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Citizens Advice Wakefield District – Annual Report 2014-2015 A A N N N N U U A A L L R R E E P P O O R R T T 2 2 0 0 1 1 4 4 - - 2 2 0 0 1 1 5 5 The service aims: To provide the advice people need for the problems they face To improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives The Citizens Advice service provides free, independent, confidential and impartial advice to everyone on their rights and responsibilities. It values diversity, promotes equality and challenges discrimination.

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Page 1: AANNNNUUAALL RREEPPOORRTT 22001144--22001155wakefielddistrictcab.co.uk/.../AGM-REPORT-20142015.pdf · AANNNNUUAALL RREEPPOORRTT 22001144--22001155 ... Anthony Chell Batool Ali*

Citizens Advice Wakefield District – Annual Report 2014-2015

AANNNNUUAALL RREEPPOORRTT

22001144--22001155

The service aims:

To provide the advice people need for the problems they face

To improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives

The Citizens Advice service provides free, independent, confidential

and impartial advice to everyone on their rights and responsibilities.

It values diversity, promotes equality and challenges discrimination.

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Wakefield District Citizens Advice Bureaux – Annual Report 2014-2015

Citizens Advice - Wakefield District has adopted the recommended Citizens

Advice Information Assurance Policy to help us manage information risks. The

full policy is available in the Office Manual.

Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority FRN: 617779

Citizens Advice Wakefield District is the operating name of

Wakefield District Citizens Advice Bureau – Registered Office: 1st Floor,

27 King Street, Wakefield, WF1 2SR

Registered Charity No: 1058086 – Registered in England and Wales as a Company

Limited by guarantee number: 3229045

Website: www.wakefielddistrictcab.co.uk

Email: [email protected]

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Wakefield District Citizens Advice Bureaux – Annual Report 2014-2015

BOARD OF TRUSTEES:

CHAIR: Sandra Cheseldine

VICE CHAIR: Sarah Connell

COMPANY SECRETARY/CHIEF EXECUTIVE: Liz Halliday

TRUSTEES: Barry Blakemore Hilary Mitchell

David Sampson Malcolm Stewardson

Douglas Dale* Hilary Warriner

David Francis Michael Wityszyn

Monica Graham Craig Jones (was Womersley)

Clare Maguire

PAID STAFF:

Wendy Anderson Andrew Young

Michelle Cowper Mandy Larder

Anne Coysh Jane Laving

Wendy Dodson Julie Livesey

Julie McCann Sue McQueen*

Jill Penny Solveig Rawlings

Elizabeth Halliday Wayne Sergeant

Bryn Hirst Zoe Smith

Ellen Howard Elaine Tomkins

Pete Hudson Chris Utley

Yim Ip Irene Walker

Diane Knee Vivien Klejnow

Vanessa Oldroyd

Denotes left during year

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Wakefield District Citizens Advice Bureaux – Annual Report 2014-2015

VOLUNTEERS: Alan Pratt*

Alastair McGregor

Alexander Adamson

Amylee Swinger

Ann Razaq

Anthony Chell

Batool Ali*

Carol Stacey

Cecilia Hewitt*

Celia Firmin

Chris Beverley*

Christine Copley

Claire Ferguson*

Colin McBurney

Daniel Greaves

Delma Stimpson

Diane Harper

Eileen Uttley*

Eleanor Theile

Ellen Loughhead

Emmeline Tandor*

Eva Jones*

Faith Whittall

Gillian Roberts*

Hayley Lawton

Heather Crichton-Sharp*

Helen Turford

Ian Hutchinson

Ian Pitchford*

Jade Foxcroft

Jan Cleverly

Jane Holmes

Jane Scott

Jennifer Scott

Joanna Szmuc

John Wood

John Holmes

Jonathan Hughes

Karen Haist

Kathleen Seacome

Katie Todd

Katie Wawro

Kirsty Goldrick

Kudzai Zano-Tigere*

Laura Sharp*

Leda Prest

Lesley Fisher

Leslie Haskayne

Lidia Foster*

Linda Goodhall

Linzie Hampton*

Liz Elliott

Lynn Hobbs*

Margaret Prime

Michael Rogers

Michael Spinoza*

Michael Liddle

Michelle Langham

Musa Ndebele

Nahida Karim

Nicola Jennings

Pamela Shater

Paul Richardson

Ramune Zemaitiene*

Rebecca Pal

Rebecca Gough

Rico A

Riffat Arif

Robert Radecki

Robert Smitten

Rowena Lester*

Saleem Akhter

Sandra Scholes*

Sarah Roberts

Shalla Akram

Sheena A Vigors

Sherrelle Poole*

Simon Williams

Sirkka Goodhind

Steve Borrill

Steven Wise

Victoria Emsley

Zahra Younis

Zoe Smith*

*Denotes left during year

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Wakefield District Citizens Advice Bureaux – Annual Report 2014-2015

