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Living or surviving: Why we need a manifesto for living standards

Something has changed at Citizens Advice. At the last 3 general elections, our top advice issues were all about helping people access benefits they’re entitled to. Today, 2 of the top 3 are about the cost of living — energy problems, and food bank and emergency charitable support referrals. A decade ago, neither of these issues were in the top 10.

For all the talk of the economy from politicians, what really matters to people is if they can afford to pay their bills, cover their rent, and put food on the table. People are constantly asking themselves, can I make my household budget add up?

Christopher’s story
Christopher* works full time to support himself and his children, but still can’t make ends meet. He’s trying to balance his bills and repay his debts, but there isn’t enough money for both.

Christopher has council tax debt, and his council claim around a third of his weekly income for repayments. But this isn’t affordable, and he’s now falling behind on other essential bills. Christopher is stuck in a vicious cycle — paying down one debt, but building up others.

“It’s causing him immense hardship and distress.”

— Citizens Advice adviser who helped Christopher

But so far this election campaign, while politicians have clashed about tax, immigration, and the economy, the stories of people like Christopher have been glaringly absent.

Whichever party takes office on 5 July will need a clear plan to tackle falling living standards in their first 100 days. As manifestos start to appear this week, this is the measure we’ll be testing them against. Pointing to long-term economic growth won’t be enough. We need to see a plan to put pounds back into people’s pockets fast.

What would this look like?
We know the fiscal environment is going to be tough for the next government, and the scale of the challenge is huge. But that’s no excuse for inaction — there are things that can be done now, without breaking the bank, to start to turn the tide on living standards.

Firstly, the next government should explore ways to boost incomes for the worst off. A first step here would be to amend how benefits are calculated to bring them closer in touch with the real cost of living. There are also a whole range of system changes that could be made to help people keep more of the money they’re entitled to.

For those on low pay, the National Minimum Wage is the obvious low-cost lever that can be pulled quickly by the next government. More working people are coming to us for food bank referrals than ever before. Our advisers tell us that they see people working in cleaning, hospitality, social care, retail, and healthcare are struggling the most to make ends meet.

“Quite simply the cost of living has risen so much that clients struggle to meet even basic standards of living.”

— Citizens Advice adviser

The next government won’t solve this problem through incomes alone
They also have to tackle the runaway cost of essentials. Even with a slight drop in energy bills, millions are paying far more than they were a few years ago, and could face even higher bills come winter. Improving energy bill support so it’s more targeted at people with low incomes and high energy costs will help insulate us against future energy crises. Introducing and improving social tariffs in other essential markets — like broadband, water and insurance — would go a long way to helping people cover their bills.

The largest bill for many is housing. Private renters are the worst off here — those on low incomes spend half their whole monthly budget on rent. Top of the next government’s priority list should be finding ways to make the private rental sector more secure and affordable, through things like banning Section 21 no fault evictions, reforming Local Housing Allowance and tackling unfair rent hikes.

We’ve never helped more people who are falling into the red each month just to survive. We know this goes beyond our doors too — 5 million people are in a negative budget, where no matter what they do their income doesn’t cover their essentials. And we know it’s a top issue for voters — 63% of people say living standards or the cost of living will sway how they vote in this general election.

We’ll be looking for changes that offer a lifeline to people at the sharpest end of the living standards crisis as manifestos get published. Politicians need to prove they’re in touch with what matters to real people this election. Whether people feel they can afford to live, not just spend every penny on surviving, will be the real test of our next Prime Minister.

*Names have been changed for anonymity.

Blog reproduced from Medium:
Emer Sheehy, Principal Policy Manager, Citizens Advice

James Brewer: The journey from volunteer to manager

James started volunteering with us almost 8 years ago and has recently moved on to another role in Suffolk. He tells us about how he progressed at Citizens Advice Ipswich from volunteer administrator to Receptionist to debt advice admin to benefits adviser to debt team manager. Phew!

