News | Citizens Advice Bureau Life advice
THREE most stressful events are death, divorce and moving home. The CAB say that while they are
not relationship counsellors, they can often offer important advice. This could cover residence and maintenance of children, the finan- cial split, future benefit entitlements, split of joint assets, dealing with debts, legal aid, court costs and where people are going to live.
PensionWise
MAIDSTONE CAB is one of 50 de- livering the Government’s Pension Wise advice – a new service set up to help people over 50 understand their options under the pension free- doms.
Not online
THECABsays there is evidence that about a third of people in Maidstone do not have access to the Internet. Of those who do, 43% do not feel com- fortable using it when dealing with other organisations. This is a barrier to establishing a claim for benefits or pursuing an appeal.
Downs Mail talk
DOWNS MAIL President Dennis Fowle addressed the annual meet- ing on: ‘So I started a newspaper.’ TheDowns Mail will be 20 years old next April.
Financial worries head list of clients’ concerns
FINANCIAL worries continue to increase for many Maidstone res- idents and dominated requests for free help to the local Citizens Ad- vice Bureau (CAB) last year. Chairman Cllr Rob Bird reported
to the annual meeting that al- though Maidstone is regarded as a relatively affluent borough, 11% of residents live in areas falling in the government definition of the most disadvantaged 20%. Bureau staff recorded 29,458 ac- tivities and dealt with 41,197 is- sues. Most common concerns are debt (20.3%), benefits (29.5%),
housing (8.1%) and employment (7.8%). Online applications for help on benefits, debt relief orders and bankruptcy have increased. The bureau reports debts amounting to £326,795 were written off with an average per client of £10,212. And income gains amounted to £440,864. with an average per client of £4,159. “There has been a significant in-
crease in enquiries as the public struggle to keep up with proposed and actual changes to the benefits system made under the present
Wages abuse by employers
THE CAB says due to the nature of much local work – in bars, restau- rants, care industry and seasonal on farms – employees are prone to abuse by employers who try to avoid paying appropriately. The bureau says many struggle to survive even working a 40-hour
week. Too often they are not paid the new National LivingWage. “Our advice on what they should be paid, aswell as how to claim
it, not only changes their lives individually, but also changes lives more widely as the impact of campaigns for better pay is felt,” says the CAB.
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government,” says the bureau. Most enquiries continue to come
from Employment and Support Al- lowance (ESA) and Personal Inde- pendent Payment (PIP) applications. But more advice is required for applications for Discretionary Housing Payment where clients struggle to clear rent arrears or seek to make up shortfalls in hous- ing benefit as a result of the bed- room tax or higher council tax charges. This advice is benefitting clients on average bymore than £2,500.
Funds tight
WORRIES about “fund squeezing” at the CAB by Maidstone Borough Council were expressed by veteran borough councillor Dan Daley at the group’s annual meeting. He was supported by other councillorst. The council grant was £196,210 in
2015, but fell to £168,225 this year. The CAB reported a loss of £22,249 compared with £67,965 profit in 2015.
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