Facing new challenges

Annual Report

2014/15

Contents

Aims and Objectives 05

Chair’s Report 07

Chief Executive’s Report 10

Services at our bureau 16

Range of Enquiries 19

Impact of our advice work 22

Outcomes 27

Client Satisfaction 29

Research and Campaigns 30

Volunteering 34

Financial Report 37

Balance Sheet at 31.03.2015 38

Our People 39

Board of Trustees 40

Our Partners and Funders 41

5

Aims and Objectives

Westminster Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) was one of the very first bureau services founded

in 1939. From its origins as an emergency service during the Second World War,

Westminster CAB evolved as a frontline agency providing essential advice and information

services to those living and working in the City of Westminster and the surrounding areas.

The overall aims of the service are:

• To provide the advice people need for the problems they face; ensuring

individuals do not suffer from a lack of knowledge about their rights and

responsibilities; and

• To improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives; ensuring a

responsible influence is exercised on the development of social policies and

services at both local and national levels.

Westminster CAB helps people resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing

free, independent, confidential and impartial information and advice, and by influencing

policy makers. Westminster CAB values diversity, promotes equality and challenges

discrimination.

All Citizens Advice bureaux use the evidence of their clients’ problems to campaign for

improvements in the laws and services that affect everyone.

The charity for your community

Westminster CAB is an independent registered charity and a member of the Citizens Advice

national network. Without funding through public sector grants and contracts and

charitable fundraising, we could not continue to provide the necessary help and support to

the local community. We are therefore grateful for the continued support of our existing

funders, and in addition we regularly seek new streams of funding with which to build new

partnerships so we can develop our work further. This is so we can continue to meet the

changing, and ever-increasing needs of the local community.

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Making a donation and supporting your CAB

No one knows when they might have a problem they can't sort out. That's why we plan to be

here for your children, family and friends. But as an independent charity, we can't survive

without your help, so please think about supporting us in any way you can.

www.westminstercab.org.uk/donate

www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/westminstercab

@westminstercab

www.facebook.com/westminster.cab.5

www.uk.virginmoneygiving.com/charities/westminstercitizensadvicebureauservice

If you would like to know more about what we do, become a ‘Friend of Westminster CAB’, or

support us in any other way, we would be delighted to hear from you!

Please contact Sital Gohil at sitalgohil@westminstercab.org.uk or call 020 7706 6024 for

further information. You can also write to us: Westminster CAB, 21a Conduit Place, London

W2 1HS.

7

Chair’s Report

I am pleased to welcome you to Westminster CAB’s annual

report for 2014/15. The theme of this year’s report is “Facing

New Challenges”.

Before looking at the new challenges it is important to

consider what our current strengths and capabilities are so

that we can assess how ready we are to face these new

challenges.

We are now into our second year of five year funding awarded to us by Westminster City

Council and this stability, for which we thank Westminster City Council, has been used as the

basis for building a strong foundation of outreach locations, some 23 and counting, which

allow us to be near the communities that we serve. Long term funding allows us to commit

to long term rental of our central office and to recruit staff with confidence on both sides

that this is a long term arrangement, which then supports staff development and training.

The relationships with our partners in delivering services, has bedded down into an effective

partnership and through which we deliver a number of core services.

This year we have moved to supporting all staff with an individual training budget which

they direct themselves, as well as committing to support staff and volunteer development

with career plans so that we can be confident that there will be internal candidates ready to

take up the challenge when promotion

opportunities arise. We have seen a better

and more dedicated set of managers, staff

and volunteers gradually developing under

our Chief Executive’s dedicated efforts and

we can look forward with confidence that our

team can meet the new challenges arising.

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Our volunteers continue to be a vital source of strength to us and their dedication and free

gift of time continues to be one of the crown jewels on Westminster CAB and across the

Citizens Advice service as a whole. We would like to express our thanks to each and every

volunteer.

This year we have set ourselves the challenge of broadening the range of volunteer roles and

to better identify individual skills to enable progression to a wider range of work.

Our trustee board are of course themselves volunteers and as well as collectively attending

meetings all have given additional time, and quite a lot of it, in support of change and fitting

the service to new challenges.

In all of this, Shirley our Chief Executive, has been active and as one of the most experienced

managers across the service nationwide has become more effective year by year and the

Westminster CAB service has never been in better condition.

As well as our core grant we have this year received additional funding from about 15

organisations to support specific projects ranging from entertainment licensing issues to

housing arrears. We are extremely grateful to each and every funder for giving us the

opportunity to better serve the people of Westminster, particularly those who are most

vulnerable and are our particular concern.

Our research and campaigns work has been fruitful and we were particularly active in the

issue of payday loans, and helped in the national campaign in that the issue was raised to a

very high profile and very effective legislation was passed as a result.

I am confident that we are ready for the new challenges this year.

Among these will be the delays in people receiving their proper and lawful benefits from

such causes as the roll out of universal credit and the delay in payment of disability benefits.

The inability of the vulnerable to feed and heat themselves for several weeks will certainly

impact upon their health.

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We need to maximise the ability of people to support themselves in their financial issues.

Indeed one of the strengths of our service is to give people confidence in being better able

to manage their finances and make good choices, this is borne out by workshop surveys. This

enables us to help more people within our budget which will never allow us to do everything

that is needed.

The Citizens Advice service across the country is moving to a model whereby local

campaigning is more emphasised and our enthusiastic team is confident and ready for this

challenge.

We will continue to build equality and diversity into everything we do both internally and

across Westminster.

We are experiencing an increase in domestic violence issues and we are committed to

raising more resources to provide support and advice to our affected clients.

As always, fundraising underpins all that we are able to do and our new fundraising working

group has developed a number of new ideas and will be active in driving these over the

coming year.

