Social Policy is one of the twin aims of the Citizens Advice Bureau service ….. “ to exercise a responsible influence on the development of social policies and services both locally and nationally”. This means that we try to have some effect at both a local level and a national level on issues that effect
………YOU.
Every month we receive from our Head Office a report called the “Social Policy Noticeboard”. This includes all the current problems that clients from all around the country may be experiencing – you will find a copy of this months report at the side.
If we find out that you are facing one of these problems, we send off a Bureau Evidence Form (BEF) on your behalf to our Head Office. This is completely anonymous and no one would know it was about you, unless you wanted them to. At our Head Office they collect together all these BEF’s from all over the country. They then will have enough evidence to try and get various government departments, public authorities etc. to change policies that may not be working as well as they should be.
The C.A.B. is very good at this work, but we cannot do this work without you. So if you find an issue or problem that you think should be put on an BEF, please discuss it with your adviser. This can be a national problem for example – accessing legal aid, or a local problem that affects you and your family in your street or neighbourhood. If it effects you in anyway, please help us to help you.
On 31st March 2008 Surrey Citizens Advice Bureaux held a multi agency conference "Tackling the Cost of Inequality". The purpose of the conference was to identify how Surrey CABx and their partners can work together to combat alienation, economic inequality and prejudice which leads to communities living parallel lives, where the lack of a shared sense of belonging creates the conditions for fear, hate and extremism on all sides.
Read more about this "Bullying Report" (Adobe Acrobat format)
In analysing the results of the survey it became evident that the clients who had visited the Bureaux throughout 2007/2008 were expressing the view that the adviser had not only understood their problems, but having been advised and given options, that they would also act on that advice. Of those same individuals who had been surveyed, all would return to use the service again at some point in the future. This underlines not only the value of the service on offer but is an endorsement of how invaluable that service is to the community.
Read more:
View the 2007-8 Client Satisfaction Survey (Graphs and Results) (Adobe Acrobat format)
View the 2007-8 Client Satisfaction Survey (Questions and responses, by Bureau) (Adobe Acrobat format)