able to assist clients and carers who are unable to come to the office by visiting them at home. This is espe-cially important for those that are unable to access information online as, without this service, many people just would not be able to get help with their issues.

Many of our Community Care clients are claiming benefits for the first time and feel overwhelmed by the process. This client group usually has multiple problems and we often find that once we have had the opportunity to discuss their individual circum-stances, that there are other matters that we can help with.

Our client was caring for her disabled husband who could not be left alone. She contacted us for help with filling in Court of Protection forms for her adult daughter who was living in care. Our client had made a start on completing the forms, but became overwhelmed with the medical evidence that needed submitting as part of the process. With our help, the GP evidence was correctly collected and the relevant forms were submitted.

A client for many years, this gentleman had previously been helped with claims for ESA and PIP. In fact, he relies on this service for help with much of his official paperwork which he finds difficult to manage himself. When his father died, he was left a house and a small legacy. We successfully helped with probate forms and then assisted with informing DWP as we recognised this inheritance would impact his benefits, thereby avoiding any potential overpayment.

This year the Community Care Project generated £114,105 for our clients.

Caroline Sutton, Community Care & Rotary Specialist Caseworker

This year we supported 61 clients with 254 issues.


Rotary – Supporting the Community

Our client has Aspergers and anxiety and her husband and children all have mental health issues.

She came to us for help when she was moved from DLA to PIP and her award was reduced. This meant a reduction in money, but crucially it also potentially meant loss of her mobility car. We asked for a reconsideration, but this was unsuccessful so our client decided she wanted to Appeal.

On receipt of the paperwork from the court, we were able to identify several errors that were made during her face to face assessment and we wrote to the court with our client’s explanation of how her conditions affected her daily life. We discussed the Tribunal hearing and what to expect.

Some 7 months after the original decision, our client attended the hearing and her award was increased again to the original amount. This new award was backdated.

Our client told us she would not have been able to manage the Appeal process alone and would have likely given up without all our input.

We continue to help this client with a range of other issues around benefits and managing finances.

Our Supporting the Community project is funded by Rotary Club of Basingstoke.

It was set up to support our clients with mental health issues. Although primarily aimed at clients who need help understanding and preparing for the benefit Appeals process, our caseworker Caroline Sutton often assists with other unrelated matters that our clients are unable to manage themselves.

Our main area of work is around ensuring clients have the right information and help with submitting their Appeal paperwork. Often clients have been re-fused benefits as they have been unable to supply sufficient medical evidence to support their claim. We are able to talk them through the additional evidence that is required and to help them get the right sort of evidence from medical staff.

We know this work is very well received as we have had feedback from an Appeal Judge, who com-mended the quality of the information supplied as it makes it easier to make a determination.

Many of our clients are extremely anxious about the whole Appeal process and, in particular, the day of the hearing. Our caseworker is able to spend time making sure the client is fully aware of what is to be expected and sometimes accompanies them to the hearing itself.

We know many of our clients just would not be able to go through the process without our support.

During the year we have seen 27 clients under this project and assisted with 100 issues.


Hampshire MacmillanCitizens Advice ServiceSince its launch in October 2009, Hampshire Macmillan Citizens Advice Service has been deliver-ing a holistic advice service for people affected by cancer. Anyone who is resident in or being treated in Hampshire - including Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight - can access the service.

Using a single telephone number as a first point of contact, it is unique in meeting the geographic and diverse population challenges of the County within a single service. The service now reaches over 2500 clients affected by cancer each year, resulting in financial gains of nearly £7,500,000.

Petra Luberdova started as our HMCAS caseworker in September 2017. She is based at Citizens Advice Tadley but mostly sees clients at Basingstoke & North Hampshire Hospital, at St Michaels Hospice or at home if they are not well enough to travel.

Many of Petra’s clients are referred directly by medical staff at the hospital and the service is ex-tremely well received. Whilst most enquiries relate to benefit claims, HMCAS also assists clients with claiming Macmillan grants, travel and health costs, plus debt, housing and employment issues.

Despite there being a period without a caseworker in post, in 2017/18 Tadley casework resulted in over 500 contacts and increased clients’ income by £434,861.