With large pockets of deprivation among the glittering highlights, a transient population and

amazing diversity with 150 languages spoken in Westminster there are always new

challenges to be faced. We all look forward to facing our new challenges and working in

partnership to serve the people of the City of Westminster and repeat our especial thanks to

all who continue to make this possible.

Alan Gorringe

Chair

10

Chief Executive’s Report

‘Improving the impact of our advice’ has been the focus for

Westminster CAB over the past year.

The past year has been a period of learning and review, in

working under the council’s new Advice Services contract.

Westminster CAB has consolidated its role as lead agency,

working well with our partners the Migrants Resource Centre

and Age UK Westminster, to deliver the new services, which

consist of:

• Gateway: Information and Self-help (access channels: drop-in, telephone and e-mail)

• Generalist Advice & Casework (access channels: drop-in, telephone and e-mail)

• Mental Health: Advice & Casework

• Disability: Advice & Casework

• Families with a child under 5: Advice & Casework; and

• Older People: Advice & Casework

The chief officers of the partner agencies (collectively known as, the Westminster Advice

Services Partnership – WASP) are working well together and meeting regularly as part of the

Steering Group to review contract performance and undertake strategic decision-making to

ensure the aims and objectives (ie. Key Performance Indications – KPIs) are being met. In

terms of the finer detail of the service delivery – how this is happening and what can be

improved, the three Service Managers meet quarterly to look specifically at our operations.

In particular, over the past year, we have undertaken a review of our Telephone Gateway

service because it was noted that only, a disappointing, 15% of calls to the line during

opening hours, were being answered. We wanted to vastly improve on this because we

appreciated that 37% of people responding to our client survey had told us that they want to

be able to access our advice services via the telephone.

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So we gave ourselves a target of having at least 45% of calls answered during opening hours,

by March 2016.

Because the bureau’s telephone helpline is managed by Call Handling, this provided us with

statistical reports detailing the take-up of the service. The plan was to firstly identify which

telephone sessions were under-used in order to divert resources to the more busy times. As

a result it was decided to close the Tuesday evening session and also the session on the first

Saturday morning of the month. Next we extended the remaining sessions to ensure we

were open for the same hours across the week and also re-scheduled the timing of some

sessions to ensure we covered busy periods of the day. After only three months, answered

calls had increased to 32%.

At the same time, our Training Coordinator recruited a record number of additional

Gatewayers to ensure there is always 2-3 volunteers manning the phones during sessions.

This was replicated across all the WASP agencies

responsible for delivering the telephone Gateway service.

We also worked with Q-Call Handling to set up a call-

waiting service so that for every volunteer Gatewayer on

the telephone session there would be one client in the

queue who would hear a message that they were next in

line to be answered. These two measures saw our figures

increase again over the next three-month period to 52% of

calls made during opening hours, being answered. We had achieved our annual target some

6 months early!

For the three month period up to August 2015, figures

for calls answered is up again - to 65%.

Feedback from clients in this year’s client survey has

been very positive, with increased numbers of calls to

the line being made.

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In terms of the E-mail Gateway service, initially, there was very low take-up and we only

recorded 62 enquiries for the year up to end of September 2014. However, due to a re-

vamp of the WASP website, where this service has been advertised more prominently, take-

up has increased considerably - recording a

further 56 enquiries for the months of October

and November alone. Numbers have steadily

increased whereby, one year on we now

receive, on average, 20 enquiries per week.

For the Drop-in Gateway service, there is some tension for interview room space at the

bureau. With only five interview rooms available, this service has had to share the space

with advice appointments which has led to some advice appointments being booked more

than 2 weeks in advance. This in turn had increased the number of ‘Did not Attend’ clients;

which is not satisfactory. We therefore reviewed the service and made the strategic decision

that from February all Drop-in Gateway would take place off-site every day, at a range of

outreach venues.

This constituted a major change to the service, which has seen only the Tuesday evening

session for employed people and the 1st Saturday of the month sessions, taking place here

at the bureau. There were also some cost implications to the changes, including the hire of

suitable venues. Clients are still adjusting to the changes to the Drop-in Gateway service, but

from this October we will be making further improvement to enhance the client journey. At

each outreach venue across the week, the volunteer Gateway team will be accompanied by

an Outreach Adviser. The Outreach Adviser will be allocated a hired room to see clients for

advice by pre-arranged appointment at the same venue and time when the Drop-in is taking

place. We will accommodate free appointments to cater for those occasions when people

attending the Drop-in Gateway may require immediate advice in emergency situations.

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Over and above the council’s contract requirements, Westminster CAB runs a drop-in ‘Self-

help information’ service every week day morning. This is covered by our team of volunteer

Receptionists who are on hand to help clients to access information which might assist them

in dealing with their problem themselves. This may be in the form of leaflets or factsheets.

During the year we received funding from the Big Lottery Fund – Awards for All to provide an

electronic web-kiosk so clients can look-up information on the council or government

websites. Clients can also get information about our bureau services and how they can

access the Gateway service.

Demand for our Pro-Bono Solicitor’s session on Tuesday evenings was very high. There were

three firms of local solicitors offering our clients free legal advice on a range of subjects

where there is now, little, or no legal aid available to get advice. Issues covered are:

Employment, Immigration and Nationality and Family/Relationship Issues (eg. domestic

violence and child protection). As a result of this increased demand, we successfully

negotiated for three more firms to come on board, and cover a further session on Thursday

evenings from the New Year.

In addition to these services, the bureau provides added benefit to Westminster council and

local residents, by its ability to lever-in extra funding to deliver a number of tailored services

targeted at some of the most vulnerable in the local community. These services are listed on

page 16 of the report.

As well as our front-line advice, a twin-aim of the CAB service is to identify trends in policies

and practices which adversely affect our clients and then to undertake social policy work

which engages with decision-makers, effectively campaigning on behalf of our clients to

effect change. This work is undertaken by our in-house Research & Campaigns Team, a team

of volunteers lead by Brenda Smith, our Social Policy Coordinator.

