The report details progress against the Tackling Poverty Action Plan approved by Council on 25 June 2015.

Transcription

1 To: Leadership Board On: 12 th December 2017 Report by: Chief Executive Heading: Tackling Poverty Programme Progress Update 1. Summary The report details progress against the Tackling Poverty Action Plan approved by Council on 25 June The report outlines key progress highlights against the priority areas within Renfrewshire Council s Tackling Poverty strategy, covering the last 6 months since the report at Leadership Board on 20 th June This report notes that Tackling Poverty Programme funding runs until the end of 2017/18, subject to any future budget decisions taken by the Council. This follows the extension of the funding agreed by Council in February 2017 for the last financial year. In addition, the report gives information regarding various welfare reform changes and the potential implications on the organisation and residents, and in particular the planned roll-out of Universal Credit full service in September Recommendations 2.1 It is recommended that members of the Board: Note progress on the delivery of the Tackling Poverty Action Plan Note the end of Tackling Poverty Programme funding at the end of the 2017/18 financial year, subject to any further budget 0

2 decisions taken by Council Note the work undertaken to explore the potential implications of Universal Credit roll out and wider welfare reforms 3. Background The Renfrewshire Tackling Poverty Commission, the first of its kind to be established in Scotland, was set up by the Council in February The Commission was asked by the Council to consider the nature, causes and impact of poverty in Renfrewshire and to make recommendations to mitigate and minimise the impact of child poverty in Renfrewshire. The Commission published its report on Friday 13 March 2015, submitting the report to the Council and Community Planning Partners for consideration. In June 2015, Council approved an action plan to tackle poverty which was developed by the Community Planning Partnership. This action plan fully committed the total of 6M set aside in the 2015/16 budget to enable an early response to the work of the Tackling Poverty Commission. In February 2017, Council approved a further 1.5million to ensure key projects and services are sustained through to the end of 2017/18. Progress on the delivery of the Tackling Poverty Programme is reported at the Leadership Board and the Community Planning Partnership Executive Group on a six-monthly basis. Progress This report outlines the key areas of progress against priorities of Renfrewshire s Tackling Poverty Strategy and the Action Plan agreed by Council in June Priority 1: Increase the number of households who can access employment that provides and acceptable standard of living Tackling Poverty projects have continued to achieve significant financial gains for citizens across Renfrewshire, with a number of projects providing financial assistance to citizens through income maximisation advice in projects such as Families First and Healthier Wealthier Children, saving money on fuel costs through providing energy advocacy, saving interest by offering low lost loans, and providing direct support to families with the cost of the school day. In total, these initiatives within the Tacking Poverty Programme have directly saved households almost 5 million. Work to maintain our Living Wage Accreditation and promote the Living Wage has continued and is detailed in a separate paper presented to this Leadership Board. 1

3 Claimant Support Officers are now embedded full time in each of Renfrewshire s three jobcentres. There have now been 1,631 referrals to the Claimant Support Officers, which equates to approximately 300 referrals a month. Officers provide a wide range of support, including personal budgeting support, Council Tax Reduction applications and wider Council Tax advice, Discretionary Housing Payment claims and providing an essential link to a wide range of Council services, particularly housing. Promotion of the Advice Partnership Renfrewshire 1 website continues, which has information on all advice agencies across Renfrewshire, what services they offer and how and when to access them, along with a freephone number hosted on behalf of the Advice Partnership by Citizens Advice Bureau. Marketing of the website and freephone number continues in key town centre sites, and across local press and social media. An Advice Partnership pop-up event was held in Johnstone Town Hall as part of Challenge Poverty Week. with partners including; RAMH, CAB, Advice Works and the Credit Union. Over 4,200 people have used the site in its first year of operation, with 1,200 users in the last period. The continuation of the Advice Partnership work is being taken forward as part of the recommissioning of our external advice services. The Credit Union Development Fund has now been fully allocated by Leadership Board, which has supported Credit Unions to boost membership and offer low credit and ethnical financial products. Work is ongoing with all credit unions across Renfrewshire to help promote and develop their products and services. Recent activities have included the introduction of three new rural collections in Lochwinnoch, Kilbarchan and Bishopton and three new volunteers from Mary Russell are now actively volunteering with Renfrewshire s Credit Union. Credit Unions also held a number of awareness raising events as part of Financial Capability Week in November An Affordable Credit partnership has been established with representation from Star Project, Credit Unions, Experian, Housing, Lloyds TSB and Bank of Scotland, Scotcash, FLAIR (local Housing Associations), UWS, Big Issue Invest, Engage Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau. The Energy Advice Renfrewshire team have now visited 2,092 households, resulting in financial savings of 738k ( 333k of annual savings and 405k of capital savings). LEAP also ran a successful project called Make it Happen, supporting 80 households in fuel poverty to reduce the cost of gas and electricity within their homes through practical measures, such as changing lights to very efficient 1 The web address for the Advice Renfrewshire site is 2

