Looking back: client experiences in 2022 (1)
“William Shakespeare wasn’t wrong: When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.* Looking back at client experiences in our 2022 newsletters we can confirm sorrows often DO arrive in numbers.”
CAEE Research and Campaigns Team (3 mins)
Together our advisers helped clients with thousands of problems. Sadly they DIDN’T come ‘single spies’ – a lot of people and families faced multiple complex problems. That was the main finding when we looked back client stories published month by month.
Our January newsletter told of someone having problems getting a bus pass. Things then took an unlikely turn that led to our adviser helping sort out an international misunderstanding about pensions! Quite often our clients discover we can help in more ways than they expected.
In February we showed how people who can’t easily use the internet for everyday tasks also face bigger problems. Our client had difficulty getting several benefits she should have been receiving and with registering a complaint about a health matter.
Cat’s cradle
March saw us helping reunite a mother and son. A cat’s cradle of issues was standing in the way of a life together. The case involved a cross-border property transaction, settlement requirements, benefits and school admissions! Unsurprisngly, our adviser worked with the client for over a year.
Our client story in May told of a single mother of three. She had suffered poor mental health since childhood and badly needed support with debt and several benefits which she was entitled to but had not claimed.
In June an elderly person reported receiving a worrying message from an unknown mobile caller claiming to be her grandson in Dublin. Citizens Advice investigated the suspicious urgency of the caller’s request for money and helped her contact the grandson. A scam of course targeting a vulnerable person and using plausible information.
This kind of fraud is still alive and damaging – see Guardian Observer 19/02/23. Cruel scam of mum and dad sparks a regulatory crackdown
Our client focus in July was a vulnerable young woman in her early 20s who had grown up in the care of Children’s Services. In part-time work, with a low income, she faced many challenges on the road to an independent life. Fortunately our advisers are trained to spot overlapping difficulties. In this case we could step in as the official support came to an end.