This year the Research & Campaigns Team has run training with our front-line advisers on

how to identify social policy issues when advising clients. As a result we have seen an

increase in the number of issues being identified, highlighting the numbers of clients

affected.

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£979,844

£2,451,932

Bureau's income for front lineadvice

Financial gains secured forclients

The Research & Campaigns Team used filmed interview clips and moving client stories, to

highlight the plight of our clients as part of a number of local campaigns.

The Research & Campaigns Team also conducted a number for client surveys and presented

this with written submissions and other evidence when participating in national campaigns

with other London bureaux, and across the service nationwide, as listed later on in this

report at page30.

The past year has seen a total of £2,451,932 in financial gains for our clients achieved, which

includes entitlement to eligible benefits; backdated tax rebates; charitable grants; and debts

written off.

In fact, the bureau’s fiscal benefit to the local community equates to a return of £2.50 for

every £1 of funding invested in our

front-line advice services (ie. funding of

£979, 844). In addition bureau advice

has reduced the need for local people to

access health services, as overall a

staggering 890 clients reported to have

improved physical health and mental

well-being, with an increased capacity

to manage their problems.

We have had more people coming to the bureau, 9,637, (9,416 in 2013/14) bringing with

them fewer, but more complex enquiries; 24,053 (27,533 in 2013/14). We aware that the

year ahead will bring further challenges, with the roll-out of Universal Credit in Westminster

due in November and the Benefit Cap changes due in April 2016.

Our volunteers a truly valuable contribution and one essential to in helping us deliver our

services to the local community. However, whilst we celebrate the amazing contribution of

our volunteers, as a bureau we are aware of the challenge we face in ensuring we are able to

continue, not only recruit and train, but also to retain our volunteer force. You will see later

in the report (on page 35) what initiatives the bureau is employing

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to show our appreciation and reward our volunteers’ for their efforts.

However, despite the prospect of the introduction of legislation which will have far-reaching

effects on the lives of local people, and a resulting likely increase in the complexity of

problems we will have to deal with against a backdrop of ever-decreasing funding

opportunities; needless to say, I am extremely proud of the staff and volunteers at

Westminster CAB and the genuine appreciation they receive from our clients for all the

support and help they give. I am also thankful for all the support I receive as Chief Executive

from my trustees, in providing the strategic direction and input into the running of the

bureau and ensures its sustainability.

Westminster CAB remains a ‘little ray of sunshine’ and a ‘haven’ to those local people who

tell us that they don’t know what they would do if we weren’t here – that they could never

thank us enough for the help and support we provide.

Shirley Springer

Chief Executive

Our #legalwalk team this

year, who helped raise

over £5,650 to keep advice

services free for local

people in Westminster

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Services at our bureau

Since acquiring funding from Westminster City Council under a new contract in September

2013, Westminster CAB has been working as part of a consortium of agencies, namely Age

UK Westminster and Migrants Resource Centre, under the umbrella name of the

‘Westminster Advice Services Partnership’ (WASP) to deliver the advice services contract for

local residents.

Initially, local residents have their enquiries assessed during a 20 minute interview at the

Gateway Service, which can also be accessed via the telephone, online, and also a number of

outreach locations across Westminster for drop-in. For further advice and assistance, clients

are then referred to one of our advice services including the Generalist Advice Service as

well as more tailored advice services for the following groups: Older People; People with

Disabilities; People with Mental Health issues; and Families with a Child under the age of

five.

In addition to these services, the bureau provided added benefit to the City Council and local

residents by its ability to raise extra funding to carry out a number of more tailored services,

targeted at some very vulnerable groups within the community. These services include:

Octavia Tenants’ Advice Project: in its’ fifth year since being established, our

adviser/caseworkers continue to help tenants of Octavia Housing and Care deal with their

debts and help maximise their income, including providing advice on welfare benefits issues.

Licensing Advice Project: since establishing in 2005, this project continues to provide

specialist advice and casework for local residents with concerns about local licensed

premises, and those seeking to challenge license applications and reviews, including

gambling and sex licenses.

Homelessness Prevention Project: working with Westminster’s Housing Options Service, our

adviser provides much needed housing, debt and benefits advice to people with rent or

mortgage arrears, and those who are threatened with eviction.

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Housing Advice Project: this project provides essential specialist housing and debt advice to

Westminster residents. With the recent cuts to legal aid, this new project benefits many

local people as they continue to struggle with the effects of the benefit caps, including the

“Bedroom Tax” (also known as the Spare Room Subsidy).

Fuel Debt Project: funded by the Thames Water Trust Fund, this project provided debt

advice and casework for those living across London who are in arrears with their utilities.

This project came to a natural end in May 2014.

Next Door Plus Project: funded by the National Lottery through the Big Lottery Fund, and

working in partnership with Homestart Westminster and Zacchaeus 2000 Trust, this project

supported local people affected by the welfare benefit caps and who, as a result, are having

to consider moving home. Funding for this project ended in August 2014.

Pro-bono Solicitor Service: Following cuts to legal aid, this service provides much needed

free legal advice to local residents on specialist Employment, Family, Immigration and

Housing matters. This service now runs two evenings per week. Over the last year, our pro-

bono solicitors offered some 296 free specialist advice appointments to local residents.

Financial Capability & MoneySmart Project: funded by general Westminster CAB funds as

well as the Strand Parishes Trust and Citizens Advice, Westminster CAB runs a series of

money management workshops, delivered to groups of residents, statutory agency workers,

parents and schoolchildren on how to maximise income, be able to budget, save money and

avoid getting into unmanageable debt.

Reform Advice in Westminster Project (RAW): this project has been set up to support

members of the Westminster Advice Forum (around sixteen local advice agencies) and to

tackle the causes of demand for advice. The consortium is led by Migrant Resource Centre,

with the bureau, Fitzrovia Neighbourhood association and Zacchaeus 2000 Trust as partners.

