Citizens Advice Bureau Annual Report 2023/24

The year 2024 marks this bureau’s 85th anniversary. Opening on 15 January 1939 it was the first service of its kind and the beginning of the Citizens’ Advice Bureau network for the whole country. Prior to that, between 1935 and 1938, the then National Council of Voluntary Services (NCVS) - now the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)- was in talks with the government to form an advice service should war break out. Glasgow already had the City of Glasgow Society of Social Service (now the Care Foundation) founded in 1874 to provide all forms of social care. It was based in 212 Bath Street with 6 district offices throughout the city. Under its auspices the Society formed a department calling it the Citizens Advice Service. Staffing was entirely by volunteers whose purpose was to advise on regulations and restrictions for the anticipated World War 2. There was close co-operation with the British Red Cross Society and other voluntary agencies with training and lectures being arranged for volunteers and other services in and around Glasgow to prepare for tracing missing persons, prisoners of war and the immediate problems such as black outs, food rationing, food parcels, budgeting, homelessness and social welfare. In its first year the department had 8,000 enquiries. The previous talks with the NCVS resulted in the National Association of Citizens’ Advice Bureau (NACAB, later t/a CitA) being formed in London by September 1939. It was an umbrella association to support member bureaus UK wide. By the time war was declared on 3 September 1939 there was then a network of agencies known as Citizens’ Advice Bureau ready to advise the public on the new predicament. The City of Glasgow Society of Social Service (CoGSSS) decided to adopt this name also and changed the name from Citizens’ Advice Service to Citizens’ Advice Bureau. When another two CABx opened in Glasgow, geographically located in Drumchapel and Calton (now Bridgeton), the original Glasgow Bureau became identified as the Glasgow (Bath Street) Citizens’ Advice Bureau. After the Clydebank blitz in 1941 when many parts of Glasgow were devastated the Town Clerk of Glasgow requested assistance from the CoGSSS Citizens’ Advice Bureau and 54 volunteers were enlisted to the Glasgow Corporation’s Emergency & Casualty Centre to assist with shelter for those evacuated, victims of bombing and the time consuming task of identifying casualties who had been rushed to nearby hospitals and establishing who was missing and to where they may have been taken. The original Bath Street bureau helped set up other CABx in surrounding counties and gave them training in civil defence. By the end of the war the Bath Street bureau had recorded 73,000 enquiries. Originally the service was intended for the duration of the war but the Bath Street CAB continued without interruption. The CoGSS opened two, free at service, Legal Dispensaries to compliment the work of their CAB. Post war enquiries were mainly related to housing, education & training, social welfare, budgeting, supplies & rationing and war pensions. By 1946 the Bath Street bureau had recorded 86,633 enquiries classified under 21 categories. In the 1960’s enquiries started to grow steadily with more media publicity and recognition of the brand. There was a much wider range of subject matter including the introduction of ‘Model Lodging Houses’ and the issue of food vouchers worth 2/6d (12.5p) on behalf of the Glasgow Benevolent Society and accepted in selected city grocers. In that decade funding by grant aid started to come from the then Glasgow Corporation, so the bureau separated its activities from the CoGSSS but remained with them as a tenant until the building was sold. In 1967/68 the CoGSS’s district offices merged into their Bath Street HQ. By 1971 a paid employee was appointed to ‘organise’ the volunteers affectionately known as ‘the blue rinse, twin set & pearls brigade”. In 1975, with more CABx having opened in Scotland, the Scottish Association of Citizens’ Advice Bureau (SACAB, later t/a CAS) was formed as a regional office of NACAB and in 1980 became an independent association serving its Scottish CABx members now standing at 59, 8 of which are in Glasgow. Although part of a nationwide membership each bureau is autonomous having its own entity. CAS supports bureau with a comprehensive Information System, Case Management, Quality Assurance Audits, IT, Policies, Training and Development. Between 1975 and 1996 the bureau, like others, in the area was funded by grant aid jointly by the then Strathclyde Regional and the GlasgowDistrict Councils. When local government reformed in 1996 the bureau became funded mainly by grant from the Glasgow City Council. Paid staff increased to two in 1976 and then three in 1986. When 212 Bath Street was sold in 1990 the bureau moved to 87 Bath Street. In 1993 the bureau’s governance was reviewed and it then became an incorporated company limited by guarantee with a Board of volunteer Directors (Trustees) in place of the former Management Committee. In August 1999 the Bureau left Bath Street and relocated to Albion Street and became the Glasgow (Albion Street) Citizens’ Advice Bureau. The name changed in March 2004 to Glasgow (Central) Citizens’ Advice Bureau to reflect its city wide coverage. In 2007 it moved to 88 Bell Street. The next major change was when the bureau relocated again, this time to the world famous Mitchell Library at Charing Cross. It is in keeping that the UK’s oldest CAB is co-located and working together in partnership with one of the oldest and largest libraries in Europe originating in 1877. From 2009 funding arrangements changed to competitive tendering contracts when the bureau became a subcontractor of 2 consortia who had their main contracts with the Glasgow City Council. In April 2015 the fundingmethods changed again when a ‘partnership’ was formed directly between individual agencies and the Glasgow City Council with core funding returning to grant support from the Council’s Integrated Grants Fund. From September 2020 the bureau received funds from the Council’s new Transitional Fund. Grant aid from the Glasgow City Council forms a basis to attract additional funding from a variety of other funding streams. The service, now with 23 paid staff, is free at point of delivery to the citizens of Glasgow, is independent, impartial, confidential and is easily accessible. The Aims of the Citizens’ Advice Bureau are: • To ensure that individuals do not suffer through ignorance of their right and responsibilities, or of the services available, or through an inability to express their needs effectively and equally. • To exercise a responsible influence on the development of social policy and services, locally and nationally. FROM THE BEGINNING TO WHERE WE ARE