MSE News: Fee-charging firms pounce on Citizens Advice Bureau closures

Former_MSE_Guy · 11 February 2011 at 5:20PM

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"One Birmingham firm that charges hundreds of pounds for some services is already deploying mobile centres ..."

Read the full story:
Fee-charging firms pounce on Citizens Advice Bureau closures

VT82 · 11 February 2011 at 6:21PM

There's one of those Lawyers2U stands up whenever I go into town. I always thought it was like 'InjuryLawyers4U', and was tempting to accidentally-on-purpose trip over their stand and do myself a mischief so I could sue them.

RAS · 11 February 2011 at 6:30PM

MSE_Guy wrote: »

CAB denial
The company says it "has worked alongside the Citizens Advice Bureau" over the past year.
A Citizens Advice spokeswoman says: "The firm is neither involved in rotas of solicitors that provide pro-bono advice in bureaux, nor is it on the list of solicitors to whom clients might be referred by the bureaux in Birmingham.
"So what it says on its website about working alongside the CAB seems somewhat misleading."
Lawyers2you chief executive Guy Barnett says: "We can't offer the full range of services the CAB does. We offer free legal advice and even where that progresses, it is often covered by legal aid."
He adds that consumers are often referred by the CAB to fee-charging legal firms anyway.

I would like to ask Mr Barnett in exactly what circumstances Birmingham CAB have referred clients to fee-charging companies?

x__Indigo_x · 11 February 2011 at 7:59PM

this story really hits home for me,

i work at the citizens advice in St Helens and we too lost ALL of our legal aid contarct then ALL bar one streaming fund was cut. so we have lost most of our funding.

Due to this we lost half the admin team and about 3 members of advice staff with more due to go in april.(maybe me?)

we can no longer offer any housing advice and the phone just never stops ringing.

I know it really hits a nerve when we have to turn down people who need us most right now, people oin debt , threat of eviction etc. These people trust in the cab and simply cant understand why we have to turn them away when they feel they have no one else to turn to.

Im sure most people have been or know someone in thier direct family that has benefited from citizens advice and its sad that this could now be a thing of the past.

angelflower_2 · 11 February 2011 at 8:50PM

Indigo - that is so true. I have finally approached my CAB for help with finances after trying to do it alone for years and they have been amazing - I often felt they were my last resort and if people dont have them anymore, it is just a mess waiting to happen. So sorry to hear about your centre!

PhylPho · 11 February 2011 at 9:23PM

TBH, I'd have more respect for CAB if it had more guts.

Who on earth can have faith in an organisation set up to defend consumers at their most vulnerable yet when that same organisation is at its most vulnerable does nothing -- nothing -- to protect itself?

CAB's response to Lawyers2u's bizarre claim --

"What it says on its website about working alongside the CAB seems somewhat misleading"

-- is so vapid and so feeble it might just as well shut up shop now.

Abusers of any kind, exploiters of every kind, are not to be checked by "campaigners" so timorous that the absolute worst thing they can say about anything is that it is, er, "somewhat misleading".

RIP, CAB.

(Sincere apologies if anything said here is somewhat misleading. It's just that it's somewhat the truth.)

:mad:

Butterfly_Brain · 13 February 2011 at 11:42AM

So the vultures are already circling

fatbelly · 13 February 2011 at 8:39PM

PhylPho wrote: »

TBH, I'd have more respect for CAB if it had more guts.

I understand that. It seems incredible that, faced with the imminent loss of FIF-funding (decision now reversed), the CAB Press office did not release anything to put their case forward. Here is a list of Press Releases during the period that it was believed that 500 debt advisers (helping 100,000 clients per year) would be losing their jobs:

Most recent press releases

Citizens Advice outlines its concerns on the new Universal Credit - 9 February 2011

Citizens Advice response to Q4 2010 Insolvency figures - 4 February 2011

Citizens Advice response to Governments Mental Health Strategy - 2 February 2011

Citizens Advice responds to Government response on Bills of Sale - 28 January 2011

Citizens Advice welcomes Government package to enhance consumer protection in the mortgage market - 28 January 2011

Citizens Advice places 21st in Stonewall’s top 100 employers 2011 - 13 January 2011

fatbelly · 13 February 2011 at 8:45PM

RAS wrote: »

I would like to ask Mr Barnett in exactly what circumstances Birmingham CAB have referred clients to fee-charging companies?

Hi Ras

Yes, this is misleading.

There are situations at the CAB where our in-house information system (advisernet) will tell us that we cannot take a matter any further but that the client will need a solicitor.

In these situations we are not allowed to recommend an individual firm but can provide a list of local solicitors.

I would be very surprised if Mr Barnett ever received a direct referral from CAB. If he did, there's an adviser somewhere facing disciplinary action!

thelawnet · 14 February 2011 at 10:15AM

I went into my local CAB last year to volunteer as an adviser, they didn't even do me the courtesy of a call/email, even after I went in two weeks later to ask if they were interested or not.

I gave them my details and have heard not one word from them. Not good.

foxwales · 14 February 2011 at 11:46AM

PhylPho wrote: »

TBH, I'd have more respect for CAB if it had more guts.

Who on earth can have faith in an organisation set up to defend consumers at their most vulnerable yet when that same organisation is at its most vulnerable does nothing -- nothing -- to protect itself?

CAB's response to Lawyers2u's bizarre claim --

"What it says on its website about working alongside the CAB seems somewhat misleading"

-- is so vapid and so feeble it might just as well shut up shop now.

Abusers of any kind, exploiters of every kind, are not to be checked by "campaigners" so timorous that the absolute worst thing they can say about anything is that it is, er, "somewhat misleading".

RIP, CAB.

(Sincere apologies if anything said here is somewhat misleading. It's just that it's somewhat the truth.)

:mad:

So what should CAB do in your opinion? Should it retaliate verbally in the press? that would be a real good public image, or should it mount a legal challenge against these claims when the money can be better spent helping clients than fighting legal claims against these companies?

CAB is a charity, each pound is precious and first and foremost is spent helping clients.

MSE News: Fee-charging firms pounce on Citizens Advice Bureau closures

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