Chair`s Report

Welcome to the Annual Report of Citizens Advice Wakefield District. Further on

in this report you will read of our achievements and the challenges we have

found in the last year. We have seen more clients than before, brought

additional income into the District by helping people to get the correct level of

benefits, helped people manage their debts and dealt with a wide variety of

other issues covering housing, employment, consumer issues etc.. Benefits

work has expanded as the changes to benefits system have been implemented.

How can we deliver the wide range of advice that we do? It is only possible

because of support of our dedicated staff and volunteers to whom I want to say

thank you for your commitment and enthusiasm. We would not be able to

provide the support that we do to the people of Wakefield District without our

funders and I would like to thank:-

Wakefield Metropolitan District Council

Citizens Advice MAS DAP Fund

NOVA

Public Health Wakefield – GP Surgery Outreach

Normanton Town Council

Featherstone Town Council

South Elmsall Town Council

Upton and North Elmsall Parish Council

Ingeus – Work Programme

NOMS

There is a saying that nothing stays the same and looking over the last year and

into the next this seems to sum up the environment in which we are working.

There are the economic constraints in the public sector which lead to the

difficult funding environment in which we work. The Membership Agreement

under which we operate is being revised which will drive changes to the way we

deliver the Service. National initiatives relating to the delivery of our telephone

and email service are being introduced. Where there are challenges there is also

opportunities and Wakefield District Citizens Advice will be at the forefront of

these developments, looking at ways to improve our service delivery to clients.

Find out more about what we have been doing and the changes ahead in the

reports which follow.

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Wakefield District Citizens Advice Bureaux – Annual Report 2014-2015

Chief Executive`s Report

2015 has been an important year so far for the bureaux network. Citizens

Advice has been consulting on the Performance and Quality Framework which

will form the basis of the new Membership Agreement to be published at the

2016 conference. CitA is aiming to achieve a more flexible, client lead service.

This will involve changes to almost everything about our service over the coming

months.

A brand refresh – new logo, colours, graphics and dropping of the word

‘bureau’ after 76 years

The way quality of advice is measured – moving away from 3 yearly audit

towards monthly sampling and more self-assessment

Social policy is now known as Research & Campaigning and will be less reliant

on Evidence Forms and more about local campaigning

Channel Strategy – moving towards a national telephone and digital service

to which all bureaux will contribute and a more flexible face to face service

Advice framework – developing a client journey which aims to assist clients

with their problems on the day they access the service where possible. More

quick advice and less time spent on recording information.

2015 also sees a continuation of changes to the public sector. NHS structures

such as public health and the CCG, the Care Act, further reductions to local

authority budgets, changes to the welfare system and the justice system. It can

be very confusing negotiating your way around Community Anchors, Connecting

Care Hubs, Early Help Hubs and so on. We welcome the strength that comes

from our partnerships with other voluntary sector organisations, particularly

through the Assembly - the Voice & Influence of the Wakefield VCS.

The good news is that we have managed to retain almost all of our funding from

last year – Wakefield MDC, Money Advice Service, GP Project, the Work

Programme, increased outreaches, Think Family. A big thank you, as ever, to the

local authority for continuing to support us. The outreach at New Hall prison

has now ended due to changes in leadership at New Hall and we have also seen

a reduction in the Healthwatch contract. Because of this we have seen only

minor changes to our staff & volunteers structure with no redundancies. Thank

you as always to our paid staff and volunteer team for continuing to respond so

positively to change and for sticking with us throughout. You will see from

Anne’s report that volunteer retention has been particularly during the year.

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Wakefield District Citizens Advice Bureaux – Annual Report 2014-2015

Following are some graphs which will give you a snapshot of what we have

achieved during the year.

We helped 8,576 clients during the year with 26,141 problems. The top problem

categories by far were debt (10,828) and benefits/tax credits (6,452). As usual the

majority of our clients came from the most deprived areas of the district.