Westminster CAB is responsible for the recruitment and training aspect to the project and

employs a full time Advice Development Manager (ADM) for this purpose. The ADM

provides support and consultancy to organisations looking to recruit, induct and train

volunteers and also develop workshops for clients looking to improve their skills in accessing

online benefits.

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Central London Healthcare Debt and Benefits Advice Project: our adviser covers surgeries

for clients accessing mental health programmes in Westminster, providing essential debt

and welfare benefits advice.

Pound Advice Project: funded by the London and Quadrant Housing Trust, this project helps

L&Q tenants to become more financially confident and independent, and assist tenants in

avoiding or resolving debt and financial difficulties.

This brings about improved services to the community, increased income and spending in

the community and a reduction in stress, ill-health and social and financial exclusion.

New services for 2015/16: We are very pleased to announce that we have been awarded a

new contract with City West Homes to start our Debt and Welfare Benefits Advice Project

for tenants of Westminster City Council, dealing with their debts and help maximise their

income, including providing advice on welfare benefits issues.

Neil Hamilton

Director of Services

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Enquiries presented over the last year…

The past year has seen an increase in the number individual clients accessing our services; a

total of 9,637 clients came to us about some 24,053 enquiries, ranging from benefits to

relationships and family.

As expected, the majority of issues related to Welfare Benefits (46%, which is a 4% increase

since the previous year), Debt (18%) and Housing (14%, 2% increase from the previous year)

with the roll out the Welfare Reform affecting clients since 2012.

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Top five enquiry areas

Welfare Benefits accounted for 46% of all issues presented over the last year:

Debt enquires totalled 18% of all issues presented:

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Housing issues closely followed debt, accounting for 14% of all enquiries presented last year:

Clients came to us for specialist Employment issues ranging from pay and entitlements to

dispute resolutions; these accounted for 5% of all issues over the last year:

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'Photo posed by model/s' © Alex Sturrock/Citizens Advice

Impact of our advice work

Liz has been the caseworker on our Mental Health Advice and Casework service since 2007.

This service is tailored to assist clients with a ‘severe and enduring mental health problem’

who are under the care of Westminster Adult Social Care services. Over the last year, Liz

assisted 354 clients with some 2357 issues, ranging from Welfare benefits, Debt and

Housing. Liz’s project alone secured 50% of the total financial gains for the organisation over

the last year. This is because of the particular nature of the client group, in that they can live

very erratic lives, dependent on their taking prescribed medication regularly.

Dave’s* Story: Dave was in a very confused

state about his benefit entitlement and had

significant rent arrears from his flat in Bristol,

which he had abandoned. At that time Dave

had only just signed the tenancy agreement,

however he had not actually moved in to this

flat. Dave’s Mum and Aunt then moved back

to London which threw Dave into a state of crisis,

as he was worried about how he would cope without their support. Dave hurriedly came to

London, leaving all his personal belongings behind, to stay with his Mum where she could

support him daily. During this time Dave’s mental health deteriorated and his Mum was

finding it difficult to cope with his behaviour. His GP therefore referred Dave to the

Westminster Assessment and Brief Team for an assessment. The team established that

Dave had a long history of mental ill health, with persistent episodes of paranoid delusion

and self-harming.

Meanwhile, Bristol Council was aware that Dave had abandoned his flat and started court

possession action against him for rent arrears. Dave also received a letter regarding a

Housing Benefit overpayment of £1,269. He was referred to Liz’s project to get advice and

help resolve this matter.

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After meeting with Dave, Liz advised him how abandoning his flat in Bristol would affect any

offer of assistance with housing in Westminster, as he would be deemed to have

intentionally made himself homeless. Dave was adamant that he would not be returning to

Bristol as he would not be able to cope without family support. Liz informed Dave that she

would write to Bristol Council to explain his situation and ask if they would consider non-

recovery of the overpayment, taking into consideration the reason why Dave had left the

property and would send with this letter medical evidence to support this request. Dave

was happy for Liz to take this action on his behalf.

Liz discussed with Dave his current housing situation where his Mum was struggling to cope;

Dave was allowed to spend time in the day at his Mum’s house, but not overnight and had

been sleeping rough.

In light of this, Liz contacted Bristol Council to explain Dave’s extenuating circumstances and

they were happy to waiver any court costs, as Dave had sent the keys to his flat back.

Working with Dave’s psychiatrist, Liz was able to secure housing support from the

Westminster Assessments and Brief Team. During this time, Dave’s mental health was

deteriorating and it was agreed that a review of his Disability Living Allowance would be

appropriate. Liz assisted with this review.

Outcome:

Following Liz’s intervention, Bristol Council agreed to waive the Housing Benefit

overpayment and they had also put a stop on Council Tax arrears recovery, as there had also

been Council Tax Liability. The Assessment and Brief Team allocated Dave a Social Worker,

who assisted him with liaising with the Housing Options Service and he has since been

offered a hostel placement with a Floating Support Worker, who will work with Dave to try

and encourage him to engage in supported services, as Dave was still isolating himself.

Liz assisted Dave to complete a Disability Living Allowance review and he explained he was

very happy with the help and support he had been offered from Westminster CAB’s Mental

Health Advice and Casework service and the Assessment and Brief Team.

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Dave felt positive that with continued support, he would be able to move forward in his life

and hoped to eventually be able to engage in a course of training that might eventually lead

to a work placement, although he appreciated that this was a long term plan and he would

need to take each step one day at a time.

Without the support of both the CAB and the Community Mental Health Services, Dave

would have been unable to deal with the housing benefit overpayment and to find

accommodation, which has helped Dave to re-settle in London. The help he received has

improved his mental health and well-being, as well as his financial situation.

