At Citizens Advice Somerset we see thousands of people every year, and we have a more detailed understanding of the problems that people experience than any other organisation.
We know which policies are working and spot emerging problems early. In our policy research we combine these insights with analysis of the wider social and economic trends affecting everyone in Somerset, we set out new ideas to improve policy and campaign for change.
Our local campaigning
Our Research and Campaign team meet regularly to review the key issues faced by people in Somerset and the unfairness that has been experienced. This data is then used to lobby MPs, councilors, the local authority, and others, as well as presenting our findings in the media and taking part in awareness raising activities.
In the last year we have campaigned locally on issues such as:
- Social housing flooring lottery – campaigning to change the policy of social and council housing providers ripping out flooring before new tenants move in. You can read our report Somerset’s Flooring Lottery which was presented to the council and directors of all Somerset social housing providers – they have agreed to take action and we look forward to working with them to revise this policy.
- Council Tax Reduction policy – we sent a briefing paper to all Somerset Councilors to raise awareness of the reduced CTR payable to people receiving income-related ESA who are required to move Universal Credit as part of the government’s managed migration. Our goal is to see the CTR policy changed to ensure no financial detriment for individuals migrating to UC.
- Cost of living issues – regularly sharing our cost of living dashboards with key partners to demonstrate the impact of the crisis affecting people in Somerset
- Scams awareness – in collaboration with Natwest bank we spent time at various banks across Somerset to talk to people about #ScamAwareness and how to protect themselves from financial scams.
- Big Energy Saving Week – sharing information and advice to help people manage their energy bills
- And much, much more!
Want to know what Research & Campaign issues are concerning us or what we’ve been up to?
Our quarterly newsletter provides a regular insight into the key policy issues and our advocacy work.
The national Citizens Advice team collate the data and identify the trends across the country. This is shared in a variety of ways such as interactive reports and virtual events. See the map of the negative budget rate by constituency here, and more data insights in the national Cost of Living dashboard.
Data Insight events
The Citizens Advice Policy Team regularly hold online Data Insight Events – follow to be kept updated on new events.
Want to catch up on a previous data insight event? All the recordings are in one place.
Turning the Tide or Treading Water? Living Standards After the Budget data event slides
Unravelling Complexity to Raise Living Standards data event slides
Spotlight on Disability data event slides
Hardships of poverty for children data event slides
Somerset policy and campaign successes
Over the years we have had many successes with our campaign work, including;
- Launched an ‘ESA have your say’ campaign (which went national) to challenge the quality of ESA work capability assessments – our evidence was used in the House of Lords,
- Hosted a Somerset Welfare Rights conference to raise awareness of welfare reform and best practice in advice work,
- Developed vulnerable person policies with local statutory services to reduce the risk of harm to vulnerable customers,
- Contributed to improvements to the discharge policy for people leaving mental health hospital care, reducing the likelihood of readmission,
- Responding to the annual consultation of Homefinder Somerset lettings policy which improved access to housing.
National campaign work
Each local Citizens Advice office sends information about the problems brought to them (no client information is shared) to National Citizens Advice.
This evidence is collated to help campaign officers identify national trends. Citizens Advice can then present evidence to policy makers by writing reports and submissions and participating in consultations to improve policies.
More information on our national campaigning can be found here.