A 54 year old client was referred whilst an inpatient. He had been helped to apply for all the benefits to which he was entitled, but he was distressed about not being able to go home. His house was very damp and his cooker was broken and therefore Adult Services felt it was not appropriate for him to return to. A Macmillan grant was requested for deep cleaning of the house, help with fuel costs and the purchase of new bedding. This application was successful. However, the grant awarded was for more than expected and so the client was thrilled to hear he could also buy a new cooker and his home was suitable for his discharge.

Your team are excellent. Please keep doing what you do. You are all amazing. We cannot thank you enough.


Citizens Advice Tadley has been authorised by the Insolvency Service to make Debt Relief Order ap-plications since 2013.

This personal insolvency option is appropriate for debtors who are on low incomes (having less than £50 a month left after normal household expendi-ture); who do not own their own property, and who have debts of less than £20,000.

In the five years that we have been providing the service 43 of our clients have benefited from the successful submission of their DROs, resulting in debts of £ 456,613.32 being written off – an aver-age of £10,619.00 per client.

Of the 43 successful DRO applications, 33 were female clients and 10 male. The reason for this disparity is that women are more likely to have been the victims of abusive relationships where they are coerced into signing credit agreements on behalf of partners. In some cases the client has been deserted and left to bring up children without financial support.

In addition to the tangible outcomes, we note that many of our clients experience an improvement in their mental health and ability to manage their finances as further benefits of clearing their debts.

Burghfield Outreach

We continued to offer appointments at our Burghfield Outreach thanks to the support and funding of Burghfield Parish Council.Some of our clients have no means of transport and struggle to get to Tadley and this outreach provides vital access to our service.

This year we saw 11 new clients at the outreach and helped with 30 different issues. The main enquiry areas were benefits, employment and relationships. Clients’ issues are becoming more and more complex and require multiple appointments with the adviser.

This year, we achieved £16,854 in financial outcomes for our clients.

Our client is a 70 year old widow living in a Housing Association flat. She is dependent on welfare benefits – state pension and pension credit, plus housing benefit and council tax reduction that cover her rent and council tax in full. She approached us for help with her debts that amounted to nearly £10,000. These are credit card debts and bank loans. She has always worked and been self-reliant and now finds it upsetting that she is unable to repay her debts which, at the age of 70 and in poor health, she has no realistic means of repaying.Our client reported feeling tearful and depressed during her initial appointments. The worry and stress of managing her finances and dealing with creditors was negatively impacting her mental health. We reviewed a number of options for managing her debts and she opted to apply for a Debt Relief Order which we processed through our DRO Approved Intermediary.Once her debts were written off, our client reported a feeling of relief and improved mental well-being as she was able to make a fresh start.

Debt Relief Orders


Relationship and Employment Legal AdviceWe are very fortunate to have the support of Rowberry Morris Solicitors who provide free weekly legal advice sessions in relation to employment and family matters.

Following a generalist advice appointment with us, we are able to refer clients who would benefit from further legal advice from a solicitor specialising in their issues.

As legal aid is now only available to qualifying indi-viduals in very few areas of law, many of our clients would not otherwise be able to afford legal advice.

We collect feedback annually and 100% of our clients confirmed that they found the legal advice they received “very useful”.

Healthwatch is the independent consumer champi-on created to gather and represent the views of the public. It exists in two distinct forms – local Health-watch and Healthwatch England, at national level.

Citizens Advice Tadley is a local Healthwatch Cham-pion, part of Healthwatch Hampshire. Our aim is to give citizens and communities a stronger voice to influence and challenge how health and social care services are provided within their locality.

We provide information and signposting to people about local health and care services, how to access them and how to find their way round the system. We also feedback any concerns about the quality of health and social care services locally.

In addition, we can refer clients to the NHS com-plaint advocacy service who provide information and support to make a complaint about an NHS service.

Healthwatch Hampshire


Pension Wise advice is available to clients aged 50 or over who have a personal or workplace pension and want to make sense of their options.

The service is available once a week at Tadley and has become increasingly popular, particularly as appointments at Newbury were discontinued last year.

Appointments can be booked on-line and clients really appreciate the accessibility of the office.Guidance Specialists comment on how accommodating and welcoming the staff at Tadley are. “We would like to express our thanks to the whole team at Tadley,” said Sue Warwick, co-ordinator of Pension Wise Service Delivery. “We would encourage all the staff to signpost any clients needing help through the maze that is personal pensions.”

Foodbank

Basingstoke foodbank have opened an outreach in Tadley to provide emergency food to those in crisis. They have recently moved premises to Tadley Methodist Church to become more accessible to the whole of our community.