Ceta joined our team last year as our specialist Housing Casework

Supervisor for the new Housing Advice Project. Since then she has

assisted 155 local residents with much needed specialist housing

advice and support. She has helped her clients who have been

threatened with homelessness to remain in their homes, as well as

helping others secure more sustainable housing within the

borough.

Jean’s* story:

Single mum Jean looks after her two children aged seven and fourteen whilst also holding

down a part time job locally. Her work hours fit around her children’s school schedule; the

kids attend a local school in the borough. Having separated from her husband, Jean was

living with her children in privately rented accommodation, and when her lease came to an

end her landlord issued her with a Section 21 Notice of Seeking Possession Order.

Unfortunately, Jean and her family became homeless.

Having lived in Westminster for the past seven years, Jean presented herself to the Housing

Options Service and was subsequently placed in temporary accommodation in north

London.

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Jean was being threatened by her husband during this time and when she informed the

council she was rehoused with her children in a student hostel some seventeen miles away

in Uxbridge; this was again on a temporary basis. There were limited cooking facilities in the

hostel and she and her children had to share the bathroom with eight students who also

lived at the hostel.

The family would travel from as early as six in the morning to ensure the children arrived at

school on time. With her journeys into the borough often taking nearly two hours, it was a

tumultuous task each day for Jean to complete the school run and then get herself to work

on time. As a result, Jean received a written warning from her manager for being late too

often. The school also complained that her children were often arriving late and their

education was deteriorating as they were too tired to study.

In an effort to get to work and bring her kids to school on time, Jean

resorted to paying an extra £10 per day to travel on the

express train into Paddington rail

station. This clearly took a toll on

Jean, as she has a low income and could not afford the

additional travel expenses.

At home things were no better for Jean; her children could not concentrate on studying, and

she was finding it difficult to get on with daily chores in the shared facilities in the hostel.

When Jean contacted the council to see if they would rehouse her from her current

‘temporary’ housing, she was told she would have to wait until a property was available

which could take some time. Jean was isolated in Uxbridge with no friends or family to

support her. She was desperate to move to suitable accommodation.

A friend recommended that Jean speak to us at Westminster CAB to help with her dire

housing situation. Jean came to the bureau last July when by this time she had been living in

the hostel for nine months. Jean explained her situation to the gateway volunteer and she

was booked an appointment immediately with Ceta.

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© BananaStock Ltd.

Ceta asked Jean to provide a daily diary of the time she left her home, time the children

arrived at their schools, the time Jean arrived at work, and time they arrived home in the

evening. Ceta also requested letters from the schools to confirm the children’s deterioration

in their punctuality and their attitude since moving to Uxbridge.

Armed with this evidence, Ceta requested a review of Westminster council’s decision to

place Jean and her family in temporary accommodation in those circumstances arguing the

accommodation in Uxbridge was not suitable due its location and also the affordability in

accordance with the English Code of Guidance 2012.

Outcome:

Following Ceta’s representations, the council overturned their decision and agreed that Jean

and her family should only have stayed in the hostel as an emergency, and not for longer

term. Westminster City Council agreed to move Jean into more

suitable accommodation nearer to the borough and within

easy travelling distance of her children’s schools.

Jean was overjoyed and very emotional when Ceta shared the

good news with her, and thanked the CAB for assisting her.

Jean and her family can now resume a normal family life that

does not involve extensive travel, and living in unsuitable

accommodation.

*names of our clients have been anonymised to preserve client confidentiality.

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Outcomes

The bureau has achieved some very successful outcomes for clients during the past year;

including:

Benefits:

Backdated benefit/tax credit claim awards totalling £1,322,258; and

New and ongoing benefit/tax credit claim awards totalling £937,306 ;

Debt:

Repayments negotiated in 204 cases;

Bailiff’s action prevented for 73 local people;

Reduction and/or removal of charges totalling £8,750 for our clients;

Debts totalling £31,165 was written off and £17,166 repaid following successful

repayment plans;

Food provision referral to a foodbank for 74 very vulnerable local people;

Creditor action was avoided for 19 clients following our assistance; and

Debt Relief Order applications totalling £71,138 made by our debt specialist;

Housing:

Homelessness averted in 11 cases, with 7 clients staying in their current home;

Accommodation secured for 11 residents;

£14,991 in property improvement awards for local households;

34 clients reported to have better management of their stress following advice given

by our specialists; and

Harassment/dispute with neighbours resolved for 2 clients;

Utilities:

Better deals negotiated with energy suppliers for 42 residents;

60 applications to energy trusts or fuel direct resulting in awards totalling £3,489;

Resolution of 18 complaints, resulting in compensation awards totalling £2,210;

Disconnection prevented for 6 vulnerable families; and

14 clients assisted with requests to be added to their supplier’s priority/special

services register;

28

Employment:

Terms and conditions improved/enforced for 13 clients; and

Discrimination case success for clients on a number of issues including

gender, age, disability, race, pregnancy and maternity;

Other:

Other financial gain totaling £37,701, including successful charitable

application awards for 71 clients;

Tax: returns completed for 18 clients, with one client receiving backdated

refund of £562;

Legal: 44 successful licensing applications; 44 clients assisted with access to

legal aid;

Immigration: status improved for 3 clients;

Travel and Transport: 15 clients assisted with concessions, including Blue

Badge exemption applications;

Relationship and Family: 4 clients assisted to ensure their child maintenance

payments were paid promptly; 2 successful new applications for child

maintenance; 30 clients reported that they felt less stressed and more

capable to manage their life following advice provided on

Divorce/Separation/Dissolution.

Overall, 890 clients reported

to have improved health

and capability to manage

their problems following

advice from Westminster

CAB. In an effort to continue

to improve our outcomes

recording, the bureau

conducted regular in-house training as part of the learning and development

programme for all roles.

