Social policy

Enfield Citizens Advice Bureau collects evidence from day to day contact with CAB clients' problems and uses it to campaign for changes in social policies and services, both locally and nationally.

We have a key role in speaking up for clients, raising issues brought into bureau, contributing to public debate and forming legislation. The experience we gain by helping people is used to influence policy makers and service providers nationally.

We point out the impact of policies and advocate for changes. The main focus of our policy work is:

• addressing poverty
• challenging discrimination
• getting a fair deal for all
• improving service delivery
• securing access to justice and advice

We collect evidence of services' and policies' failures, identify changes needed and we take the evidence and our proposals to policy makers. If our recommendations are accepted, problems are stopped at source.

We speak up for change when change is needed. We lobby MP's for fairer legislation. Evidence, collected completely anonymously by advisers and specialist social policy workers, is used locally to improve failing services and policies and passed on to the countrywide social policy unit of Citizens Advice.

Evidence from all Bureaux is compiled to give regional and national pictures of the way in which particular services or policies are working. This evidence is then published in the form of Social Policy Evidence reports. In these reports are highlighted the areas in which policies or services are failing and suggested the changes needed to improve them. These reports are used to influence service providers and policy makers in their decisions, and help us to lobby MP's and local government more effectively. Such reports also interest the news media; newspapers, radio and television.