Susan Smith analyses the position of Citizens Advice Scotland after a last minute legal challenge put a halt to its restructure plans
It would be laughable if weren’t tragic to see one of the most respected and important third sector networks in the country descend into civil war.
At the eleventh hour before a major vote on the future of Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS), four disgruntled “Glasgow mafia” bureaux launched a specious legal challenge in a bid to avoid the structural changes that would rob them of power to get things their own way.
The proposed new structure for Citizens Advice Scotland will see the election of an independent chair and several non-bureau members to the board. This is necessary because the clique of members who are opposing the change have abused the system to their own benefit for decades. They have overseen the coming and going of four permanent and three temporary chief executives since 2009, for example. And, after a damning Deloitte report accused the existing board and its chair Dominic Notarangelo (the ring leader of this week’s attempted coup) of mismanagement, it’s understandable that CAS funders don’t feel they can be trusted with the £13 million of public money that goes through CAS every year.
When TFN spoke to Dominic Notarangelo earlier this week he refused to say what the purpose of the action was or explain how it is anything more than attention seeking prevarication
The legal challenge doesn’t focus on the content of the new plan, but on a technicality in the process that is open to interpretation. To what possible aim?
When TFN spoke to Dominic Noterangelo earlier this week he refused to say what the purpose of the action was or to explain how it is anything more than attention seeking prevarication. Thankfully, CAS has refused to take the bait which at this late stage would have forced it to defend itself through an unseemly court battle, its very invovlement in which could result in its demise.
Notarangelo also refused to tell TFN who was paying for the Glasgow legal action, but funding a court case seems like it would be beyond the reach of the combined £1.6m annual income of these four bureaux. The citizens of Maryhill, Easterhouse, Greater Pollock and Bridgeton who need support and advice from their local bureaux should be breathing a sigh of relief, therefore.
The four may be hoping that the extra time this has bought them can be used to persuade other members to back their own agenda, outlined in a counter motion to CAS’s special resolution. The resolution, which will now be voted on in January, needs 75% of all 61 members to vote in favour of it to be passed. One would hope this latest debacle makes that more likely rather than less. Otherwise, the citizens advice network, one of Scotland’s oldest and most respected group of charities, may not survive.
