SURREY WELFARE RIGHTS UNIT - APPLICATION FOR SUPPORT

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1 Agenda Item No. 28 EXECUTIVE 15 DECEMBER 2016 Executive Summary SURREY WELFARE RIGHTS UNIT - APPLICATION FOR SUPPORT Surrey Welfare Rights Unit provides support to statutory and Voluntary Community Sector organisations on issues such as benefits and community care legal advice. The Unit provides a telephone consultancy line, training courses and information resources, also undertaking social policy work in order to influence policy makers to make improvements for vulnerable people. The Unit ensures that the organisations supported in Woking deliver the best quality services they can. The Unit has applied for revenue funding of 10,000 for each of the next three years, which would be used to continue to provide the services of the Unit. Each year efforts are made to secure grants from all the other Surrey boroughs and districts with varied success. The Unit continues to secure other funds to ensure its core services continue, and undertakes project work to help contribute towards its overheads. The Unit is well respected by other voluntary and statutory agencies, and Citizens Advice Woking makes referrals/obtains advice from the Unit. In view of the role played by the Unit in advising and assisting local organisations and statutory agencies (including Woking Borough Council), it is recommended that the Council s support of 10,000 continues. In line with other grant recommendations, the funding should be for 2017/18 with no further years agreed at this time. The financial pressure on the Council s budgets is expected to continue in the coming years and accordingly the overall level of support available in future years may be reduced. The applicant is therefore to be advised that the award of funding for 2017/18 does not imply that a similar application in 2018/19 would be supported. In particular, it is emphasised that the Council is unlikely to be in a position to award any sums above the 2017/18 levels. In view of this, the applicant is to be advised to ensure that contingency plans for the Group s operations for 2018/19 have been drawn up in the event that the Council is unable to continue its support beyond April As in previous years, all applicants are strongly recommended to pursue alternative sources of funding and are encouraged to approach Woking Association of Voluntary Services for advice and support. Reasons for Decision To ensure the continued services of the Unit for Woking residents. Recommendations The Executive is requested to: RESOLVE That a grant of 10,000 be awarded to Surrey Welfare Rights Unit towards running costs during 2017/18. Amount(s) Recommended: 2017/18 Community Grant Budget 10,000 1

2 Conditions Accounts. The Organisation must submit audited accounts for the year in which the grant is awarded, including an income and expenditure account and balance sheet. Please note that accounts for other years may also be required. Monitoring Information. The Organisation must submit quarterly monitoring information as a measure of its achievements. Failure to provide details will jeopardise the award. requests will be sent to the applicant on a quarterly basis. Publicity. Where possible, the Organisation is required to publicise the support received from Woking Borough Council, including on all literature and leaflets produced. Payments. Unless exceptional circumstances exist all claims must be received quarterly in writing ( or letter) with details of the costs incurred (invoices required for over 50K) and monitoring information for the previous quarter. Payment Period. Final quarter claims must be made by the second week in March. Unclaimed awards will not be available at a later date unless exceptional circumstances can be demonstrated to the Council before the end of the award year. Joint Working. WBC expects the Organisation to engage positively on health and wellbeing multi-agency joint work affecting Woking. Groups which refuse may place their Council support at risk, e.g. grant, concessionary rent and other assistance. Performance Indicators The Organisation to provide a breakdown of the users in the past quarter. The Organisation to provide details of activities and events held during the last quarter. The Organisation to advise how the Council's support has been publicised over the last quarter. The Organisation to provide a statement stating the use to which the grant money has been put. The Executive has authority to determine the above recommendations. Background Papers: Application Form. Reporting Person: Sue Barham, Strategic Director Extn: 3810, Sue.Barham@woking.gov.uk Frank Jeffrey, Democratic Services Manager Extn: 3012, Frank.Jeffrey@woking.gov.uk Contact Person: Frank Jeffrey, Democratic Services Manager Extn: 3012, Frank.Jeffrey@woking.gov.uk Doug Davern, Democratic Services Officer Extn: 3018, Doug.Davern@woking.gov.uk 2

