CLYDEBANK INDEPENDENT RESOURCE CENTRE

Transcription

1 ANNUAL REPORT CLYDEBANK INDEPENDENT RESOURCE CENTRE CIRC

2 1 Contents Centre Management and its Objectives 2 Introduction 4 Enquiries 6 Referrals 8 Welfare Rights Advice: Client Age Structure 9 Client Income Structure 10 Client Employment Structure 12 Client Tenure Structure 13 Client Residential Area 14 Benefit Applications 15 Benefit Appeal Tribunals 17 Debt/Money Advice: Client Age Structure 18 Client Income Structure 19 Client Employment Structure 21 Client Tenancy Structure 22 Client Residential Area 23 Debt Enquiries and Payment Plans 24 Debt Cleared 26 Summary 27 Events 28 Thanks 29

3 2 Centre Management and Objectives Welfare benefits, debt/money and disability advice and assistance are offered free of charge, five days a week from the Centre s offices in Dalmuir, Clydebank. The Centre s offices have been based at 627 Dumbarton Road, courtesy of Dalmuir Park Housing Association, since September We also offer an outreach welfare benefits and debt/money advice service, which is currently available two mornings a week, from Faifley, Clydebank or Knowes Housing Association offices, as well as from Centre81 once a month. Additionally, we offer expert advice and support on disability behaviour in relation to A.S.D. (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) and A.D.H.D. (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and all related communication difficulties, specialising in strategies for behaviour management. A voluntary worker advises and supports individuals and their families from our secondary office at 455 Dumbarton Road, which is fully equipped with a sensory room. Our funders during this period have included West Dunbartonshire Council Community Planning Partnership, Oxfam, The Robertson Trust, Dalmuir Park Housing Association, Knowes Housing Association, Clydebank Housing Association and Faifley Housing Association. The Centre is also affiliated with Scottish Poverty Alliance, Scottish Campaign on Welfare Reform, Scottish Trade Union Congress, Scottish One Fund for All, Money Advice Scotland, Advice UK and the Legal Services Agency. Management and Staff The Centre is managed by a committee comprising a Trades Union Council member, four elected members of West Dunbartonshire Council, five Centre Users, two Co-opted members and the Centre Co-ordinator (non-voting). The Independent Resource Centre s Management Committee employs eight members of staff: a full-time Co-ordinator, a full-time Welfare Rights Officer, two part-time Welfare Rights Workers, a full-time Debt & Money Advisor, a part-time Statistical Information Worker and a part-time Financial Administrator, as well as a part-time Cleaner. We also have a number of part-time volunteers, including our receptionists, our disability behaviour adviser, a data administrator and a fully trained volunteer welfare rights adviser.

4 3 Our Objectives To assist all those affected by social exclusion by providing information, advice and support to the community of Clydebank and its environs on matters of welfare and employment. To advance education by providing resource facilities for educational, recreational and self-help activities.

5 4 Introduction Danny McCafferty Management Committee Chair

6 5 Enquiries All enquiries dealt with at the Centre are recorded and categorised according to whether they relate to debt/money advice or welfare rights advice. The table below (Table 1) demonstrates the volume and variety of assistance we have provided during the reporting period. Enquiry Type Health-related Benefits General advice and benefits Housingrelated Benefits Child-related benefits Employmentrelated Benefits Services Provided Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Industrial Injuries, Carers Allowance and Attendance Allowance applications and enquiries. Benefit checks and general advice, Social Fund applications and other miscellaneous benefits. Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit, Housing applications and Mortgage interest benefit queries. Child Benefit, Child Tax Credit, Maternity Allowance and Income Support applications. Job Seekers Allowance, Redundancy, Working Tax Credits, Income Tax and other employment-related enquiries. No. of Enquiries Pensions State Pension, Pension Credit and Occupational Pension enquiries. 60 Bereavementrelated Benefits Total Welfare Rights Bereavement Allowance, Funeral Payments and procedural advice for bereavement

7 6 Enquiry Type Services Provided No. of Enquiries Bank-related Debt Tax and Benefits Debt Housing Related Debt Credit Agreements Credit cards, Personal Loans, Overdrafts. 383 Council Tax, Inland Revenue bills and benefit overpayment recovery. 253 Mortgages, Rent Arrears and Housing Benefit overpayments. 158 Catalogues, Store Cards and other various Credit Agreements. 111 Household Bills Gas and Electricity, Telephone and TV license. 93 General Advice General Advice on money management. 70 LILA and Bankruptcy Miscellaneous Debts Total Debt/Money LILA and Bankruptcy advice and applications. 34 Insurance-related bills, Legal Fees etc Total Enquiries 3649 Table 1: Number of Enquiries by Type