4 LED's and draught proofing Renfrewshire Foodbank have been distributing bus tickets to service users, with the grant funding awarded by the Leadership Board. 243 tickets have been issued in the last quarter. Advice Partnership members are working with the Foodbank to increase advice provision available at foodbank drop-ins, and the joint pilot project between Citizens Advice and Renfrewshire Foodbank has been successful and will be sustained by these partners. The number of Young Scot cardholders in Renfrewshire continues to rise, having increased by 40%. Renfrewshire Council is now the leading local authority for Young Scot rewards, with over 3,800 reward users. This is 30% of the current cardholders and double the local authority average across Scotland. As part of the Young Scot project, a smart ticketing service has been launched in partnership with Young Scot and McGills buses, where both the Employability Hub and Throughcare teams can load bus tickets directly onto young people s Young Scot cards. By September, over 1,100 bus journeys had been taken by young people in Throughcare. Priority 3: Improve levels of physical and mental health of children in low income families A new partnership approach to supporting care-experienced young people is now being taken forward within Children s Services. The project will bring together 23 corporate parents from across the Community Planning Partnership to deliver targeted employability and development opportunities meeting the needs and aspirations of looked-after young people. Making Futures activities continue offering arts and cultural opportunities to young people. This has recently included King Makers, a programme of school and community based work inspired by the National Galleries Monarch of the Glen painting, engaging 129 children and adults in September and October. The pop-up Maker Space also continued through autumn, with 263 children and adults participating in activities such as ceramic classes, animation workshops and 3D printing and scanning. The Peer Health Education project, run in conjunction with Active Communities, have now trained 274 pupils from S3-S6 as peer educators. The peer educators have engaged with 4,360 pupils and this includes involvement that will benefit their health and wellbeing via workshops, classes and assemblies. Topics covered within the peer education programme include: mental health, healthy eating, sleep, physical activity, drugs and alcohol, sexual health and confidence and self esteem. Young people also report increased knowledge of health inequalities, evidence for some of behaviour change and more involvement in their local community as well as 3

5 gaining awards and qualifications School counselling services continue to operate in all 11 secondary schools across Renfrewshire. To date they have supported over 418 young people, with anxiety/stress, bereavement/loss and family issues the most frequently presented issues. Initial evaluation of the service has demonstrated an increase in the overall health and wellbeing of pupils attending the counselling service. The Healthier Wealthier Children service has been live since April 2016, which provides dedicated income advisor support through key primary health care professionals such as midwives and health visitors. Following over a million pounds in income gained across 435 referrals in 2016/17, a further 430k has been gained for clients between April and October Priority 4: Close the educational gap between children from low income families and their better off peers The three new Families First core teams have been operational since April 2016 in Gallowhill, Foxbar and Johnstone localities. The teams support families with children aged between 0-8 with a number of different issues such as wellbeing, financial / energy /employability advice, and parenting issues. It should be noted that the funding for these three localities runs until the end of the 2017/18 financial year. The Joint Employability Project is a partnership project which aims to improve employability related outcomes for young people least likely to achieve a positive destination, such as pupils from SIMD 1&2, Looked After Children, those with Additional Support Needs or children receiving Free School Meals. Over 2,058 individual opportunities have been offered out to Renfrewshire pupils through the various projects. Breakfast clubs continue to be delivered in 9 primary schools and 1 secondary school, providing pupils with a healthy breakfast and a programme of activities. Over 70,000 breakfasts were served over the school year 2016/17. These 10 clubs continued into the new school year, from August 2017, with around 2,000 breakfasts being served each week. University of the West of Scotland are doing an evaluation of this project, and this will be completed in Autumn The Cost of the School Day fund is in its second year of funding in all schools to support low income parents with the cost of the school day, for example equipment and school trips. Evidence gathered indicates that Head Teachers clearly recognise the positive impact of this funding and they will continue to work with staff and parents to seek to adopt sustainable approaches to reducing costs associated with the school day. 4

