Portsmouth District Citizens Advice Bureaux Social Policy Page

Portsmouth District Citizens Advice Bureau is part of a major national campaigning organisation – Citizens Advice.

Our client's experience adds up to a huge wealth of information about problems people experience. We work proactively to prevent similar problems happening to others.

We use this evidence to highlight the effects that policies have on real people in the real world and to suggest where improvements can be made to the policies and services of national and local government and businesses. We aim to stop problems at their source, using the direct experience of the communities that Citizens Advice Bureaux serve.

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The CAB Service is respected for its impartiality and independent analysis, and is listened to at all levels of government. Councillors, MPs, AMs and Ministers all consult the CAB Service on a wide range of issues. This enable us to effectively campaign for social justice and get laws and policies changed for the better.

Recent National Campaigns have focused on issues as diverse as:

Maternity and parental rights

Charges for health care

School uniform costs

Disability Discrimination

Support for asylum seekers

Improving financial literacy

We campaign locally and sometimes join forces with other CABx in the area.
One recent success was -

Getting the bus re-instated for QA Hospital

And we are currently focusing on -

Lack of NHS Dentists in the area

Access to Justice - Legal Aid is now in a state of crisis. Only the poorest qualify for legal funding. It's getting harder by the day to find lawyers & advisers willing to take on legal aid cases. Many people who need legal aid with problems such as housing and benefits simply can't get it.

The CAB regularly publish evidence reports, briefings, responses to consultations and parliamentary briefings on a huge range of issues including consumer, debt, housing, benefits, immigration, employment, legal matters and health.

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Social policy is the set of rules and principles that shape the services and benefits that people rely on. Social policy has a major influence over the lives of Citizens Advice Bureau clients.

These rules and principles are evident in legislation, regulations, codes of practice, other administrative guidelines and policies of service providers. Social policy is less visible when the principles are not written down or otherwise made explicit. This is often the case in the delivery or administration of services.

Some policies affecting CAB clients will be national, such as social security, employment and immigration. Many will be national but administered according to local policies and practices such as housing benefit, community care, housing, health and education.

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