Message to the new PM

by David Hilferty, CAS Director of Impact.

This article was first published in the Herald on 1st August 2026.

A fast start. And hopefully a sign of things to come. Because pace is precisely what is needed here. 

The Prime Minister’s announcement to remove VAT from electricity bills was a welcome step for people struggling with what feels like a never-ending cost of living emergency. But it can only be the first step. 

For people coming to the Citizens Advice network in Scotland, energy is often a luxury product. And of course, it isn’t that – it’s an essential service that every one of us needs every single day. 

Putting the cost of living front and centre of a new Government's agenda is welcome. Meaningful change that delivers the kind of breathing space the PM speaks of requires both pace and scale. Boldness and decisiveness. 

All too many of the systems and services that people depend on are fractured and fragmented. And this is not isolated to essential living costs like energy. 

The Scottish Government's own commitment to public service reform recognises that the systems and services that all of us need are not functioning and must be designed around people's lives, rather than expecting people to navigate around them. 

For both governments to be speaking about prevention, community empowerment and ensuring that support gets to people earlier is positive.

The analysis of the problem is clear. The ambition of their plans is laudable. But delivering them won’t be easy. 

So my message to both governments is to use the foundational infrastructure that already exists. Namely, the third sector.  

The Citizens Advice network is embedded in local communities in every corner of Scotland. With reach and scale, but perhaps most importantly – with trust.  

One of my colleagues recently shared this story with me. 

Someone arrived at their local CAB amid a mental health crisis. She had been unable to access a GP appointment. In that community, the GP practice was operating with locum cover only, and they had advised her to attend A&E twenty miles away.

But she couldn't drive, and public transport was patchy and unreliable. What did the CAB adviser do? They drove her to the hospital. And then waited with her. 

How many public services do that? 

A few weeks later, that same person returned to the CAB with a thank-you card. She was doing much better. And she wanted to let the adviser know that the support received had made a real difference. 

That is but one story. Speak to colleagues across the CAB network, you hear countless others.

Frontline essential services like ours are increasingly the last refuge for people who are out of options after rebounding around dead-end helplines and closed doors.  

People come to us when they cannot get to see a real person, or when the voice on the other end of the line says: “sorry, that’s not our remit.”  We don’t say that. We don’t walk by on the other side.

That both Governments are clear on the need to tackle living costs and improve public services is welcome. Making that a reality means strengthening the essential community infrastructure that already exists. 

Because the true measure of success will be whether people have both the space to breathe, and the space to thrive