29

Client Satisfaction

Following a survey of our clients’ experience of the impact of our advice, we are pleased to

report positive feedback from our service users:

99% of clients were happy with the

advice/information they received at the bureau;

96% of our clients said they would recommend

Westminster CAB to their family and friends;

90% of clients surveyed found it relatively easy

to access our service

Due to the complexity of their problem, 14% of

clients needed further appointments however

they said they were happy with the service they

had received

99% overall client satisfaction

30

Research and Campaigns

As well as giving advice and information to individual clients, Westminster CAB advisers and

caseworkers collect evidence from our client cases on the practices and policies which

adversely impact on them, causing problems. Our knowledge of our clients' problems and

how these affect their circumstances, enables us to analyse trends. Armed with this

evidence we try to influence policy- and decision-makers to make changes which will result

in getting a fairer deal for everyone.

Our campaigns work is rooted in our advice work with clients, and the process starts with

our front-line gateway volunteers and advisers identifying when a problem might be

something which not only affects the particular client, but possibly a wider cross section of

the local community.

Headed by our Social Policy Coordinator, Brenda Smith, the Research and Campaigns team

have noted the marked increase in Bureau Evidence Forms submitted by advisers who have

identified possible issues when assisting clients with their enquiries, which might be taken

forward for campaigns action. This year the Research and Campaigns team have been

reviewing and monitoring issues under the theme: ‘Poverty in Westminster’. We aim to

publish a report later in the year on the key causes of this and the team will be meeting with

the local MPs to discuss what joint action can be taken to address these issues.

.

Research and Campaigns team

L to R: Brenda Smith (Social Policy Coordinator), Sue Hillman, Eromi David, Emily Engel, and Wesley Foster

The Research and Campaigns team welcomes Sam Nadel, who joined us this year!

31

Using social media for our

Campaigns Work

We extend the reach of the

bureau’s work through

social media and working

closely with our partners.

Our Research and Campaigns

team working closely with our Information and Communications manager have built up

Westminster CAB’s social media presence on Twitter (@WestminsterCAB) in order to reach

a new and wider audience of online users with advice and information. We now have 1,040

followers, up from around 600 at the same time the previous year. We tweet about topical

information and changes to law and benefits, give valuable advice, promote national Citizens

Advice campaigns, provide links to the CAB web based information and keep local residents

in touch with our services.

Campaigns Undertaken 2014/15

MONEY ADVICE FAIR: last year the Research and Campaigns team staged a large scale event

working with numerous local partners. The Money Advice Fair was conceived to address the

issue of widespread debt problems, by offering a range of money advice providers in one

place for residents to visit and get help with their money problems. This was a tri-borough

success as we worked very closely with our bureaux in the neighbouring boroughs of

Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham, to pull off this ambitious event. The

fair hosted 19 stalls which provided one to one advice for local people and key agencies ran

a series of 5 high quality workshops which proved a hit with the visitors. The event attracted

around 100 visitors and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The event also provided

an opportunity for stall holders and the CABx teams to network and an example of the

outcomes was the setting up of a Funeral Debt Project to be led by Kensington and Chelsea

CAB.

WATER DEBT FOCUS GROUP: As a member of the national Citizens Advice network, the

bureau takes an active part in national campaign work. Assisting the national team

32

with their research project looking at how clients manage their water

debt, our Research and Campaigns team jumped into action to find a

group of relevant clients to form a focus group to be held in the

Bureau. We were able to identify ten clients who volunteered to

take part in the project. Many were happy to help as they felt

they were giving something back to the CAB for advice they had received. The focus group

event was very successful with clients contributing a great deal of useful information and

personal testimony, which the national Citizens Advice researcher took back to feed into the

wider project.

Staging a client-led focus group event was a new venture for the Research and Campaigns

team and the team were encouraged to use this approach in future to gather important

client information.

GP REGISTRATION SURVEY: A second project the Research and Campaigns team undertook

to support a nationwide Citizens Advice initiative was the GP registration survey. The team

surveyed 20 local GP surgeries at the beginning of this year to find out how easy it was to

register as a new patient. We discovered a wide range of

differing approaches some of which would make it

extremely difficult for a client to register. The results were

fed into the national Citizens Advice report and the team

took the results on locally to make it useful to our clients. We published a list of Walk-In

services along with information about pharmacies which can give advice over the counter

along with the 111 NHS number. The results have been sent to the Central London

Commissioning Group suggesting they make changes to their publicity to clarify what can

expected when registering as a new patient, as well as standardising services across local GP

practices.

LETTING AGENTS: A short survey of local letting agencies was undertaken to assist another

national Citizens Advice campaign. Local agencies completed a questionnaire to find out

what fees are charged to prospective tenants; how well displayed these were; and whether

they would take on tenants on benefits. The responses were illuminating and very varied

33

but all said they would not deal with tenants claiming housing benefit! Westminster has one

of London’s poorest wards (Church Street) with 10.6% of its residents claiming benefits,

mainly related to being out-of-work (including housing benefit), this then is a serious cause

for concern for local people. With this in mind, we felt it is vital to address issues which will

hinder local residents in securing affordable accommodation within the borough though

private lettings. A summary of the report was sent to the Westminster Tenancy Relations

Team who deal with private landlords as they had expressed an interest in this data. The

hope is that this evidence will be used to set up a local Landlord’s Register which lists

landlords who meet certain standards and requirements, to be registered and listed on

information given to homeless people at the council’s Housing Options Service.

FOOD VOUCHERS: In a continuation of the food voucher project from 2014, the Research

and Campaigns team has maintained a tracking system of cases where clients had been

issued with food vouchers. Foodbanks are a vital

resource for clients experiencing financial crisis, and

can provide up to three-day’s worth of nutritionally

balanced and non-perishable food. In the last year

alone, 74 vouchers have been given to our very

vulnerable clients, which was a 411% increase on the

previous year. The team has noticed that the

majority of people requesting food vouchers are those who have had their Jobseeker

Allowance payments sanctioned. Food vouchers were issued to clients in situations where

clients are spending their benefit money on an emergency situation, or where a homeless

person whose disability living allowance was stopped due to an administrative error and

clients failing work capability assessments resulting in their benefits being stopped. These

clients have no other means of income to get the basic necessities for day to day life. A full

report analysing this year’s figures is being prepared as part of the bureau’s communications

to raise awareness of this ever increasing issue across London.

