Post by nickd on Sept 4, 2011 1:09:41 GMT 1
Good to see the Guardian give some coverage to CAB cuts
"Citizens Advice cuts threaten the most vulnerable
Impending cutbacks mean Citizens Advice cannot offer help and advice when it is needed most"
Rachel Talbot, chief executive at the Citizens Advice bureau in Cambridge.
Article:
Ashleigh Atkinson has come to the Cambridge city branch of Citizens Advice to collect a food voucher. Once the voucher has been completed by his adviser, Harriet, he can take it to the nearby food bank and collect a box of provisions that will keep him going for three days.
"There are two food banks in Cambridge," says Rachel Talbot, chief executive of the Cambridge CAB. "I think it's worrying that, in a city like this, we're handing out food vouchers. A couple of years ago it would have been one voucher a week, but now it's one a day."
For the likes of Atkinson, it is a godsend. This is the third voucher in a row he has applied for since his benefits were stopped at the start of July through no fault of his own. He has a letter proving that he was instructed not to attend an interview training session, but the centre providing the training – and which sent him the letter – still reported him to Jobcentre Plus as a non-attendee. This resulted in immediate suspension of his jobseeker's allowance and housing benefit.
The knock-on effects of the decision could prove very expensive for local and central government should he end up losing his home. The housing charity Crisis has calculated the cost of dealing with the results of homelessness can add up to £50,000 a person, and Talbot estimates that in Cambridge £25,000 would be a reasonable figure for rehousing a family.
It could also be dangerous for Atkinson, who has spent 12 of his 33 years of life in prison, and lived on the streets for three years following his last spell in detention. After becoming a drug addict, he was eventually given help to kick his habit and get off the streets, first living in a hostel and now in a council flat. He has a dog, a white labrador called Blizzard, and the security of having a proper home has enabled him to take a very active role in parenting his eight-year-old son, who stays with him at weekends.
But since his benefits were stopped he has been unable to look after his son because he has no money for food, and his rent is in arrears.
"I've been living out of the bins at the back of Tesco and Aldi. That's how I've been feeding the dog, too," he says. "It's crazy. I'm trying to do everything I can to be a decent, honest person, but everyone seems to be saying 'jog on'. Apart from Citizens Advice."
Atkinson has contested the decision, an appeal is under way and his benefits are meant to have been reinstated, but five weeks later he still has just 82p in his bank account. Harriet speaks to Jobcentre Plus and verifies that a payment should have reached his account that morning. She advises him to check with his bank again, and to return the following morning if nothing has materialised. He also has debt problems, so she sets up an appointment for him to see one of the bureau's specialist debt advisers.
To read the full article...
www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/sep/03/citizens-advice-cuts-threaten-vulnerable?CMP=twt_fd
Bear in mind how much more difficult it will be to sort out Ashleigh Atkinson's problems once the welfare reform take hold; - leading to a far worse predicament than we saw with the tax credit fiasco back in 2003, this time around the problems will be far worse and there will a distinct lack of advisers around to sort it all out due to more and more cuts.
Read why welfare reform is not in very good form...
mylegal.org.uk/index.cgi?board=frontline&action=display&thread=405&page=1