3 Portfolio Holder: Cllr Melanie Whitehand Shadow Portfolio Holder: Cllr Ian Eastwood Date Published: 7 December

4 GROUP Surrey Welfare Rights Unit PROJECT OUTLINE Purpose of Application Community Strategy Amount(s) Requested Woking Borough Council has supported the Unit for a number of years both with grant funding and our Depot premises. We are very grateful to the Council and continue to take steps to secure alternative funding. For this year we again are not asking for an increase. We are applying for revenue funding to help towards our core costs, and in particular our telephone support line for advisers and casework service that takes on the complex cases from some of those calls. Our other core activities are benefits training and research and campaigning which all members of Citizens Advice undertake. The advice line is open Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm. During the past 12 months we have experienced an increase in complex casework and in particular Upper Tribunal appeals. There are still significant issues with poor decision making, especially with disability benefits, which affect the most vulnerable and elderly. We are also dealing with more EU enquiries concerning both returning British Citizens and EU migrant workers. During 2017 we are expecting to support more households in the borough affected by the reduced benefit cap, higher numbers of Universal Credit claimants, as well as young people in low paid, insecure employment which makes claiming in-work benefits extremely problematic with continuous changes in circumstance and the duty to notify. A community which values personal health and well-being. 2017/18 10, /19 10, /20 10,000 BACKGROUND TO GROUP Status and Aims Surrey Welfare Rights Unit is an independent charity that provides support to other organisations on welfare rights and community care issues. The Unit is a member of Citizens Advice and holds the Advice Quality Standards in both Welfare Benefits casework and Telephone Support. SWRU runs a telephone advice line for advisers, provides training courses across a range of subjects and produces information, publications and a website containing social security and related information. 4

5 Volunteers How many volunteers does the Organisation have? 10 Please indicate how many are male 5 Please indicate how many are female 5 Please indicate how many are disabled 0 Please indicate how many are from an ethnic minority 0 Employees How many employees does the Organisation have 7 Please indicate how many are Male 1 Please indicate how many are female 6 Please indicate how many are disabled 0 Please indicate how many are from an ethnic minority 0 Users How many users does the Organisation have? 1180 Please indicate how many are Male 449 Please indicate how many are Female 731 Please indicate how many are disabled 673 Please indicate how many are from an ethnic minority 268 Please indicate how many are from the Woking area 96 Please indicate how many are aged under 5 1 Please indicate how many are aged between 5 and 10 0 Please indicate how many are aged between 11 and Please indicate how many are aged between 18 and Please indicate how many are aged over Charges for users No Details of Charges For Users: Organisations subscribe to our service, in particular to gain access to the advice line. Individual clients are not charged. Fees are tiered according to income of the organisation. Members How many Members does the Organisation have? 0 ASSESSMENT Review of Financial Standing At the time of the application, the Group held 287,876 in the bank. The running costs for the remainder of 2016/17 are a total of 140,986. The restricted and designated costs are as follows: 25,408 Redundancy fund 7,000 Replacement IT fund 12,675 Project completion fund 15,000 Contingency fund (premises) The Group therefore has a total of 86,807 as unrestricted reserves which equates to less than six months running costs. 5

6 Budget The Group has submitted a budget for 2017/18 to 2019/20. The budget for the coming year indicates a deficit of 15,052 based on an income of 125,738 against an expenditure of 140,790. The budget includes the requested grant from Woking Borough Council. Income includes SCC and Borough Grants ( 88,238), Training Delivery ( 19,000) and Subscriptions ( 16,000). Items of expenditure include Salaries ( 108,523), Training Programme ( 6,500), Citizens Advice Membership ( 4,900) and Computer Costs ( 3,000). The 2018/19 and 2019/20 budgets indicate a deficit of 19,610 and 23,910 respectively. Accounts The Group has submitted accounts for 2015/16 which show an income of 234,268 ( 236,603 in 2014/15) against expenditure of 209,550 ( 208,116 in 2014/15), resulting in a surplus of 24,718 (a surplus of 28,487 in 2014/15). The sum of 204,297 was carried forward at the end of the year. Income included Charitable Activities ( 231,573). Items of expenditure included Charitable Activities ( 208,673). Previous Support by Woking Borough Council: 2016/17 10,000 towards the cost of the services provided in Woking 2015/16 10,000 towards the cost of the services provided in Woking 2014/15 10,000 towards the cost of the services provided in Woking 2013/14 10,000 towards the cost of the services provided in Woking 2012/13 10,000 towards the cost of the services provided in Woking 2011/12 10,000 towards the cost of the services provided in Woking 2010/11 10,000 towards the cost of the services provided in Woking 2009/10 10,000 towards the cost of the services provided in Woking 2008/09 10,000 towards the cost of the services provided in Woking 2007/08 10,000 towards the cost of the services provided in Woking The Council also provides accommodation for the Unit at the Monument Way Depot, valued at 3,300 each year. Sue Barham Consultee Views The group clearly undertake some very valuable work, which is well respected by the increasing number of local organisations joining the Unit. It is clear that the Unit is also experiencing as other agencies are reporting, increased complex cases to deal with, and therefore their specialism is particularly important. In view of the role played by the Unit in advising and assisting local organisations and statutory agencies (including the council), I would be supportive of the application. WAVS WAVS works with Surrey Welfare Rights Unit and fully supports the work that it does in providing specialist advice and support to our member organisations in areas of specific need. 6