Citizens Advice Tadley made 33 referrals for food parcels last year and clients attended either the Basingstoke, Burghfield or Tadley foodbanks.

The parcel provides a three day emergency food supply. These vouchers had a total financial value of £860.

We were also able to assist some clients with travel costs to the foodbank using money kindly donated by the Loddon Valley Lions for bus fares.

Pension wise

A family parcel with 3 days food costs £32.15 and a single parcel with three days food costs £14.70.


Research and Campaigns

Research and campaigns is one of the twin aims of our service. It aims to improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives. As a service we have a huge amount of insight and data about the problems our clients and their wider communities face.

Through research and campaigns, we use this insight to:• help us research issues further• influence decision makers to change policies

and practices• campaign to get decision makers to change poli-

cies and practices.

Citizens Advice Tadley Research and Campaigns team work with Research & Campaigns Hampshire Forum to collect this evidence and contribute to policy discussions about how to improve the lives of residents.

How we work Citizens Advice Tadley has a volunteer Research & Campaigns Coordinator. The coordinator’s role within the office is to engage with our advisers, identify campaigns, provide reports/statistics and assist with publicity including social media. The co-ordinator provides a monthly report of evidence forms raised by Tadley advisers and distributes this via email as well as on the noticeboard in the office. These reports are also shared with other interested parties such as the local MP and DWP.

In 2017/18 we submitted 61 separate items of evidence to our national Research and Campaigns unit about the effect of poor policies and practices in the Tadley area. These covered a huge range of issues although as can be seen in the chart below the majority of the issues raised are in the area of benefits.


��%Benefits

2% Health2% Travel2% Tax

Evidence forms raised 2017-18

2% Employment

11%Consumer

�% Debt

8% Legal

12% Housing


Issues raised by Citizens Advice Tadley 2017-18In 2017/18, we identified an issue with the quality of medical evidence provided by GPs in support of benefit claims and appeals. As an outcome of this work we devised a leaflet to be given to GPs to give guidance on the information that DWP need from medical professionals and how best to present this. The leaflet included template letters and was well received by our local GP surgery.

We have continued to support National Campaigns through the use of social media and by contacting our local MP with information on new research and reports provided by the national team for example reports on the roll out of Universal Credit.

National Campaign successesThe national Research and Campaigns team have achieved some great successes this year using the evidence sent from local offices to influence the media and policy makers to create change for our clients and consumers. Notable successes included:

Universal Credit Universal Credit represents the biggest change in benefits in a generation. It wraps several means-tested benefits into one and is managed via a

claimant’s online account. Evidence col-lected by local offices showed that Univer-sal Credit can leave people unable to pay essential bills and can risk pushing them into debt and hardship whilst they wait for their first payment. The national Research and Campaigns team highlighted the challenges that many of our clients were facing when making a claim for Universal Credit, resulting in the Government announcing an additional investment of £1.5 billion in the programme in the 2017 Budget, along with a number of other changes to the design and delivery of the benefit.

Energy networksEnergy network companies were making ex-cess profits and through working closely with Ofgem and the press these companies were persuaded to return the excess profits they’d made to consumers, whilst also making sure that price controls are tighter in the future.

Rent-to-own firmsWe worked with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to ensure people buying rent-to-own prod-

ucts are treated fairly. This led to rent-to-own firms Brighthouse and Perfect Home agreeing to give a total of £17 million back to nearly 300,000 consum-ers as a means of redress, and the FCA proposing a cap on interest in the sector.

2

Providing Medical Evidence – Key Points? DWP descriptors : By referring to these descriptors/assessment criteria, you can ensure that your evidence is

as relevant as possible. They help assess a claimants’ ability to perform daily activities (see Appendices).

? Fluctuating conditions: One key factor to explain is whether the condition is variable and fluctuating (or

there is a deterioration/relapse after a period of stability). We do advise clients to keep a diary but your

additional input is still invaluable. People score points for any descriptor that applies to them for the majority

of the time, (obviously depending to a large extent on the opinion of the Benefits ‘medical’ assessor).? The key is how severely they are affected and how often: Where someone’s condition fluctuates so

much that they could meet several different descriptors over the course of a year, they will score points

for any of the ones that apply for over 50% of that year (i.e. 3.5 days each week or 6 months continuously

in 12 etc.). In other words, if they are unable to perform the descriptor for more than 6 months out of 12

then they should score points for it.