6 Priority 5: Create neighbourhoods where people want to live and can afford to live Street Stuff continues to offer an expanded activities programme, with new Street Stuff buses in use and an extended programme of activities in new locations along with the offer of a healthy meal. The additional enforcement officer continues to work within the private rented housing sector making sure that private landlords are registered. To date, 434 unregistered landlords have been identified with 217 of these having now registered and 163 who have failed to register have now been issued with Rent Penalty Notices. The remaining numbers are in the process of being pursued and where they fail register as a private landlord, they will also be issued with Rent Penalty Notices. Work is also being undertaken in respect of the condition of privately rented property and where issues are identified, action is taken with the landlord to ensure that the rental property complies with the Repairing Standard. There have been 66 investigations since this post was created, with the majority of cases being resolved with the landlord concerned. Four landlords have been reported to the Housing and Property Chamber First Tier Tribunal for Scotland (formerly the Private Rented Housing Panel) and all applications made by the Council have been successful in being taken on by the Tribunal Service, resulting in Repairing Standard Enforcement Orders being made against landlords who have failed to maintain their property. Research to understand total housing costs for tenants living in the social rented sector and review best practice from landlords in supporting tenants to sustain tenancies has now been completed. Renfrewshire Council are working in partnership with Bridgewater Housing Association, Paisley South Housing Association, Williamsburgh Housing Association, Linstone Housing Association and Ferguslie Park Housing Association to identify how registered social landlords can take the recommendations forward both as a partnership and individually. Priority 6: Narrow inequalities by working in a way which is inclusive, effective and evidence-based Renfrewshire s Tackling Poverty Commission made a series of recommendations around how organisations should work, and these are the five key principles of the Tackling Poverty Strategy and Action Plan. These principles are relevant to all of the projects within the Action Plan, and are woven through the programme. A very successful campaign of activities was delivered throughout Challenge Poverty Week. This included a social media campaign to raise awareness of poverty related stigma, Advice Renfrewshire event in Johnstone Town Hall, visit by the Depute Provost to the Tannahill 5

7 Centre's cookery class, the Provost volunteered at the Renfrewshire Foodbank and we held an event for all children attending the Families First Clubs. This was a show entitled "Disgusting Digestion" and was delivered by the Science Centre to 300 children over two days at St Benedict s Digiteers have delivered 133 hours of coaching and 34 new learners registered with the project within this period. Learners continue to be predominately job-seekers, but some older learners are also involved. Digiteers took part in an event in Central Library to celebrate Get Online Week, and also with a library outreach event at the RAH, focussing on online health information in association with Health & Social Care Week. Following poverty related stigma work carried out in partnership with the Star Project, plans are now underway to share the learning and output from this work with senior managers across the Council. As part of the Digital Participation project, Tablet courses at DRC and ROAR have been running successfully, as such there has now been an additional class created for people with hearing issues. The Digital IT Group also continues but a new class has been developed for Disability Resource Centre users who are interested in learning more about tablets. Our Tea and Tablets café, which is in Partnership with YMCA Paisley, has now been running for four weeks. Implications of Welfare Reforms and Universal Credit roll-out Work continues to identify the medium term financial and workforce planning implications for the Council because of welfare reform changes and take steps to manage and mitigate these. Universal Credit full service is due to roll out in Renfrewshire in September In November, it was announced that the roll-out of Universal Credit in Renfrewshire would be delayed from the May rollout that officers have been working to. The rollout of Universal Credit full service is likely to have a number of implications for residents in Renfrewshire and for the Council as an organisation. A number of changes were made to Universal Credit as part of the UK budget in November These include the removal of waiting days to reduce the delay until first payments, and the arrangement of a 2 week run-on for Housing Benefit, to mitigate the potential for accrual of rent arrears. It is anticipated that these amendments will mitigate some of the potential impacts of Universal Credit, particularly the hardship faced by some claimants while waiting for their first payment. However, it should be noted that the risks outlined in this paper are still significant despite these mitigating arrangements. 6