What made you decide to volunteer with Citizens Advice Ipswich?
I’d not worked for a couple of years since moving up to Suffolk and my confidence was pretty low, so I wanted to volunteer to increase my confidence and get used to being in an office again. As for choosing Citizens Advice Ipswich, I’d been a client a couple of years beforehand and the help I’d received had been life-changing for me, and as cheesy as it sounds, I wanted to give something back.
I remember when you started, a client-facing role was not what you wanted. What was it that you did not like about that idea?
Yes – I really didn’t want a client-facing role! I’d struggled with social anxiety and had a difficult experience previously when I’d found the client-facing work overwhelming, so I think I was still licking my wounds a bit from that. I thought my anxiety would hold me back from any client-facing roles in the future. As it turned out though, that wasn’t to be…!

You did a great job as a receptionist when you first joined. What did you enjoy about that role?
Thanks, I loved it. What I didn’t realise until afterwards was that the receptionist at a Citizens Advice office is often the most underrated person in the organisation. Without them, everything grinds to a halt (and when our wonderful Diane is on holiday, this becomes clear!).

It gave me a great insight into how the organisation works, as you’re dealing with all the various project teams as well as the management and business support, and can see how it all gelled together to best support the clients.

Above all else, I was shocked to find that not only could I handle a client-facing role, I enjoyed it and was good at it – that was a huge confidence boost.

You are a great example of someone moving through the roles and picking up skills and expertise as you go along. Tell us about the various teams you have worked with and the projects that you have been involved with.
After my first couple of months on reception, I began training on Adviceline in the Core team, as well as volunteering with the Money Advice team. The work was so varied, I’d create and update budget plans on the system, obtain credit reports for clients, answer the phone (and eventually understand the enquiries!).

I then got a paid role in the Money Advice team, which evolved into the role of Help to Claim Adviser working on the Universal Credit project. This was incredibly fun to work on, as it was launching a project from scratch. There were 3 of us in the team, and we each spent part of the week down at the Jobcentre helping clients to claim Universal Credit (UC). What initially sounded like a relatively straightforward task soon blossomed into something far more substantial, encompassing ‘better off’ calculations to compare legacy benefit entitlement to UC and helping claimants prove their right to claim benefits.
After about a year of that, thanks to Nicky recommending me, I was seconded to several offices around the country – High Wycombe, Aylesbury and Lincoln – advising the staff in the local offices how they could best organise the Help to Claim service. It was a fantastic opportunity and I loved it, unfortunately a pandemic arrived and this programme came to an abrupt end.

During Covid I worked on some IT and telephony project work and an upgrade of our computer hardware. Alongside this, I worked on quite a major process change – the move from paper-based Debt Packs to debt assessment appointments, which reduced the average waiting time for full money advice appointments from 30 days down to 7.

For the past couple of years I’ve managed the Money Advice team, providing technical supervision to ensure we’re maintaining the high quality standards the team achieves, as well as assisting with casework, Debt Relief Orders, and generally helping to facilitate the excellent work the team does.

What have been the challenges for clients with debt in the time you have been managing the debt advice team?
It’s been scary to see how world events have played out and fed into the situations that clients present with. For example, clients having a negative (deficit) budget – not enough money to cover their essential living expenses – isn’t new, but the size of the deficit has increased drastically. It’s now not uncommon for a client to be £500+ short every month. Another challenge for some clients is the continued push towards ‘digital by default’ – sped up since the pandemic, which is leaving a significant number of people behind; either because they struggle with literacy or digital skills, or because they’re unable to afford IT hardware or internet access.

We are all sorry to see you go, James, but we are so proud of what you have achieved in your time with us. Tell us a bit about your next job.
I’m staying in the charitable sector, moving to Suffolk Community Foundation and taking up the role of Sizewell C Community Fund Grants Officer. I’ll be working closely with community groups, social enterprises and charities in East Suffolk, helping them to develop ideas for funding bids for a share of the £2m pot available each year with the aim to minimise the impact of Sizewell C construction work and improve environmental, social and economic wellbeing in the area.

What are you most proud of having achieved here?
Sticking with it! It hasn’t always been easy, but it’s definitely been rewarding.
If I had to pick one thing, it would be helping the organisation move to home-working pretty much overnight at the start of the pandemic by helping move our IT resources into the cloud. As a result, we didn’t have to close to clients for a single day – our amazing team of volunteers and staff were able to provide much-needed advice and support to thousands of local clients throughout Covid. It was very much a team effort, but I’m proud of my part in making it happen.