Your patient will be assessed on how they are the majority of the time and that in order to be

considered able to carry out an activity the following four points should be considered:If your patient could do some of these things but not to an acceptable standard, safely, repeatedly or only

very slowly, it counts as being unable to do it. For example, if they can stand and walk for 50 metres, but

they can only do it a few times in a day, it may hurt them, they might sometimes fall, or it takes them twice

as long as someone else, the law sees this as not being able to walk for 50 metres.Safely: In a way that is unlikely to cause harm to your patient or anyone else, either during or after they

have completed the task. For something to be seen as unsafe, harm must be ‘likely to occur’ rather than you

feeling that harm ‘may occur’.To an acceptable standard : A standard that is good enough; ie of a standard that most people would

normally expect to achieve. An example of not completing a task to an acceptable standard would be if your

patient can wash themselves but they do not realise they have done so inadequately and are still not clean

after they have finished.

Repeatedly: Being able to repeat the task as often as is reasonably required. The combined effects of

symptoms such as pain and fatigue are relevant because the effort of completing a task could make it

harder for your patient to repeat it or to complete other activities. For instance, if they are able to prepare a

meal once without help, but the exhaustion from doing this means that they could not prepare another

meal that day, they should be treated as being unable to prepare a meal unaided. This is because it is

reasonable to expect someone to be able to prepare more than one meal a day.In a reasonable time: No more than twice as long as the maximum amount of time that a person without

your physical or mental condition would normally take to complete that task.

Medical evidence for Patients Claiming Benefits


Sources of Income 2017-18

We are in the fourth year of a five year strategic grant from Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council (BDBC). We have also received funding as part of a three year grant from Greenham Trust and continue to receive grants from Tadley Town Council towards core costs.

Macmillan continue to support us to provide advice to cancer patients and additional project funding has come from Turbary Allotment Trust, Ambrose

Allen Charity, Rotary Club of Basingstoke and The Henry Smith charity, who have continued to support our evening advice service. Citizens Advice coordinate support to national campaigns on Health & Wellbeing and Pensions.

Our local Parish councils also provide much needed funding, along with donations from local churches as well as other local charities such as Loddon Valley Lions. Many of our clients also make


11%Macmillan

2%Donations

�0% BDBC

�% Tadley Town Council

�%Turbary Allotment Charity (Rent)

�%Greenham Trust

�%Henry Smith Charity (Evening)

�%Loddon Valley Lions�%Rotary Club of Basingstoke

�%Turbary Allotment Charity

1%Ambrose Allen Charity

�%Parish Councils

1%Fundraising

7%Others

1%Pensionwise�%

Healthwatch


Aldermaston Parish CouncilAmbrose Allen CharityAWEBasingstoke and Deane Borough CouncilBaughurst Parish CouncilBaughurst Parochial Church CouncilBurghfield Parish CouncilCitizens AdviceCitizens Advice HampshireGreenham TrustHenry Smith Charity Loddon Valley LionsKingsclere Parish CouncilMortimer West End Parish CouncilParish Council of PamberRotary Club of BasingstokeSherfield-on-Loddon Parish CouncilSulhamstead Parish CouncilSun Life Financial of CanadaTadley & Pamber Parochial Church CouncilTadley Chamber of TradeTadley Town CouncilTesco Bags of HelpThe Mayors Community ChestTurbary Allotment Charity

We also received kind donations from a number of private individuals.

Thanks to our funders and supporters

Donate to Citizens Advice Tadley, your local independent charity

We are always grateful for donations which help us to carry out our work. You can donate online at either http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com or https://thegoodexchange.comAny donation given via the good exchange web site will be match funded.

Please get in touch if you would like to become one of our regular donors or if you are able to give us a one-off donation. We really do rely on these donations to enable us to continue our work. Thank you.

Citizens Advice Tadley & DistrictFranklin AvenueTadleyHampshire RG26 4ET

Adviceline number03444 111306

Opening times:Monday 10am-3.30pmTuesday 10am-1pmWednesday 10am-1pmThursday 10am-3.30pm (evening pre-booked appointments only)Friday 10am-1pm

Free, confidential advice whoever you areWe help people find a way forward with their problems and campaign on big issues when their voices need to be heard.We value diversity, champion equality and challenge discrimination and harassment.

We’re here for everyone.

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