8 10.4 There are currently 1,932 Universal Credit claimants in Renfrewshire and work has been underway since the initial roll out of Universal Credit to understand the potential impacts of the roll out and how claimants can be best supported. It is noted that the current number of Universal Credit claimants in Renfrewshire is a small number compared to that expected after roll out of full service, and these represent claimants with less complex circumstances than many who will move to Universal Credit next year. It is therefore anticipated that there will be significant demand pressure on support services as a result of the increase in volumes of between 18,000 and 20,000 claimants transitioning onto UC, but also the complexity of claimants circumstances. Specific implications for the Council that have been identified include: Experience of other local authorities that have moved to fullservice indicate that it is likely there will be an increase in mainstream rent arrears linked to Universal Credit as a result of features of Universal Credit such as built in lead times of approximately six weeks for first payments and the direct payment of UC housing cost element to tenants. Universal Credit means that the Council s landlord function in Housing Services will face considerable challenges around rent collection, even if customers are offered the choice to request payment flexibilities as proposed by the SG. Other local authorities have also reported a significant rise in pressure on Scottish Welfare Fund. For example, other Councils have been reporting a 67% increase in demand for crisis grants. As Council Tax Reduction is separated from housing support within Universal Credit, this is having a negative impact on the number and total value of Council Tax Reduction awards. Despite an increase in Discretionary Housing Payments budget by Scottish Government in 2017/18 and agreed top-up from the Council budget, changes to the benefit cap and funding for bedroom tax cases continue to put pressure on this budget. Universal Credit applies to customers living in homeless accommodation. The challenges faced by homeless clients mean that claiming UC and receiving housing cost support has implications for the Council s ability to maintain the current rental income received for the provision of Council provided short stay facilities. This drives concerns in terms of how income levels could be affected by Universal Credit with regard to the potential for increased arrears and non-payment of rent. However it should be noted DWP are currently reviewing the status of temporary accommodation in Universal Credit. 7

9 There are also a number of financial and workforce planning implications which are being explored and addressed within Customer and Business Services, as a result of changes such as the reduction to the Housing Benefit administration grant as the Universal Credit roll out continues It is anticipated that the Department for Work and Pensions will formally start the Universal Credit roll out process in March 2018, six months prior to the full-service date. In the meantime, work is underway across Council services and partner organisations to prepare for the roll out and explore possible mitigation plans for any adverse impacts. In particular this will involve services which provide advice and information, along with digital support. Implications of the Report 1. Financial -. There are no financial implications for this report. The Tackling Poverty Action Plan is funded by the 6 million allocation by the Council in June 2015, with a further 1.5 million allocated by Council in February HR & Organisational Development There are no HR/OD implications for this report. There are a number of recruitment exercises that are taking place as part of the wider programme, but this report does not propose any decision or changes to work that is currently underway. 3. Community / Council Planning The Tackling Poverty Action Plan is owned by the Community Planning Partnership and as such, progress updates are also delivered to the CPP Board six-monthly. It is closely aligned with the Tackling inequality, ensuring opportunities for all Council Plan theme. 4. Legal - None 5. Property/Assets - None 6. Information Technology - None 7. Equality & Human Rights - The Tackling Poverty Action Plan is key to social justice and wider equality and human rights considerations. This report does not propose any changes to provision or service that would require specific consideration of equality and human rights issues. 8. Health & Safety None 9. Procurement The Tackling Poverty Action Plan has a number of 8

10 procurement exercises within its projects, but this paper does not recommend any changes or raise any concerns relating to procurement elements of the plan. 10. Risk The impact of not addressing poverty and inequality in Renfrewshire is flagged as a key risk to the organisation within the Corporate Risk Register. There are no major risks to the delivery of this programme that require the Leadership Board s consideration at this time. 11. Privacy Impact - None Author: Annabelle Armstrong-Walter, Strategic Partnerships and Inequalities Manager,