Agenda item

To provide an update on Citizens Advice activities and the impact of the Cost of Living Crisis on Hyndburn residents. The 2019 Indices of Deprivation reveals that Hyndburn was the 18th most deprived area out of 317 districts and unitary authorities in England.

The Chair welcomed David Olgaza, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice Rossendale and Hyndburn alongside Nick Pilling, Chair of Trustees, who were invited to present this item.

People’s health, education, work and social lives have been affected in ways we could never have imagined before COVID-19 and the current cost of living crisis. The Citizens Advice service is a charity and has delivered independent and impartial advice for over 80 years. They’re at the forefront of advice delivery. The Citizens Advice service across Hyndburn has highly-trained, professional and experienced advisers assisted by trained volunteers, available to help with any issue, whoever you are and whatever your problem. They also have many specialist caseworkers who can provide information, signposting and complex casework in Welfare Benefits, Energy, Money & Debt, and Housing.

They remain located in the New Era centre on Paradise Street and receive a grant from Hyndburn Council of £25,000 per year. This enables them to leverage further funding from:

The National Lottery for dealing with clients in a crisis

Energy companies for energy related advice to reduce usage and energy debt

Henry Smith Foundation funding for homeless prevention advice

Money and Pensions Service for debt and money advice

Advice was given to 1577 Hyndburn residents in the past 12 months and over 1800 Hyndburn residents were unable to contact us via telephone this year due to unprecedented demand for the service and lack of paid advisors due to a lack of funding. Volunteers also work on our advice line but the cost of recruiting, training and supervising a volunteer is over £1,000 each. They have a volunteer team of 20 volunteers and 12 full time paid advice staff across Rossendale and Hyndburn. Energy related queries followed by debt and personal independence payments were the Top 3 enquiry issues since October 2022. They have had the highest ever number of people contacting us for Charitable Support and Food Bank assistance with a 50% increase since 2021.

In addition to the grant from Hyndburn Council, Rossendale Council provides a grant of £35,000 per year, pays for an additional part time specialist debt advisor for Rossendale residents and provides offices in Bacup for a peppercorn rent of £1 a year.

The following achievements were highlighted:

1477 Hyndburn Residents Advised (1800 Rossendale)

Benefit gains - over £200,000 of additional income brought into Hyndburn via new benefit claims, winning appeals, successfully challenging decisions

Debts written off via insolvency options - £209,952

Debt Repayments rescheduled - £88,765

Social Value - For every £1 invested in Citizens Advice, we’ve delivered over £14 in public value, through economic and social benefits. We save government and public services money by helping stop problems occurring or escalating, we reduce pressure on public services like health, housing or out-of-work benefits.

We launched a dedicated food and fuel voucher line on the 3rd of October 2022 and have received over 1000 calls so far across Hyndburn & Rossendale in just 2 months

David and Nick responded to questions from the committee.

The Chair asked about capacity of the service to deal with all cases. David responded that they estimate that they are only able to answer 20% of calls received. Cllr Haythornthwaite asked who deals with the unmet demand. Nick responded that some calls will go through to the National Citizens Advice service whilst some people will choose to contact other services available in Hyndburn.

Councillor Mahmood asked where the majority of cases in Hyndburn comes from. David responded that Barnfield, Springhill, St Andrews and Peel Wards had the highest number of cases in Hyndburn.

The Chair asked if the £25,000 grant from Hyndburn Borough Council was under a long term contract. David responded that this was a rolling annual contract.

The Chair thanked David and Nick for the vital service offered to Hyndburn residents, and proposed recommendations to Cabinet:

Resolved        -          

That Cabinet agrees to include a minimum grant in line with the previous year for Citizens Advice in its 2023/24 Budget Proposals; and;

That Cabinet agrees to work with the Chief Executive of Citizens Advice to explore further options of support which could be provided by the Council to help enable the service to meet current levels of demand.