With all your experience of different volunteer roles with us, what advice would you give someone considering volunteering with Citizens Advice Ipswich?
Do it! I had no idea where my journey with Citizens Advice would take me when I started, but there’s such a variety of roles to choose from – client-facing or back-office – that there’s something for everyone. The support and training you get from the team here is incredible, you’ll make friendships for life, and you get to see the results of the positive impact your contribution makes on the lives of our clients and our community.

Booking a holiday abroad? How to protect yourself and prepare for the unexpected

The May advice column is here and this time it’s about how to protect yourself and prepare for the unexpected when booking a holiday abroad.

It comes at a time of year when many of us will be booking a summer holiday. Whether it’s your first holiday in years or an annual tradition, going abroad can be overwhelming so we’ve pooled together all the key advice in this latest column.

We’re booking a summer holiday to Spain. It’s been a while since we’ve gone on holiday and we really don’t want anything to go wrong. What can we do to protect ourselves and prepare for the unexpected?

The chances are you’ll have the relaxing holiday you deserve, but there are a few things you can do in advance to help your holiday go smoothly. That includes the golden rule of getting travel insurance and brushing up on what your rights are if something goes wrong.

The first thing to do is check if your passport is in date. Renewing can take several weeks so you don’t want to leave this until the last minute. You can check the validity of your passport for your trip on GOV.UK by seeing the entry requirements of the country you’re travelling to.

This is especially important if you’re flying to Europe as EU countries no longer accept passports that are more than ten years old. If your passport was issued pre-Brexit then the expiry date might be more than ten years from the issue date, but if it’s older than ten years, you’ll need to get it renewed for EU travel – even if it’s still in date.

Flight delays and cancellations could happen to any of us, so it’s worth knowing what your rights are if this happens. If your flight is delayed long enough, your airline has to give you access to food and drink vouchers, phone calls and emails, and accommodation if you’re delayed overnight. If your flight is cancelled, you have a legal right to a full refund or replacement flight to help you get to your destination.

Bags going missing is another classic holiday nightmare. But you do have a right to compensation if your airline delays, loses or damages your checked-in luggage. The Citizens Advice website shows you how to do this.

You might also get compensation for other things, like a day trip getting cancelled, or if you paid for a deluxe room but only got a standard one. This will depend on whether you booked a package holiday, made ‘linked travel arrangements’ or organised the holiday yourself as an independent traveller, so it’s worth checking to see what compensation you can get.

Finally, Citizens Advice says you should get travel insurance, as it can cover many of the things already mentioned, like flight delays and lost luggage, but also things like a holiday cancellation and medical emergencies. You should get insurance as soon as you book a holiday to make sure you’re covered from the get go, but check first to see if you’re covered for what you need through an existing insurance policy or through your bank account.

Hopefully you won’t face any problems while on holiday, but early planning and preparations can go a long way. If something goes wrong and you need advice on a consumer problem, check the Citizens Advice website.

From Adviser to Tour Guide

After sixteen years as a volunteer with us, Chris F is moving on to pastures new.

We asked him a few questions about his time at Citizens Advice Ipswich.

In your time with us here, Chris, you have supported so many people. Our records only go back to the end of 2017 and in that time you have written up around 2000 client cases. Based on this, my back of a biscuit packet calculation shows that in your sixteen years with us you have supported over 5000 cases. Not bad for a volunteer one day a week!

What sparked your interest in volunteering with us?

My interest in volunteering with Citizens Advice was sparked when my wife struck up a conversation with a neighbour on the early bus into Ipswich. He told her about his wide ranging volunteering role with Citizens Advice and it grew from there.

I joined the team sometime in 2008, when I decided to dispense with the commute to my former role at a friend’s financial practice.

Tell us a bit about your time here

I trained to be a generalist adviser, offering help on a wide range of advice issues. What I have enjoyed about this role has been never knowing from one week to the next, what we will be faced with!

In the early days, the door would open and the ground swell of hopeful clients would take their allocated number and fill reception like a GP’s waiting room in the olden days. Now the way clients contact varies but the way we advise remains the same.

On one occasion, a delightful East European lady with a good grasp of the language, but an understandably vague grasp of our tax system was very stressed about a number of penalty charges from the Revenue.

