Citizens Advice South East Wales (CASEW) is a Consortium of eight independent local Citizens Advice (LCA) organisations in South East Wales, these include: Bridgend, Monmouthshire, Caerphilly Blaenau Gwent, Newport, Cardiff & Vale, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Merthyr Tydfil, and Torfaen.
They range in size from Caerphilly Blaenau Gwent and Cardiff & Vale each with incomes of over £4 million and around 150 - 200 employees each to Monmouthshire with an income of around £200,000 and 8 part time employees. Between them, the LCAs have an income of nearly £15 million and employ close to 600 people.
The goal of the consortium is to safeguard and grow high quality Citizens Advice service provision across South East Wales, through working with commissioners to co-design services, creating a single point of contracting, and by tendering competitively for public service contracts via a range of channels.
A key driver for the establishment of the consortium is the current economic and social climate, with consortium formation aiming to strengthen the resilience of the service in the face of significant cuts in public sector spending and the growing client demand.
CASEW is a company limited by guarantee and Registered Charity. The consortium is a membership-owned and controlled body, with the members of the company being the LCA organisations in the South East Wales area. Its defining characteristics include:
The consortium is owned and controlled by its members, with the majority of trustees drawn from member LCAs.
The consortium will create a single point of contracting.
The consortium will operate through a hub and spoke structure.