8 7 Referrals A number of the clients that visit the Centre are referred by other agencies. The table below (Table 2) illustrates the source of these various referrals. The remainder of our clients hear about us through advertising or word of mouth. Organisation Number of Referrals WDC Homeless Section 26 WDC Family Support Unit 3 WDC Welfare Rights 8 WDC Community Justice 5 Knowes HA 46 Clydebank HA 62 Faifley HA 8 Dalmuir Park HA 34 Trafalgar HA 17 Alternatives 2 DACA 3 Asbestos Group 4 Huntington Association 3 Oxfam 2 Women s Aid 3 WDC Councillor/MP/MSP 7 MS Clydebank 4 Stepping Stones 4 Golden Hill Resource Centre 5 Table 2: Number of Referrals by Agency

9 Under No. of clients Clydebank Independent Resource Centre 8 Welfare Rights Advice Clients from a wide variety of backgrounds and personal circumstances visit the Centre. However, the majority of our clients are from lower income households and/or are unable to work due to long term ill health or a disability, which is partly a reflection of the service we provide. The sections below demonstrate the demographic structure of the 1178 new client cases we dealt with involving Welfare Rights advice during the reporting period. We handled 581 new male client cases and 597 new female client cases during the reporting period. This is a 15% increase in our client case load since last year ( ) and a 25% increase on two years ago ( ). This year, the biggest increase has been in the number of male clients we see, which has gone up by 23% on last year s figures. Client Age Structure The graph below (Fig. 1) demonstrates the age structure of new clients that visited the Centre during the reporting period, by gender. 120 Client Age Age groups Figure 1: New Clients by Age and Gender We can see that our male clients tend to be older, with most at or approaching retirement age. On the other hand, our female clients are more diverse, and we tend to see many younger women and women on their 40s, as well as women approaching retirement age.

10 9 While more of our elderly clients are female, most of our clients under the age of 16 are male. Most of the increase in our male client numbers over last year ( ) has been made up by those in the age category and is likely to be due to the increase in ESA applications and appeals we have had to deal with as a result of welfare reforms. Client Income Structure The charts below (Figs. 2 3) demonstrate the income structure of new clients that visited the Centre during the reporting period. Male's clients annual income Under 6,000 6,001-10,000 10,001-15,000 15,001-20,000 20,001-25,000 Over 25,000 Figure 2: New Male Clients' Income

11 10 Female's annual income Under 6,000 6,001-10,000 10,001-15,000 15,001-20,000 20,001-25,000 Over 25,000 Figure 3: New Female Client's Income As can be seen from the charts, almost two thirds of our female clients and almost three quarters of our male clients have an income under 10,000 per year, though many more male than female clients have an income under 6,000 per year. This distribution of income is broadly similar to that of our clients from last year ( ) and the year before ( ). It seems from this data that our females clients are, on the whole, better off than our male clients. However, while a quarter of our female clients had dependent children, only 8% of our male clients were in the same position, and child-related benefits, such as child tax credits and child benefit, are counted as income for our purposes.

12 No. of clients Clydebank Independent Resource Centre 11 Client Employment Structure The graph below (Fig. 4) demonstrates the employment structure of new clients visiting the Centre during the reporting period, by gender Client employment status Male Female Employment status Figure 4: New Clients' Employment Status As can be seen by the graph, only one in ten new clients were in employment. This is a significant decrease in the number of employed welfare rights clients since last year ( ), when one in seven of our clients were employed. Three fifths were unable to work due to ill health. Again, female clients were a more diverse group, with a greater proportion either working, caring for children or family, or in retirement, so that only just over half were unable to work due to ill health. By contrast, over two thirds of male clients were unable to work, while the majority of the rest were in retirement or seeking employment.

