Early advice confirmed. Citizens Advice Reigate & Banstead confirms advice issued after the referendum: The vote to leave the EU doesn’t mean immediate changes to consumer rights, employment law or rules around immigration. Analysis of national Citizens Advice* website and social media since the referendum reveals around half a million Brexit enquiries mainly about immigration, citizenship and which laws […]
Listen to your instincts. This month Citizens Advice Reigate & Banstead is working with the CAB network and Trading Standards to help people protect themselves against scams. Everyday fraudsters are persuading people to hand over personal or financial information, or spend hundreds or even thousands of pounds seeking jobs, homes, holidays and investments that never materialise. So the motto […]
Some of what we did…. CARBS June Community Liaison: NHS, Surrey CC, Volunteering, Charity Trust Research and Campaigns: Brexit, Banks, Tribunals, Job Insecurity, Health and Income Social Media: Links, Topics
Easier and faster. Good news for those who depend on special parking. Surrey County Council is working on a new online system to make it easier and faster to apply for, or renew, a Blue Badge permit. At Citizens Advice Reigate & Banstead we’re particularly pleased. Our research and campaigns team member Louise Tennuci has […]
Planning to help. Surrey Suicide Prevention Group exists to help health professionals and others work together to identify and support those at risk. Meeting this week in Leatherhead the group continued to develop its new suicide prevention plan for the county. The group’s members include representatives of clinical commissioning groups, Surrey and Borders Partnership, Surrey […]
Public good. Trust in charities has fallen after “a difficult year”. The Charity Commission reports* people have lost confidence partly because of criticism in the media. Citizens Advice Reigate & Banstead is a small independent charity. We exist to help local people sort out thousands of problems each year. Our 70+ volunteers benefit the whole […]
Access to justice denied. The cost of making a claim at an employment tribunal is reducing access to justice. That’s the opinion of MPs on the Justice Select Committee in a report published this month. Fees were significantly increased in 2013. It now costs £1200 to bring a case for unfair dismissal. Official evidence shows the number of cases […]
Advice and policy. “Everything will stay the same until new laws are made.” That’s the essential advice from Citizens Advice: Brexit: How it affects you. Anyone who has been told their rights have changed since the vote should contact their local office. The referendum also puts policy-makers on the spot. The result was obviously not […]
“At continued risk of economic shock. Unable to plan for the future.” Sometimes plain words in a report show more than statistics. These chilling phrases summarise the lives of many individuals and families. National research commissioned by Citizens Advice asked people what in their lives made them feel secure. 93% said an income they could rely on […]
Common problems. The health of people in 21st Century Britain is being affected by malnutrition, food poverty or poor housing. This week a survey of nurses* again underlined the depressingly common link between family economics and health. 40 per cent of nurses have patients whose circumstances are harming their health. 50% say the proportion of patients with preventable […]