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Wakefield District Citizens Advice Bureaux – Annual Report 2014-2015

Top 6 problem categories were:

Debt 10,828 llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Benefits & tax credits 6,452 lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Legal 1,971 llllllllllll

Financial services & capability 1,554 llllllllll

Employment 1,356 llllllll

Relationships & family 976 llllll

Top 6 issues within debt were:

Council tax,comm.chg arrears 1,878 llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Unsecd personal loan debts 1,445 lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Credit,store+chg card debts 1,037 llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Fuel debts 579 lllllllllllllllllllll

Telephone and Broadband debts 518 lllllllllllllllllll

Bank+building soc.overdrafts 507 llllllllllllllllll

Top 6 issues within benefits were:

Employment Support Allowance 1,246 llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Personal independence payment 913 llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Working & Child Tax Credits 712 llllllllllllllllllllllllll

Housing Benefit 699 llllllllllllllllllllllllll

Jobseekers Allowance 437 llllllllllllllll

Disability Living Allowance 359 lllllllllllll

Top 6 issues within employment were:

Pay & Entitlements 415 lllllllllllllll

Dismissal 236 llllllll

Terms & Conditions of Employment 155 lllll

Dispute resolution 144 lllll

Redundancy 76 ll

Self Employment/Business 57 ll

Top 6 issues within housing were:

Private sector rented propty 334 llllllllllll

Environml+neighbour issues 107 lll

Threatened homelessness 99 lll

Housing assoc. property 91 lll

Owner occupier property 56 ll

Local Authority housing 55 ll

clients living in Wakefield local authority area were helped last year (April 2014 to

March 2015) with 26141 problems by the Citizens Advice service.

What is happening at Wakefield?

8,576

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Citizens Advice Wakefield District – Annual Report 2014-2015

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Citizens Advice Wakefield District – Annual Report 2014-2015

Finance Report

2014/15 was a year of continuation and stability. Partnership work was

continued with NOVA and Young Lives to ensure delivery of the Healthwatch

programme across Wakefield and District. We also continued to deliver and

subcontract the Work programme once again acting as Lead partners. Our main

two sources of income continued from WMDC for our Generalist Advice Service

and CitA for our Money Advice Service. During the year 2014/15 the bureau

incurred a surplus of £65,524 compared to a surplus of £94,453 the previous

year. This surplus includes restricted funds of £3,861 which will be spent in this

new financial year. The surpluses made on unrestricted funding were once again

due to close monitoring of financial expenditure and we will continue to use

them in future years to improve both capital development within the

organisation and new services delivery.

See below a couple of excerpts from our published accounts:

Total Total

2015 2014

£ £

Total Incoming Resources 732,050 741,622

Total Resources Expended 688,563 647,169

Net (Expenditure)/Income

After Transfers and Net Movements in Funds 43,487 94,453

Balance as at 1 April 2014 547,676 453,223

Balance as at 31 March 2015 591,163 547,676

Analysis of Net Assets of Funds

Restricted Unrestricted Total

Funds Funds 2015

£ £ £

Fund balances at 31 March 2015 are represented by:

Fixed Assets 0 0 0

Current Assets 3,861 616,744 620,605

Current Liabilities (0) (29,442)) (29,442)

3,861 587,302 591,163

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Wakefield District Citizens Advice Bureaux – Annual Report 2014-2015

The Graph Below shows our main sources of income during 2014/15

Income (%) by Source 2014/15

Other income includes Investment income of £3,714, continuation of the reviewing our

risk assessment on our reserves we have continued with the decision to split our

investments with £85,000 being placed in Santander for one year, £85,000 in Lloyds TSB

for one year and £85,000 in CAF for one year, the amount invested in all these accounts

will be reviewed upon their maturity.

On behalf of all the trustees we would like to thank our funders for 2014/15, who were:

Wakefield Metropolitan District Council

NOVA

Normanton Town Council

Featherstone Town Council

South Elmsall Town Council

Upton and North Elmsall Parish Council

Citizens Advice MAS DAP fund

Wakefield District PCT – GP Surgery outreach

Ingeus - Work Programme

NOMS

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Wakefield District Citizens Advice Bureaux – Annual Report 2014-2015

The graph below shows our main types of expenditure during 2014/15

Expenditure (£) by type 2014/15

We have, as in previous years, maintained expenditure in all areas of delivery at a

minimum whilst at the same time ensured maximum delivery of services by investing in

our front line staff, which makes up 79% of our overall expenditure. We chose to stay

with our auditors from the previous year and once again we would like to thank Mark

Upex from Hansons Chartered Accountants for his support in the production of our

annual accounts.