13 No. of clients Clydebank Independent Resource Centre 12 Client Tenure Structure The graph below (Fig. 5) demonstrates the tenure of our new clients, including which landlord they rent from. 450 Tenure Homeowner Council Rented HA Rented Privately Rented Tenure Living with family Homeless Figure 5: New Clients' Tenure As can be seen by the graph, over two thirds of our clients live in socially rented housing, with West Dunbartonshire Council tenants accounting for over a third of our clients alone. Since last year, we have seen a large increase in the number of homeless clients we see, as well an increase in the numbers of clients who live in socially rented housing.

14 No. of client Clydebank Independent Resource Centre 13 Client Residential Area While the majority of our clients come from neighbourhoods within Clydebank, particularly Dalmuir and Faifley, which together made up over one third of new clients during the reporting period, there are a number of enquiries we receive from further afield. The graph below (Fig. 6) demonstrates the distribution of our clients from different areas. 300 Residential area of clients Area Figure 6: New Clients' Residential Area We have seen a marked increase in clients from Parkhall this year. Other than this, the main areas we serve have remained consistent over at least the last three years.

15 Number of Enquiries Clydebank Independent Resource Centre 14 Benefit Advice A significant number of the welfare rights enquires we deal with are benefit checks. However, the majority of the help we provide involves assisting people in applying for their benefits, by filling in forms, dealing with requests for additional information or making telephone enquiries. The graphs below (Figs. 7-8) show how many enquiries we have received for each of the most common benefits, as well as how much we have helped claim in annual awards and backdated payments. In total we helped claim 2,826,648 in annual awards and 373,148 in backdated payments Benefit Enquiries Figure 7: Number of Enquiries by Benefit Type By far, the most common benefits we provided advice on were for those who are unable to work due to ill health, with ESA, DLA, and AA making up over 62% of our enquiries during the reporting period, a small increase on last year. The graph below (Fig. 8) shows how much income was generated from each of these benefits.

16 Amount Awarded Clydebank Independent Resource Centre 15 Benefit Awards 1,600,000 1,400,000 1,200,000 1,000, , , , ,000 0 Annually Backdated or One-off Axis Title Figure 8: Annual Award Amounts by Benefit Type Overall, benefits for disabled people accounted for 2,204,560 in annual awards, or over 81% of all of the annual income generated by the Centre. This is a significant increase on and figures, when benefits for disabled people contributed 1.4 million (three quarters of awards) and 1.1 million (70% of awards) respectively.

17 16 Benefit Tribunals Aside from the advice we provide on benefit applications, we also represent clients at appeal tribunals if they have grounds to contest a decision by the DWP on their eligibility. The table below (Table 3) shows the success rate of appeals by the type of benefit that was the subject of the appeal, as well as the amount we have helped claim during the reporting period in both annual and backdated amounts as a result of successful appeals. Benefit No. of tribunals handled % of tribunals successful Annual Awards Backdated Awards ESA % 478, ,403 DLA 39 59% 71,459 38,314 AA 3 0% 0 0 Total % 550, ,717 Table 3: Appeal successes and amounts awarded The success rate figures shown in the table are the proportion of appeals that were successful after those that were unsuccessful, withdrawn or postponed have been taken into account. If we consider the ratio of successful to unsuccessful appeals, that is those that are actually heard by the appeal tribunal, this stands at 2:1 for all benefits during the reporting period. This is a significant improvement on the figures from , which saw a ratio close to 3:2 but is still down on the figures from , before Incapacity Benefit was entirely replaced by Employment Support Allowance, when the success ratio was 3:1. That is, appeal success rates for Employment Support Allowance are improving, but are still not reaching the levels seen under Incapacity Benefit. Success rates for Disability Living Allowance also fell dramatically in (from 61% in to 34% in ) and have also recovered this year. Finally, while the number of tribunals we handled doubled between and , they have now stabilised this year, remaining steady at just under 190 in both and The key difference between this year and last year is that a much greater proportion of tribunals have been for Employment Support Allowance. This, alongside better success rates, has meant that income generated for clients through tribunals has increased by over 50%. The total amounts to over half a million pounds.

