Chairman's Report

The past year has been a challenging one, with many operational and organisational changes, all of which have had a toll on the number of clients we have been able to serve over the past year.

Firstly in April of last year we introduced the electronic case handling system known as CASE, this system developed by our national organisation Citizens Advice, standardises the practices and recording standards across the country. This of course meant extensive training, implementation of new hardware and reorganisation of the offices.

In June we took delivery of the temporary accommodation that was attached to the main building to provide additional space, this was provided by a grant from Chelmsford Borough Council, again this caused disruption of the service as building work and redecoration was completed. We finally managed to take possession of this in September.

Also during the year we were encouraged by our national association to develop our computer system to enable the assistance of the delivery of e-government, this is one of continual development but to assist this, Citizens Advice funded a touch screen booth in our waiting room, so that clients could access not only advice giving web sites but government web sites that have started to deliver services by means of e-government. This is the only Bureau in Essex that has this facility.

The period of extensive change from April to September meant that it was not feasible to train any new volunteer advisers, thus compounding the situation of not being able to replace advisers who left the service. But I am pleased to report that as soon as the changes had been completed, a recruitment campaign proved successful and shortly we shall be up to full strength again,

It also has to be noted that year-on-year the complexity of clients enquiries is increasing, which therefore demands more time from the adviser to analyse the problem and deliver the relevant advice.

The one thing that comes across from every member of staff whether paid or voluntary, is the commitment to deliver the best service possible within the restricted resources available, therefore the past year has been one of frustration as so many changes have meant that to build for the future, time had to be invested now, which has of course reflected in the number of clients they have been able to serve.

I am happy to report, that despite all of the above changes, from audits carried out in May and December we passed with flying colours, this just shows that the professionalism of the staff evens shines through in the face of adversity.

Lastly, since January the Bureau has gone through even further organisational change to prepare for the introduction of the Legal Services Contracts. This has entailed the Bureau moving towards specialist status. This is a major development in the delivery of advice in the Borough of Chelmsford, especially in the categories of Debt and Welfare Benefits. Debt being a major concern as can be seen later in this review.

I now look forward to next year being one of stability and consolidation to sustain the high quality of service the public deserves.

Back to Annual Review 2004-5