We’ve started a blog, TalkSelfEmploy. Why? Self-employment has grown fast. It’s part of a trend we expect to continue – to less traditional working lives and less job security. Every year more Citizens Advice clients are self-employed or thinking about self-employment. Their problems can be about anything but their work may be affected and is sometimes to blame. Everyday our trained volunteers and online service […]
Know your rights and persist. That’s the message to shoppers stuck with faulty electrical and other home appliances at the start of National Consumer Week. Citizens Advice is releasing new research showing 2 in 3 people had a problem with faulty electrical goods in the last 2 years and many retailers refused to give them redress. National Consumer Week is a […]
It’s National Consumer Week 2016. Be Switched On to your rights with faulty or unsafe electrical goods. Citizens Advice Reigate & Banstead is promoting the latest ‘know-your-rights’ campaign in partnership with colleagues across the country, Chartered Institute of Trading Standards and the Consumer Protection Partnership. We want consumers to be #SwitchedOn and know how to ask for a […]
Supply not affected. The news that GB Energy Supply has gone out of business shouldn’t worry the company’s customers. The energy regulator Ofgem is finding a new supplier who will contact them in due course. Customers should take a reading of their gas and electricity meters for the new supplier. Citizens Advice is working with Ofgem to make sure […]
Campaign success for private renters. The chancellor’s decision to ban letting agents’ fees is good news for private renters. The average additional cost per letting is £337, which in all fairness should be paid by the landlord, will in due course be paid by the landlord. Good news too for Citizens Advice. We have campaigned […]
Community workshop. Companies and voluntary groups gathered at Harlequin Redhill on 18 November for a Reigate & Banstead Business Community and Social Value Workshop. Crispin Blunt MP introduced the event and outlined its purpose. He was “keen to support closer co-operation between locally based businesses and the local voluntary community and faith sectors for the benefit of all”. Citizens Advice Reigate & Banstead […]
Smart meter benefits cut. The government has revised down its estimates of energy price reductions from installing smart meters. Originally (2014) the expected saving for combined gas and electricity was £26. Now it’s £11. The news comes in a detailed cost-benefit analysis issued 10/11/16 and explained for us by the Sunday Times (£/register). This is embarrassing. The government, regulators and suppliers are under pressure to correct overcharging […]
Minister floats self-employed auto-enrolment. The government is planning a review of pensions in 2017. The minister responsible, Richard Harrington, reported in the Financial Times, says bringing self-employed people into the auto-enrolment system should be on the agenda. Self-employed workers would pay extra national insurance contributions and the money used to buy private ‘auto-enrolment’ pensions. Mr Harrington said: “The self-employed aren’t all people […]
Government help. But is it working? This government scheme is a bridge into self-employment for people on Job Seekers Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance or Income Support. Here’s the deal. The Scheme gives you a weekly allowance for the first 6 months of self-employment IF your business plan has been approved and you work on your business for 16 or more hours a week from the […]
Homelessness today. Three people. Three situations. One problem, for them and society. That was After Cathy (15/11/16), a Radio 4 documentary and useful homage to the famous Ken Loach film now 50 years old. Stewart, Bernard and Zahra told their own stories in phone diaries. The producers provided context but never dimmed the spotlight on the principals’ hopes and fears. At Citizens Advice Reigate and Banstead our work makes […]