18 Axis Title Clydebank Independent Resource Centre 17 Debt/Money Advice The Centre provides a range of money and debt advice, including help with budgeting, help with dealing with creditors and setting up payment plans, as well as investigating the appropriateness of Low Income Low Asset (LILA) Trust Deeds, Debt Arrangement Schemes (DAS) and bankruptcy for clients and helping them to apply for these. The sections below demonstrate the demographic structure of new clients who received debt/money advice client during the reporting period, of which there were 317. Client Age Structure The graph below (Fig. 9) demonstrates the age structure of clients that visited the Centre during the reporting period, by gender. 45 Client's age Under Axis Title Figure 9: New Clients' Age by Gender We can see that our male client profile shows a peak for those in their 40s and late 50s. Our female client profile, however, is more complex, as we see large numbers of younger female clients, as well as a dramatic peak of those in the late 40s to early 50s. We saw over 40% more female debt and money advice clients than male debt and money advice clients during

19 18 Client Income Structure The charts below (Figs ) demonstrate the income structure of new clients that visited the Centre during the reporting period, by gender. Male client income Under 6,000 6,001-10,000 10,001-15,000 15,001-20,000 20,001-25,000 Over 25,000 Figure 10: New Male Clients' Income Female client income Under 6,000 6,001-10,000 10,001-15,000 15,001-20,000 20,001-25,000 Over 25,000 Figure 11: New Female Clients' Income As can be seen from the charts, over half of our debt and money advice clients have an income under 10,000 per year. Despite there being less female clients with an income under 6,000, they are also more likely to have dependent children. Since we take child benefit and tax credits into account as income, this causes female clients to appear better off. We saw more clients with an income over 10,000 in than in previous years.

20 No. of clients Clydebank Independent Resource Centre 19 Client Employment Structure The graph below (Fig. 12) demonstrates the employment structure of clients visiting the Centre for debt and money advice during the reporting period, by gender. 60 Employment Status Male Female 0 Employment Status Figure 12: New Client's Employment Status As can be seen by the graph, almost a third of our debt/money advice clients are in full time employment and a further quarter are unable to work due to ill health. The proportion of our debt and money advice clients who work full-time has increased year-on-year since , demonstrated the growing problem of insecure and poorly paid employment. The majority of the disparity between the total numbers of male (130) and female (187) clients is made up by a disproportionate number of female clients who work part-time and/or are full-time carers.

21 No. of clients Clydebank Independent Resource Centre 20 Client Tenure Structure The graph below (Fig. 13) demonstrates the tenure of new clients, including which landlord they rented from, during the reporting period. 160 Client Tenure Homeowner Council Rented HA Rented Privately Rented Tenure Living with family Homeless Figure 13: New Clients' Tenure As can be seen by the graph, over two fifths of our debt and money advice clients live in Housing Association accommodation, which is a significant increase on last years ( ) figures. A further fifth live in West Dunbartonshire Council properties, which has remained steady year-on-year. Homeowners made up a quarter of our debt and money advice clients, which constituted a decrease on last year ( ).

22 No. of clients Clydebank Independent Resource Centre 21 Client Residential Area While the majority of our clients come from neighbourhoods within Clydebank, particularly Dalmuir and Faifley, which account for two fifths of new clients, there are a number of enquiries we receive from further afield. The graph below (Fig. 14) demonstrates the distribution of our clients from different areas. 70 Residential Area Residential Area Figure 14: New Clients' Residential Area This distribution has remained relatively steady over the past few years. However it is interesting to note the different in client residential area between debt and money advice (above) and welfare rights advice. In particular, we see many more clients coming from further afield, especially Glasgow, to access our debt and money advice, while our welfare rights provision in has been more focussed on the immediate local area of Clydebank.

23 No of enquiries Clydebank Independent Resource Centre 22 Debt Enquiries The debt advice we provide covers a range of different types of debt. The graphs below (Figs ) demonstrate the various kinds of debt we have helped deal with, as well as how common these debts are and how much debt we have handled over the reporting period on behalf of clients. Debt enquiries Type of debt Figure 15: Enquiries by Debt Type By far, the most enquiries received were for bank-related debt, including personal loans, credit cards and overdrafts, which together made up just over a third of all debt enquiries we received. Council Tax enquiries alone made up a one six of the debt enquiries we received. Problems with paying rent or mortgages made up a further sixth of our enquiries, which is a 50% increase on last year. Of course, enquiries relating to mortgages tend to concern the highest amounts of debt, as we can see from Fig.16 over.