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Wakefield District Citizens Advice Bureaux – Annual Report 2014-2015

Generalist Advice Service 2014-2015

We had a busy year again seeing three hundred more clients than the previous

year. The chart below compares the ways of accessing our service over the last

two years. It is interesting to see that more clients accessed our service via the

telephone rather than face to face last year. We also introduced an email

service in October last year which has been very successful.

Last year we dealt with 26,492 issues. The two main issues were debt 11,334

issues and benefits 6,337 issues. The main benefit issues dealt with were

disability benefit issues and problems with tax credits.

Case Study

The client had an appointment to check his benefit entitlement. The calculation

showed that he was being underpaid pension credit by £123.70 per week. The

client contacted the pension service and was initially told that he was receiving

the correct amount of pension credit. The adviser wrote a letter on behalf of the

client to the pension service highlighting the premiums the client should be

receiving and currently was not.

The client stated that a week later he received a telephone call from the pension

service and was informed he would be receiving the extra premiums and that

they would be backdated for two years. The client has now received a payment

of £11,000 for his backdated premiums. The client will also be receiving £123.70

extra a week, he was extremely pleased with the outcome.

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

F2FPhone

OutreachEmail

Comparing gateway channels

2013-4

2014-5

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Wakefield District Citizens Advice Bureaux – Annual Report 2014-2015

Volunteer report 2014-2015 During the year we recruited 23 volunteers. We also trained 6 volunteers to

respond to email enquiries, 3 volunteers to complete disability benefit forms

and 9 gateway assessors to give generalist advice. It was a very good year for

volunteer retention we lost 19 volunteer during the year compared to 36 the

previous year. The chart below shows the reasons why the volunteers left.

Projects

Work Programme Sessions are held monthly at the Pontefract and Wakefield Interserve offices.

The main issues dealt with at the outreach is benefits, however clients have debt

issues they will have an appointment made at either our Pontefract outreach or

our Wakefield office.

.

GP project It was another successful year for the project. The advisers dealt with 659 issues

during the year 69% of which were benefit issues, with nearly half of the issues

being health related benefits. The advisers also identified £327,199 extra annual

income for clients. The client survey found that 84% of clients felt that the

appointment had a positive effect on the overall wellbeing. A further 99% of

clients found that the advice/information had been helpful.

Research & campaigning Last year we submitted 240 evidence forms to Citizens Advice, the main issues

were benefits health & community care and debt. We also took part in the

following national campaigns:-

Fair play for prepay

Make ESA fit for work

Access to justice

Scams awareness month

Pay day loans

Reasons for volunteers leaving 2014-15

paid work

personal

family

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Wakefield District Citizens Advice Bureaux – Annual Report 2014-2015

Debt Services 2014-2015

Funding for our debt services came from 3 main sources: The Money Advice Service F2F

Debt Awareness Project; HMP New Hall Women & YOI and WMDC Think Family Troubled

Families project. The statistics contained in this report reflect the total across all debt

projects.

2014/15 statistics highlight £11 million pounds worth of debt was dealt with for this

period, a drop on the previous year (-£2 million), this debt figure represents the total for

the 1839 individual clients assisted. We saw a 9% increase in debt client numbers on the

previous year. The need for budgeting advice also increased due to number of clients

who continued to be affected by the welfare reforms; in particular the spare room

subsidy (‘bedroom tax’) and the effects of Council Tax Support, which saw more clients

liable to pay council tax than under the old system of the traditional Council Tax Benefit

. For this period both locally and nationally Citizens Advice observed Council Tax

arrears as the biggest type of debt enquiry presented. Factors such as the reduction in

working hours/inability to increase hours or zero hour contracts via agency work, in

some instances led to individuals/families not knowing from one week to the next what

their income would be and an increased reliance on food banks.

53% of all debt recorded can be attributed to the 30-49 year age range of our

clients; 57% of all debt clients were female; 43% male.

84% of all debt clients were from the ‘white British’ ethnicity group.

58% of all debt clients do not consider themselves to be disabled; whilst 36%

consider themselves to be disabled or to suffer with long term health issues.

