impact Report Year One. / COntents 00 List of Figures 3 Executive Summary 4 01 Background to Carlisle and Eden ASTF Project 6 02 A Word from the Managers 8 03 Carlisle and Eden – People and Place 12 04 Responding to Welfare Reform 31 05 Partner Overviews 37 06 Characteristics: Services and Provision 46 Carlisle & Eden Age UK 48 Benefit Advice Service 54 Carlisle & Eden CAB 57 Cumbria Law Centre 64 ASTF Summary 71 07 A Week in the Life of Frontline Workers 72 08 Social Policy 94 09 Tellytalk – Opening New Channels of Access 96 10 Looking to the Future – Yr 2 101 References 103 Abbreviations Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB) Free School Meals (FSM) Jobseekers Allowance JSA Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs) Multiple Index of Deprivation (IMD) 2 00 / list of figures. 01 Rurality & Exclusion England/District comparitor 14 02 Health Score Index 15 03 Principle characteristics: Carlisle & Eden 17 04 Cumbria population: Under 15’s 21 05 Population projections by age group 22 06 Industry group: Comparison October 2014 24 07 Occupations sought by JSA claimants in Cumbria October 2014 25 08 Housing tenure: Census 2011 (ONS, 2013) 28 09 Age UK Category of Advice Requested by Clients 50 10 Age UK Clients with Disabilities 51 11 Age UK Type of Disability 51 12 Age UK Gender 51 13 Age UK Age Group of Clients 51 14 Age UK: Referrals by organisation or source into service 52 15 Age UK: External signposts and referrals from Age UK to external organisations 52 16 Age UK: Benefit gains 53 17 Age UK: Benefit gains, ratio & value by district 53 18 BAS: Marital status 55 19 BAS: Ethnicity 55 20 CAB: Category of advice 59 21 CAB: District comparison on category of advice 59 22 CAB: Number of clients with disabilities 60 23 CAB: Type of disability or long-term health condition 60 24 CAB: Client gender 60 25 CAB: Client age group 60 26 CAB: Referrals into service 61 27 CAB: External signposts & referrals 61 28 CAB: Client employment status 62 29 CAB: Housing status of debt clients 62 30 CAB: Advice sought - gender comparison 62 31 CAB: Client financial gains 63 32 CLC: Enquiry outcomes 66 33 CLC: Category of casework advice 66 34 CLC: Outreach: Number of cases 66 35 CLC: Disabilities & long-term health conditions 67 36 CLC: Client gender 67 37 CLC: Client age group 67 38 CLC: Client employment status 68 39 CLC: Client housing status 68 40 CLC: Advice sought - housing status comparison 68 41 CLC: External signposts by enquiry type 69 42 CLC: Advice sought - gender comparison 69 43 CLC: Financial gain by award type 70 44 ASTF: Enquiries received by each partner by district 71 45 ASTF: Enquiries in each advice category by partner 71 46 ASTF: Type of disability or long-term health condition 71 47 ASTF: Employment status 71 3 executive summary. Background In April 2013, £350 million was cut from the legal aid scheme in housing, debt, employment, welfare benefits and family law. There were simultaneous cuts to other sources of public funding and a complex programme of Welfare Reform that was well under way. Government recommendations encouraged advice providers to develop more streamlined provision and together with the Big Lottery a fund to support partnerships of advice agencies was made available. The fund required that agencies work closely together, creating new ways of meeting demand and collaborating to solve the issues individuals bring to their services. In Carlisle and Eden, Age UK, Cumbria Law Centre, Carlisle and Eden Districts Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) and the Benefits Advice Service of Carlisle City Council came together. Their successful bids to the fund have resulted in a number of benefits for those seeking advice in the districts, including: • A new training officer that has recruited over 10 new volunteers for CAB - 6 have already completed their training as gateway assessors. • Welfare Benefits advice has been bolstered at Cumbria Law Centre resulting in an extra 120 individuals being helped in appeals against sanctions and erroneous fitness for work assessments. • A new video-based advice network called Tellytalk has been installed bringing new advice appointments to Longtown, Shap, Appleby and Brampton with Kirkby Stephen and Alston in the pipeline. • A secure online referral system is being developed that will allow advice agencies to make effective referrals between each other and promote inward referrals from other support organisations. This system helps each agency to do their bit in solving the complex problems with which individuals present and will ensure that, for the public, there is no ‘wrong door’ to knock on in the local advice sector. • We are developing evidence of our value to use as currency in future fundraising, to perpetuate and grow our services in the area. The following report is the main example of this work. The current landscape Evidence is growing regarding the connection between social and economic problems and health and wellbeing. This report quotes studies that suggest reductions in mental health problems such as anxiety and depression of between 50% and 81% (see report for references). 