24 Total amount Clydebank Independent Resource Centre 23 3,000,000 Debt handled 2,500,000 2,000,000 1,500,000 1,000, ,000 0 Type of debt Figure 16: Amount of Debt Owed by Debt Type As can be seen from the graph, mortgages were by far the highest value debts we dealt with, accounting for over half of the total amount. This was followed chiefly by loans and credit cards, which made a significantly smaller proportion of the debt we dealt with than in previous years, because of the vast increase in mortgage debt. We also dealt with a significant amount of high value aggregated debt, as indicated by the multiple or misc column. These are debts that have already progressed beyond a stage where the client is able to identify the original sources of the money owed. In total, the Centre helped clients deal with 4,564,349 of client debt. This over 2m of an increase on last year s debt caseload, an increase that was mostly made up by a trebling of the mortgage debt we have dealt with and a doubling of the multiple debts part of bankruptcy and other insolvency procedures we deal with. It is two and a half times more debt than we dealt with in Payment Plans Sixty-one new payment plans were set up for clients by the Centre during the reporting period, covering 200,562 worth of debt. New plans have ensured that 15,600 is repaid

25 24 since April 2012 by Centre clients. This figure is in addition to the payment plans previously set up by the Centre on behalf of clients, which have ensured that a further 38,717 was repaid during The Centre administered a 332, 501 of debt in payment plans from previous years during this period. Written Off Debt A number of clients who visit the Centre are deemed unable to repay their debts. In these cases we assist them in applying to have their debt written off. The table below (Table 5) shows the amount of debt written off and the number of clients we have assisted in applying for bankruptcy and LILA during the reporting period. We have also assisted a number of clients in entering into Debt Arrangement Schemes (DAS) and Trust Deeds, where a proportion of their debt is written off and payment plans are put in place to repay the remainder. Finally, we have been able to help a growing number of clients with their Mortgage-to-Rent applications. These clients are also shown below. Number of Clients Total Debt Bankruptcy 6 200,173 LILA ,942 Trust Deed 5 124,084 Mortgage to Rent 5 235,136 Table 5: Written off Debt In total then, over 0.6 million has been written off through bankruptcy, LILA and mortgage to rent applications at the Centre and almost 125,000 has been partially written off and otherwise repaid through Trust Deeds. Although we helped the same number of clients write-off their debts as in , the amounts written off have been slightly smaller. It is important to note here that the figures shown in this table are debts that have been written off during the reporting period. However, the majority of the work for these applications is done some months before the final decision is made. Therefore, there is a significant time lag between the investment of our adviser s time and the results shown above. This is the reason that the huge increases in mortgage debts we have dealt with is not get reflected in the Centre s written-off debt figures.

26 25 Summary This year has been a highly successful one for us and we have helped an increasing number of clients deal with the ongoing narrowing of benefit eligibility, significant increases in incorrect benefit assessments and generally decreasing household incomes. In total, we have helped our clients deal with over 4.5 million of outstanding debt and generated just over of 2.8 million in annual benefit payments, as well as almost 375,000 in backdated benefit payments. This work is vital to the economic and social functioning of our communities, particularly during the current recession, as well as being of direct financial benefit to our core funders, West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC). Specifically, the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit we help our clients to claim and the Council Tax and rent debts we assist them in dealing with, are of significant direct help to the Council and local Housing Associations during these times of restricted funding. The table below demonstrates the direct benefits our service has had for WDC: Direct Gains Amount (to the nearest 100) Annual Housing Benefit generated 156,000 Annual Council Tax Benefit generated 54,200 Total 210,200 Council Tax Debt addressed 297,200 WDC Rent and Repairs debt addressed 35,100 Total 332,300 We feel that these figures, in conjunction with our overall gains for the year, represent excellent value for money in relation to our core funding. In the year , our total core funding provided through the Community Planning Partnership was just 121,340. As such, for every 1 in funding we receive through the Council, our service returns 1.73 in direct gains and allows us to help deal with 2.74 in debt owed to the Council through Council Tax, Rent and repairs. Looking at the bigger picture, on the whole our service cost approximately 160,000 to run in Taking into account the total debt we handled and our clients total gains: 1 funding = generated in annual benefits payments and 1 funding = addressed of debt of which 1 funding = 5.05 of debt written-off