Brenda Smith

Social Policy Coordinator

34

Volunteering

Volunteers come from all walks of life, with very different life

skills and experiences. The bureau aims to capitalise on this

wealthy resource by matching their range of skills, experience

and availability to a variety of volunteering roles including:

Receptionist/Admin, Adviser, Caseworker, Gatewayer,

Financial Capability assistant and Research and Campaigns

assistant.

Over and above the wealth of social value which our volunteers contribute to the local

community, the economic value to the bureau which our volunteers bring, in terms of the

hours of dedicated service, totalled some 24,176 hours last year. This has been calculated as

having an equivalent monetary value of nearly £400,000 (see below).

Gatewayers:

14,208 hrs

£247,930

Reception / Admin:

5,184 hrs, £62,052

Research & Campaigns

assistants: 2,304 hrs

£40,205

Generalist advisers:

1,176 hrs, £20,521

Trainee advisers: 1,152 hrs

£13,789

Trustees: 132 hrs, £3,296

Frances Kirby Training Coordinator

35

We celebrated Volunteers Week in June by being able to offer 25% discounts for our

volunteers from local eateries in the area who were generous enough to support the

bureau. We also presented our annual Volunteer Awards. The comments from fellow staff

and volunteers really exemplified the supportive relationships which are being fostered

between staff and volunteers alike.

As part of our fundraising strategy for the coming years, we

are pleased to report that we have engaged a new volunteer

Community Fundraiser – a new role to the bureau; Eromi

David (pictured), who has been part of the Research and

Campaigns team, and will take on this new role. She will be

exploring ways to promote the bureau within the local

community, and raise awareness of the work we do, by

developing local relationships and arranging community

fundraising events.

As always, the challenge of recruiting and retaining volunteers is a perennial issue, due

largely to the demographic of the local community. This together with the ever-increasing

level of support and supervision required to train and develop our volunteers, means our

resources become more and more stretched. As a result, this makes it increasingly

important that we find more cost effective and innovative solutions to these issues.

Aminata won the Volunteer

Impact Award; she has been

with volunteering with us

since June 2013

Having only joined in

October 2014 Kate secured

the Newcomer Award

36

In respect of recruitment over the last year, we have established new relationships with

local colleges. There is a placement scheme for CityLit students to gain work experience as

part of their Advice, Information and Guidance course and also for general work experience

for City of Westminster students as well as Middlesex University students who live in the

area. These schemes are mutually beneficial, in that for the bureau it has reduced the need

to go to external recruitment; whilst for the students it has opened up local volunteering

opportunities which match their skills and interests.

We want to see if we can extend this scheme to include places of interest in the capital such

as tourist attractions, cinemas, leisure centres and even discounts on non-academic adult

education courses.

Sourcing good quality volunteers with the requisite skills and availability is the first step, but

encouraging them to stay is equally important. The supportive working environment in

which our volunteers are trained and developed and the collaborative-working ethos, aids in

this but we want to ensure volunteers feel really appreciated and valued. We have looked to

do this in a variety of ways including offering discounts with various London businesses once

they have achieved 100 hours of volunteering, as part of a Time Credits scheme.

Westminster CAB recognises and appreciates the commitment and dedication of its

volunteer workforce in delivering services to the local community. We would like to thank

all our volunteers who have put in the hard work in the last year to help our clients and to all

the staff who have provided support to volunteers to help them to do this to continue to

provide a high quality service to clients.

Frances Kirby

Training Coordinator

37

Outgoing Resources: £1,262,261

Charitable activities £1,246,447

Governance costs £15,814

Financial report 2014/05… a successful year!

In 2014/2015 the organisation raised £1,289,778. Careful management of resources

enabled us to deliver the services at a cost of £1,262,261, providing a small surplus of

£27,517. The net incoming resources on unrestricted funds were £36,154 and net outgoing

resources on restricted funds were £8,637. The surplus on unrestricted funds enabled us to

increase our level of reserves to £231,202.

Net Incoming Resources: £1,289,778

Westminster City Council Contract £830,000

Projects £456,694

Other income £3,084

38

Balance Sheet at 31st March 2015

Fixed Assets 40016

Current assets

Debtors 60,257

Cash at bank and in hand 457,825

518,082

Liabilities

Creditors 305,217

Net current assets 212,865

Net assets 252,881

The funds of the charity

Restricted funds 21,679

Unrestricted funds 231,202

Total charity funds 252,881

The above information is extracted from the audited annual accounts on which the auditor's

opinion was unqualified. The full report and accounts were approved by the trustees on the

11th August 2015. The information provided above may not be sufficient to allow for a full

understanding of the financial affairs of the charity. For further information the full

accounts, the auditor’s report on those accounts and the Trustees' annual report should be

consulted. Copies of these may be obtained from Westminster CAB Service.

39

Our people

Our army of staff and volunteers support Westminster CAB and the local community. We

wouldn't be able to deliver the kind of quality services that we do here without them, so

we're saying a big ‘thank you’ to everyone who has been a part of Westminster CAB over

the past year.

