Recent campaigns
Social housing tenancies
Citizens Advice in Oxford has had an increase in clients who move into social housing properties where carpets and flooring have been removed. It is common practice that carpets are stripped out after every tenant so that infestations or diseases are not carried to the new tenants. According to UK law, landlords are only obliged to put flooring in kitchens and bathrooms. However, many tenants are unable to afford carpets on top of their bills. The lack of carpets and flooring makes the property more expensive to heat and can be dangerous as well as leading to increased sound complaints.
Citizens Advice is working with Layla Moran (MP for Oxford West and Abingdon) and members of her casework team to raise awareness of social housing issues and campaign to solve the flooring issues.
Improve living standards 2024
Citizens Advice are campaigning to tackle falling living standards. In a 2024 survey, the charity found 43% of UK voters say it’s more difficult to afford essentials than it was six months ago, despite falling inflation and suggestions that the economy is beginning to pick up. 48% of voters cited living standards as one of the most important factors influencing their vote, ranking second only to health and the NHS (58%) and ahead of immigration (31%) and even the economy (28%). See the monthly cost of living briefings and trends.
Cost of living crisis 2023-24
Between 1 April 2023 and 30 March 24, Citizens Advice West Oxfordshire helped 8,620 people with over 33,261 issues. We helped people to claim benefits, manage their debts, provide housing and employment advice and much more.
We collect and use this information as a national charity to lobby the Government to provide more support for lower income households. We are also working with our local Food Banks and other organisations to help people through this crisis.
If you need help, please get in touch as soon as you can.
Energy saving 2023
Rising energy bills are at the front of everyone’s minds. But how can you be more energy efficient and save money? And what support might you be entitled to for rising energy bills?
Here’s 3 things you need to know this #EnergySavingWeek
Research from Citizens Advice found that 3.2 million people across Great Britain ran out of credit on their prepayment meter (PPM) in 2022 because they couldn’t afford to top up. Decide if a prepayment meter is right for you by reading this advice. Prepayment meter advice.
Scams awareness
Citizens Advice is involved in Scams Awareness Fortnight every year. The aim is to give people the skills to identify scams, to encourage people to share their experiences and help people gain the confidence to report scams.
We help to spread the message that scams are crimes that can happen to anyone and that we can all take a stand to help stop them. There are actions we can all take to report them, share stories and raise awareness of scams to safeguard ourselves and others.
Read more about our scams awareness campaign and what can be done to prevent being scammed.