A phone call was able to achieve a clarification for her, and I managed to get the penalties waived. As I explained the outcome she sat in stunned silence for a full minute – then stood up, opened her arms wide, and asked if she could hug me! I told you one never knew what was going to happen next!

You also joined our generalist money advice team – helping clients with issues around finance and debt. What stands out for you about this work?

Our money advice team are truly fantastic and deserve great credit for what they achieve.

It is of critical importance that people have a chance to learn basic financial life skills from an early age.

There is a need for parents to share budgeting and saving habits with the next generation and for schools to find a space within the curriculum to extend this knowledge. Life is a big enough struggle without the added minefield of dealing with debt.

In your time with us at Citizens Advice Ipswich you will have seen life change for our clients. What has changed in your time here and what has stayed the same?

One big change is the ever expanding range of demand on our services due to pressures on local authorities and budget cuts. Basic emergencies involving food banks, fuel vouchers and domestic replacement goods have escalated hugely.

One thing that has stayed the same is the tremendous enthusiasm and desire to make a difference to people’s lives, which I noticed at the start and has never seemed to waver.

At our Away-Days, when the various statistics reflecting our outcomes for clients over the year were flashed up on screen, I used to say to myself, I was a small part of that!

I can’t imagine you putting your feet up, Chris. What is going to be your next project?

It’s a complete change of direction for me now. I have always had an interest in historic houses and gardens and the stories behind them and so I am about to learn the art of tour guiding for the National Trust at one of our beautiful properties, Melford Hall.

You have mentored and supported scores of trainee advisers in your time here. What advice would you give someone considering an advice role with Citizens Advice Ipswich?

I would say grab the opportunity with both hands. You will encounter a wealth of first class mentoring, training, material courses and technical online resource. And that is without taking into account the pleasure you will feel when a client has their life improved by something you have done for them.

It just remains for me to extend a massive vote of thanks to you. We will all miss you, Chris.

Do keep in touch and I hope to see you at our Fiftieth Birthday celebrations.

Understanding your payslip

I’ve just got my first payslip from a new job, I’m slightly embarrassed to say I don’t understand what all the different sections refer to. How do I know what each means and if it’s correct?

Congratulations on the new job, hopefully you’re settling into the new role.

There’s no need to be embarrassed about not understanding your payslip, it contains lots of information which can be tricky to get your head around but it is important to understand. Your payslip shows your pay, deductions and tax information. All employers are required to give their employees a payslip and it’s a good idea to keep them for as long as possible.

The top left corner of your payslip is where you’ll usually find your employer’s details. Opposite this, in the middle or top right corner, should be your details. This is also where you might find your payroll or employee number, this is what your employer uses to identify you for payroll purposes.

Next, you’ll see lots of different numbers and codes. The payment date is when your pay will normally arrive in your bank account, it can be monthly or weekly and fall on any day of the month.

Your National Insurance (NI) number refers to your unique number. You must have a NI number to work in the UK.  It’s used to make sure all your NI contributions are recorded and so you can get any state benefits you’re entitled to, including state pension later in life.

Your payslip might show a tax period, the tax year starts in April and ends in March. The number here corresponds to the period in which you’re being taxed, eg. if you’re paid monthly, 01 will represent the tax period in April, while 12 would mean March.

Next is your tax code. This is decided by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and is used by your employer or pension provider to work out how much Income Tax to take from your pay. Your tax code is made up of several numbers and a letter. The numbers refer to how much tax-free income you get while the letters can mean different things depending on your circumstances. You can find out what they mean on the government website.

Make sure you’re not on an emergency tax code otherwise you’ll be taxed more than needed.

Now to your pay and deductions. Gross pay, means how much you’ve earned before anything is deducted. Deductions are amounts taken from your gross pay, common ones include: income tax, national insurance, pension or student loan payments. Income tax is the tax you pay on your earnings to fund public services, this is something you have to pay but the amount will vary depending on your earnings. You pay National Insurance so you can be entitled to certain benefits, and it also contributes towards the NHS.

Most payslips will add up all the deductions from your pay into a single amount to make it easier for you to see how much is taken from your pay each month. Your net pay is the amount of money you will receive after all the deductions have worked out.

Lastly, taxable pay is the amount of your salary, to date in the current tax year, that has been subjected to tax. This will usually appear next to your net pay figure.