4 Cumbria County Council has made some of the deepest cuts of all local authorities (6th most severe), especially felt in areas such as subsidy to bus services. Parts of Eden were already classed as the most deprived in England in terms of access to services and this has been compounded. A report by the Cumbria Commission into Welfare Reform reported that changes to the benefits system were likely to affect the county’s household incomes detrimentally to the tune of £138 million, exacerbating socio-economic problems amongst those on lowest incomes. Parts of Cumbria, including Eden will see half the population become over the age of 50 by 2029. Issues of rural isolation are amplified in older people. Over 3500 children are deemed to live in poverty in Carlisle alone. Provision The four partners dealt with a staggering 8316 enquiries from Carlisle and Eden between September 2013 and August 2014 and clients were helped to access financial awards worth nearly £4.8 million. These were overwhelmingly in benefit related income but include grants such as Winter armth,W debt relief and all kinds of basic support in order to live in relative independence and stability. Additionally, the Law Centre alone prevented more than 135 individuals or families from losing their home. The New Economics Foundation (2008) estimate the cost to the public purse for each such eviction at £22,932. The three charities in the partnership make extensive use of volunteers taking on advice positions, gateway assessment, clerical duties, befriending work and many more vital activities. This also provides rewarding opportunities for dozens of individuals in the districts each year. Some will move into paid work as a result and others will use the work to stay in touch with their communities and to feel valued. All services offered are completely free to the individual seeking help and are funded by a mixture of public and charitable grants. However, all grant funding is time-limited and competition is high. The basic running costs of each organisation have to be fought for each and every year to stay in operation. In summary The partnership offers a remarkable array of advice services to the people of Carlisle and Eden, from the vast spread of CAB’s generalist advice service to the legal casework of the Law Centre, the unrivalled Benefits knowledge of the Benefits Advice Service and the holistic advice and support services of Age UK. This report provides some considerable detail about the people we work with, the problems they bring and the outcomes we help them to achieve. The report is rich in case studies about real clients and how their lives have been improved We are proud of the impact we have in our local communities. The next report at the end of 2015 will provide greater details about the growing Tellytalk Network and study the synergy of high quality advice with medical care. 5 BACKGROUND. CARLISLE & EDEN ASTF PROJECT. In 2012 it was announced that a new fund would be made available through the Big Lottery. It would be called the Advice Services Transition Fund and would bring together funding streams from the Lottery and the Cabinet Office. The fund was established as a result of research carried out into the social need for high quality advice. The ASTF was offered only to partnerships of advice agencies. These partnerships should include key specialist and generalist providers within a local authority area. Amongst the factors influencing the establishment of this fund were the significant cuts to legal aid in housing, debt, welfare benefits and employment matters. In many areas, local authority funding to advice services had also been eroded and the ramifications of Welfare Reform and the stuttering economy were adversely affecting a large proportion of the population, making advice and casework services vital. 01 / BACKGROUND. 01 / BACKGROUND. The key objectives of the fund, that all projects meet the following two outcomes: 01. Advice organisations collaborate effectively with each other, and other agencies, to improve service outcomes for customers 02. Local advice services are resilient and well-equipped to meet future needs, with more modern and enterprising business models and more diverse sources of funding. In Eden district a partnership was formed comprising the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), Age UK and Cumbria Law Centre, with the CAB taking the lead. In Carlisle, the same organisations along with the City Council’s Benefits Advice Service formed a second partnership. Both bids were successful and each set out a diverse schedule of activities.