FOR three quarters of a century selfless people across Glasgow have worked to improve the lives of millions.

In her second article looking at the Citizens Advice Bureau ANGELA McMANUS meets the volunteers

IN the past year Drumchapel Citizens ­Advice Bureau helped clients with nearly 7000 problems.

That is more than 28 ­inquiries every working day, often with several complex issues.

A team of 50 trained volunteers and paid staff make sure the problems of everyone who gets in touch are dealt with.

Jim Turkington, 64, decided to volunteer when he retired from his job as deputy head teacher at Dumbarton Academy three years ago.

He spends two days a week in the bureau at Drumry Road East and as well as dealing with drop-in cases, thanks to the training he has been given he now specialises in employment law.

"People are often thwarted by the whole bureaucratic system. When you see some of the letters they get from HMRC or the Department of Work and Pensions they run to several pages. At times they're incomprehensible," he explains.

"A lot of clients who come in with employment trouble, some of them have researched it and say, I know

I can do this, how do I go about it?

"Others come in and just haven't a clue: they ask, 'Is this right, can they do this?'

"They are aware that something's not right and they are being treated unfairly or badly but they're not sure what they can do, so they come here."

The rise in employment law cases the CAB deals with is not just because of the recession but due to changes in the law. Now workers don't have full employment rights until they have been with a company for two years when previously it was one year.

"The laws keep changing and there is now a cost in going to an employment tribunal and raising a claim, which there wasn't before," he points out.

In the past year in Drumchapel there has been a massive rise in bedroom tax enquiries, discretionary housing payments and charity referrals, mainly to food banks.

Debt is an issue that never goes away and more than one-quarter of financial enquiries involves person loans, followed by credit cards, That's more than £2million of debt.

On the flip side, an impressive figure is the amount of money gained for clients: more than £3m in the past year.

Many of the benefit problems are to do with mistakes that have been made, according to Jim. "Some are human error and can be rectified, some are made by decision makers making the wrong decisions.

"The whole process of challenging decisions has now changed - you have to send in a mandatory reconsideration, which means having the whole decision looked at and then putting in an appeal.

"It delays things and the clients are totally flummoxed: they come in and ask, 'What do I do here?'"

Ongoing training in invaluable, keeping staff and volunteers up to date with the latest benefit and legal changes.

As the CAB celebrates its 75th anniversary, it is still a voluntary organisation providing free, confidential, impartial and independent advice to help people resolve a huge range of issues and problems.

Champions for citizens and consumers, in 2013/14 the CAB in Scotland helped more than 330,000 clients and dealt with more than one million issues.

In the last financial year Scotland's Citizens Advice Bureaux recorded a financial gain for clients of more than £125m.

Almost half of all enquiries in Glasgow concern benefits, tax credits and national insurance, followed by debt.

If it paid its volunteers they would cost the service a staggering £10m.

In her 80s, Helen Mackay was a teacher at Killermont Primary School and joined Drumchapel CAB as a ­volunteer when she retired.

Over 25 years she has witnessed a sea change in the number of people the bureau helps and the nature of their concerns.

She says: "In those days consumer protection was strong, we had an awful lot of housing benefit inquiries, and there was a lot of unemployment."

"At one time Drumchapel was very busy and everyone in the house worked.

"Then they closed Singer's, Beattie's biscuit factory and the shipyards. People were in a lot of trouble. We helped them find out what benefits they were entitled to."

The tidal wave of debt issues didn't come until later in the 1980s when credit cards became more freely available.

"I can remember that very clearly. There were signs up in the stores in Glasgow: get a credit card.

"People were walking out with bags of stuff and you knew they couldn't afford it. Then they came in here looking for help," she says.

Over the years the issues dealt with has widened dramatically, on a drop-in day people can be looking for help on anything from education, employment and housing to immigration.

"We see people from the armed forces too. They could be their pension hasn't been sorted out or they have been wounded and they're not getting proper care or not getting the money to help them recover," says Helen.

In years gone by Helen remembers there would be about 10 people in the waiting room in the morning. Latterly there can be up to 40 people queued out the door.

The bureau also makes home visits and Helen ­remembers about 10 years a local woman struggling to make ends meet.

"She had linoleum on her floor and still had a black and white television, she just didn't realise she was due so much," Helen explains.

"We were amazed because she didn't know she could come to us. Someone had suggested she should get a home visit because she wasn't ­getting her benefits.

"It changed her whole life - she had a colour television, a carpet on her floor, she had some money and food in the fridge.

"This is a very nice place to work because everybody is thinking about how they can help someone."

She added: "We never turn anyone away. I've had a lot of satisfaction from knowing I've helped people."