20 21

2 14

3 5

4 7

10 8

4 2

0 5 10 15 20 25

WF1WF2WF3WF4WF5WF6WF7WF8WF9

WF10WF11

Other

Clients accessing the debt service by postcode area

(as a percentage)

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Wakefield District Citizens Advice Bureaux – Annual Report 2014-2015

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Wakefield District Citizens Advice Bureaux – Annual Report 2014-2015

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Wakefield District Citizens Advice Bureaux – Annual Report 2014-2015

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Wakefield District Citizens Advice Bureaux – Annual Report 2014-2015

Healthwatch Advice/Information Line

The top ten issues advice/information was sought about were:

Complaints (Hospital services—non mental health)

NHS Charges (combination across all services)

Quality of diagnosis/care/treatment (Hospital services—non mental

health)

Complaints (General Medical Practitioner services)

Quality of diagnosis/care/treatment (General Medical Practitioner

services)

Complaints (Dental services)

Access to service/information (all services)

Complaints (Community Care/non mental health)

Quality of Care (Community Care/mental health)

Eligibility criteria and assessment of needs (Community Care/non mental

health)

For 2014/15 the health watch advisers have gained permission from 150 clients

to share their stories with the wider health watch team based at Nova. This

information can inform , enter and view visits and trends in particular health and

social care services across the Wakefield District.

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Wakefield District Citizens Advice Bureaux – Annual Report 2014-2015

Case Study: 68 year old white British woman; lives alone. She has 2 sons but contact

with them has become limited. Client suffers from Epilepsy and is taking up to 13

prescribed tablets each day. Client feels that of late she is becoming more and more

confused and would like some help on a day to day basis. Client was advised of the LA

duty to assess a person’s need for community care services and given contact details for

Social Care Direct; client was also advised to make contact with her own GP for an

assessment if her confusion is a recent development.

Case Study: Client is the main carer for his 89 year old mother; who was admitted to

hospital. Client felt that when his mother was in hospital she became frail and confused;

at this stage a hospital social worker visited his mother (without client being present)

and made the recommendation for respite care. On the day of discharge client was

passed a document to sign; he was ‘hurried’ along and was not given opportunity to

read the document; thus he did not know what he was signing. Some weeks later the

client/mother received a bill for approx. £500 for ‘care services’ received. Client/his

mother were angry and felt they have been ‘coerced’ into signing for services they did

not know they were agreeing too. Client contacted healthwatch for details of how he

could make a formal complaint. Client was advised about how to make a complaint

firstly using the care provider’s complaints process but if not happy with that outcome

how to take it forward to the Local Government Ombudsman

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Wakefield District Citizens Advice Bureaux – Annual Report 2014-2015

Case Study: In December 2014 client has a new set of dentures made by her dentist. In

February 2015 she had to have them adjusted when they became loose due to the

extraction of 3 teeth. The treatment was done under the NHS at a cost of £225 for the

original dentures and £50 for the adjustment. The client was not happy with the

adjustments made and felt that the dentures were not ‘fit for purpose’ Upon contacting

the dentist they refused to make any further adjustments and suggested if client wants

a new pair she would need to pay for them. Client was not happy with this response

and wanted to take the matter further. Client was advised in the first instance to

arrange to meet the Practice Manager to try and resolve the matter amicably with her

long standing dentist. If unsuccessful she would be able to follow the NHS complaints

process.

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Wakefield District Citizens Advice Bureaux – Annual Report 2014-2015

FOR CONFIDENTIAL ADVICE AND APPOINTMENTS

Telephone 0844 499 4138 Monday-Friday, 9.00-5.00pm

INTERNET SERVICES

For DIY problem-solving visit www.adviceguide.org.uk

DROP IN TO OUR OFFICE OR ONE OF OUR OUTREACHES Wakefield Office

27 King Street, Wakefield WF1 2SR

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 9.00 am – 5.00 pm

9.00 am – 8.00 pm Tuesday

First Saturday of every month 9.00 am – 1.00 pm

Pontefract Outreach

The Yorkshire Coalfield Resource Centre, Thornycroft,

Halfpenny Lane. Pontefract, WF8 4AY Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 10.00-1.00pm

Featherstone Outreach

The Old Town Hall, Wakefield Road, Featherstone WF7 5WW

Tuesday 10.00-1.00pm

Normanton Outreach

Normanton Town Hall, High Street, Normanton WF6 2DZ

Monday 10.00-1.00pm

South Elmsall Outreach

Westfield Resource Centre, Westfield Lane, South Elmsall WF9 2PU

Tuesday 10.00am-1.00pm

Upton & North Elmsall Outreach

The Village Hall, Harewood Lane, Upton, Pontefract, WF9 1JB

Wednesday 10.00am-1.00pm

South Kirkby & Moorthorpe Outreach (from 17 September 2015)

The Conference Room, Moorthorpe Railway Station, Barnsley Road, South

Kirkby, WF9 3QF

Thursday 10.00am-1.00pm