Volunteers: Agata Polak, Alaa Abdoun, Ambreen Shakil, Amina Sharif, Aminata Salla,

Anastasia Stavropoulos, Andrew Buuman, Ann Casey, Ayo Akinlade, Barbara Howard,

Beatrice Vettori, Bina Joshi, Bondo Bukasa, Chanel Siriboe-Boateng, Connie Rwankote, Dan

Taylor, Daniel Conn, Denise Lewis, Dinusha Galappaththy, Effric Smith, Ellie Adams, Emily

Engel, Emma Philpot, Franchesca Bannerman-William, Franziska Christen, Gilda Steenkamp,

Holly West, Huyen Pham, Jacqueline David, Jaslin Sohal, Jason Modombi, Jennifer

Livingstone, Joseph Mason, Kate Anderton, Khalida Jabbar, Kostiantyn Shestakovskyi, Lily

Yousyf, Lola Ayodele, Louise Roberts, Lupia Begum, Margaret Wilson, Margaret-Victoria

Quashie, Maria Vitiello, MariCruz Gomar, Mark Gould, Melanie Baptista, Meriam Rouabhi,

Mevlam Chouseinoglou, Neha Vadia, Olamide Babatunde, Onyi Chiedozie, Poh Lee, Patricia

Aitzian, Portia Guidotti, Priscille Lemaire, Richard Fass, Rigobert Mfula, Robin Dahlberg,

Rositsa Nikolova, Ruth Atiba, Ruth Larkai, Ruth Parry, Sabah Hussain, Saheen Warsi,

Samantha Tobias Mills, Shalu Sura, Shamsun Quddus, Simon Smith, Simona Hachova, Sue

Hillman, Symphorosa Nwanweri, Tanita Grant, Thomas Jewkes, Ufedo Negedu, Vahideh

Hojatoleslami, Valentina Moscu, Virginia Asomugha, Wesley Foster, Zainab Meftah and Zinat

Owode.

Trustees: Alan Gorringe, Alice Cahil, Britto Bernadet, Chris Blackburn, David Atkinson, David

Obaze, Dee Conaghan, Neil Reeder, Rosemary Gallagher, Stephanie Tyrer and Stephen Grave

Staff: Adam Zaki, Aisha Gora, Ardiane Krasniqi, Brenda Smith, Brid Burke, Ceta Bowen,

Christina Oby-Onyia, Christine Gainsborough, Dean Sharpe, Diane Morgan, Dipika Gohil,

Dorothy Menon, Farah Aite-Ouakrim, Foridul Islam, Frances Kirby, Frank Ward, Huda

40

Jawad, Liz Osborn, Louise Sadler, Mahshid Ebrahimi, Neb Krstic, Neil Hamilton, Nicola

Duncan, Noreen O’Neil, Richard Brown, Rumanna Akther, Sherill Miller, Shirley Springer,

Sital Gohil, Sonia Legister, Usayd Younis, and Vicky Alexander.

We would like to extend a warm welcome to all those joining the organisation in 2015/16:

Alison Wills, Anisha Sood, Bryan McCleary, Carol Huggins, Cassandra Sasa, Divya Sharma,

Ecaterina Erjiu, Effric Smith, Elsa Pontes-Betu, Emma LeBlanc, Fiona Timba, Franziska

Wentzlau, Gwyneth Macaulay, Jacqueline Rivera, Joseph Haji-Hannas, Justin Osei,

Magdalena Wlodarska, Marouf Ahmed, Masato Fujinaka, Nalinee White, Nudma Malik,

Parabhjeet Sunner, Sam Nadel, and Tatiana Gorbunova.

Board of Trustees

Alan Gorringe, Chair of Trustee Board

Britto Bernadet, Treasurer (joined 22 October 2014)

Chris Blackburn (joined 22 October 2014)

David Atkinson (retired 11 August 2015)

Alice Cahill

Dee Conaghan

Rosemary Gallagher

Stephen Grave

David Obaze (retired 22 October 2014)

Neil Reeder

Stephanie Tyrer

41

Our Funders and Partners

Adult Services, Housing Options & Licensing Department

Gateway Service

Generalist Advice & Casework Service

Older People’s Advice & Casework Service

Disability Advice & Casework Service

Mental Health Advice & Casework Service Families with children under 5 Advice & Casework Service

Licensing Advice Project

Homelessness Prevention Project

Reaching Communities Fund, and Advice

Services Transition Fund

NextDoorPlus Project

Reform Advice in Westminster Project

Debt and Welfare Benefits

Fuel Debt Advice Project

Housing Advice Project

Disability Outreach Project

Financial Capability and MoneySmart Project

Pro-Bono Legal Services

Tenant’s Advice Project

Pound Advice Project

Volunteering Programme

42

Partners

Westminster Advices Services Partnership:

Age UK Westminster Migrants Resource Centre

NextDoorPlus Project:

Homestart Westminster Zacchaeus 2000 Trust

We would like to extend our thanks to the British Gas Energy Trust, EDF Energy Trust,

Westminster Almhouses Foundation, Westminster Amalgamated Charity, the Westminster

Foundation, and Westminster Foodbank for their kind generosity in continuing to support

our very vulnerable clients with grant awards.

We also thank our outreach host partners for permitting us the use of their premises in

order to facilitate residents being able to access our advice services more locally; namely:

The Abbey Centre, Beethoven Centre, Cardinal Hume Centre, Church Street Library, Fitzrovia

Neighbourhood Association, Millbank Medical Centre, South Westminster Legal Advice

Centre, St Johns Wood Library, One Westminster, Westminster Society for People with

Disabilities, Westminster Centres for Psychological Wellbeing, Westminster and

Wandsworth MIND, WECH Community Centre and The Children’s Centres in Westminster

(Portman Early Childhood Centre, Queens Park and Dorothy Gardner, Churchill Gardens,

Fitzrovia, and Maida Vale).

Also a huge thanks to the London Legal Support Trust for working with us to help raise

money to continue our free advice services for those in need.

Westminster Citizens Advice Bureau Service

08444 771 611 www.westminstercab.org.uk

Registered Office: 21a Conduit Place, London W2 1HS

Charity Registration Number: 1059419 Company Number: 3039752

FRN: 617795