A key part of our work as a Citizens Advice Bureau is to campaign on Social Policy work

Some clients can be affected in a negative way by certain policies of both government and non government organisations. The policies may cause a basic injustice or unfairness. If this happens we identify it as Social Policy.

The twin aim of Citizen Advice Bureaux is “to exercise a responsible influence on the development of policies and services, both locally and nationally.”

An example of Social Policy:

Mr. & Mrs A are working parents with two children.  They used to receive Tax Credits but one year had an overpayment and had to pay money back.  They no longer want to claim Tax Credits because of the complicated system and their fear of being overpaid again.   The injustice is that a family is missing out on money they are entitled to because the system is too complicated and can result in overpayments.

What do we do?

We collect the information on these issues, anonymously, and report them to our Citizens Advice nationally who collect information from all the CABs and can then campaign for change. One successful national campaign brought about a change in the law so that private landlords now have to put tenants’ deposits in a protected scheme.

We also collect information on local issues, for example, on the closure of local Post Offices and the lack of NHS dentists. Our local Social Policy Group have done reports on local issues such as lack of availability of affordable private rented housing, rural issues affecting those in villages e.g transport and access  to Jobcentres.

Current Campaigns we need evidence on

	Child Poverty – are you being asked to repay child tax credits from before 2006?
	Tenancy deposits – are you having problems with getting your deposits back?
	Social Fund – are you having problems contacting the Social Fund office to make a claim?
	Utilities – are you having problems with utility companies?

Have you experienced problems with any of the above issues? If so, we would like to hear from you; contact us.