27 26 Events

28 27 Thanks The Centre has now existed in its current form for 22 years; I am privileged to have been here since its inception in 1991, when we first secured funding from Clydebank District Council and Strathclyde Regional Council. Since local government reorganisation in 1995, West Dunbartonshire Council have been our primary funders. The aims and objectives of the Centre have always been to serve the community by raising awareness of the issues affecting people in the community and campaigning for changes in government policy on welfare and social justice. Past annual reports contain well documented evidence of the ways in which we have tried to fulfil these aims and this year s report clearly illustrates how we have met our objectives. After 22 years, the community s need for our service is still increasing. The last five years have seen dramatic changes to welfare benefits, particularly those for the sick and disables. Regrettably this has meant that demand for our advice services has reached an all-time high. The role of the Centre today contrasts somewhat with my vision for the Centre in our 1991 Annual Report. I hoped that we might be able to play a part in reducing family poverty and to assist those able to work, especially by campaigning with others to create a fairer and more equal society. We are still campaigning on these issues, which sadly seem to have become even more prominent in the past two decades. My comments in our 1999 Annual Report, some 14 years ago, highlight how little has changed: Changes in welfare benefit legislation have affected those people claiming benefits, such as; Job Seekers Allowance, Invalidity Benefit, Unemployment Benefit, as well as those who have lost those jobs through unfair dismissal or redundancy. This has meant, in some cases, no financial support for families of the most deprived and sick in our community. I say this because of the increase in enquiries that the Centre s welfare department handles on a daily basis. Many individuals and families have been left penniless because they have has benefits withdrawn or reviewed, if certain rules and criteria are not met. Aside of the names of the benefits, this extract could have been written today. However, I went on to comment: As we approach the millenum, we do so with a spark of optimism. Why? From an unemployed individual s point of view, especially the young unemployed, there may be something to look forward to, like the National Minimum Wage and New Deal.

29 28 Sadly, I was very far of the mark. The minimum wage did little to bring up pay rates, particularly for young people, given that it was set so low. New Deal simply added a new level of conditionality to Job Seekers Allowance, requiring more from claimants for the same low level of support, and did little to actually help people back in to work. Demand for our services increased as a result of these changes. We once again expect welfare reforms, this time in the present day, to put exceptional pressure on our advice services. Our experience since 1991 is that changes to benefit entitlement are the number one driver of advice sought at the Centre. Problems with welfare lead directly to increasing debts, problems with housing, relationship breakdown and poverty. The introduction of Employment Support Allowance, to replace Incapacity Benefit in 2008, was the start of the most recent round of reforms. It has seen 170,000 claimants reassessed since April 2011, many of whom have had significant difficulties securing their benefit on the new system. Many of those now unable to work due to illness or disability are expected to take part in training or work experience, or face benefit sanctions, despite the lack of evidence that such mandatory scheme actually help people get back into work. Single parents, too, have been pushed off of Income Support and onto Job Seekers Allowance, with parents of children as young as three years old now expected to find work. Almost nothing has been done to increase the availability of affordable childcare for such parents. More recently, Housing Benefit rules have changed, reducing the support available to people to pay rent. Those who share the care of their children with an ex-partner and those who need extra space in their homes because of a disability are being especially penalised. The immediate effect of these reforms is a rapid accumulation of rent arrears, which are one of the damaging and threatening forms of debt. In the near future the reassessment of those on Disability Living Allowance looms large, as do the still yet unknown plans under the roll-out of Universal Credit. Perhaps most disturbing in all of this, however, is the removal of any kind of safety net for those experiencing poverty and destitution. Increasingly punitive sanctioning processes for those not seen to be conforming to Job Seekers Allowance rules, combined with the inability of many claimants to conform to such rules, given their illness, disability or caring responsibilities, has lead to huge increases in the numbers of clients visiting the Centre with no money at all. By this I mean very urgent cases, of people with not a penny in their pocket to pay for fuel or food. And this includes those with illnesses and very young children. While it is important to end on a positive note, unlike my comments in our 1999 annual report, I am not filled with optimism. Instead, I feel a sense of dread creeping in when I think to the future. At a time when the Centre has been forced to start providing food

30 29 parcels to clients, when clients report being bullied and punished by uncaring medical assessors and job centre advisors, and when the Centre s advice staff are overloaded with work as our funding is successively cut back, I am concerned. The scale of the devastation that is only just beginning to be caused by welfare reform is almost unimaginable. And our resources to help our communities cope with such changes appear to be ever diminishing. The coming months and years are going to be incredibly tough. Mary Collins Mary Collins Centre Co-ordinator