7 Joanne (SCC) Parkinson WAVS supports this application. SCC fund Surrey Welfare Rights Unit as detailed in their application. The service is valued in meeting a need. A NW local information and advice strategy is being developed in conjunction with SCC, CCG, and Borough Councils to consider the area need around information and advice services. This will not be complete until the new year, but may be relevant for consideration in the application for three years funding. Summary of Key Supporting Information Assessment Overview Constitution - Yes Registered Charity - Yes VAT Registered - No Equal Opportunities Policy - Yes Safeguarding Policy - Yes Reserves Policy - Yes Quality Mark - Yes Other funding sources pursued - Yes Other support by the Council - Yes (mandatory rate relief, discretionary rate relief, concessionary rent) Fundraising - Yes Two quotes - N/A Regular monitoring information previously provided? - Yes The Unit employs a Unit Manager (36 hours a week), one Senior Welfare Rights Adviser (30 hours), 3 x Welfare Rights Advisers (totalling 56 hours), a Families Income Adviser (14 hours), a Finance Administrator (21 hours) and a Training Administrator (14 hours). In addition, the Unit has 10 volunteer trustees who govern the charity. The Group also has short-term volunteer placements including law students and volunteers with a learning disability. The core tasks of Surrey Welfare Rights Unit are to: - Provide an advice line for the use of the professional staff from referral groups - Provide training courses on welfare benefits for, amongst others, CABx, statutory and voluntary organisations - Influence the development of social policies and services and to ensure individuals do not suffer through a lack of knowledge or an inability to express their needs effectively - Produce information and publicity on welfare rights issues for both professional staff and, when relevant, the people of Surrey - Promote the take-up of welfare benefits within the County especially among the frail and vulnerable - Provide a source of expertise on Community Care issues in Surrey - Take on a limited amount of casework as appropriate and provide Tribunal representation in complex cases - Be a focal point of welfare rights work within Surrey through support groups, seminars and informal talks, social policy work and networking. Projects are run in addition to its core services, which often involve volunteers benefitting from training and gaining specialist skills in welfare rights issues. The role of the Unit is to provide expert advice, ensure quality, train and support those volunteers in other organisations so that they may provide full and accurate advice in what is a complex and rapidly changing area of law. The Unit states that the local voluntary services would not be able to give the full and 7

8 accurate advice to the tens of thousands of vulnerable people they currently help without the Unit's services, which is also provided through talks and workshops. Organisations subscribe to the service, in particular to gain access to the advice line. Fees are tiered according to the income of the organisation, with currently 60 local organisations holding subscriptions and a much higher number attending the training courses provided. As a member of Citizen s Advice, the same electronic recording system (Petra) is used which sets out the data profiling of clients. During the past 12 months, this has included an information stand at Asda in Sheerwater; delivering a benefits workshop to the Maybury and Sheerwater Trust; several events organised by North West Surrey CCG; as well as Engage events run by Surrey and Borders NHS Trust. Furthermore, clients such as Citizens Advice Woking and SDPP, help people who are working in the borough. In addition, training has been provided over the past year to 51 local advisers and volunteers, and 601 people working in county-wide services and organisations. Surrey Welfare Rights Unit has applied to extend its annual revenue funding of 10,000 into 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20 towards core costs, in particular the telephone support line for advisers and the casework service which takes on the complex cases arising from those calls. The other core activities are benefits training, research and campaigning which all members of Citizens Advice undertake. The advice line is open from Monday to Friday between the hours 10am to 4pm. During the past 12 months there has been an increase in complex casework and Upper Tribunal appeals. There are still significant issues with poor decision making, especially with disability benefits, which affect the most vulnerable and elderly. The Unit is dealing with more EU enquiries concerning both returning British Citizens and EU migrant workers. During 2017 the Unit is expecting to support more households in the borough affected by the reduced benefit cap, higher numbers of Universal Credit claimants, as well as young people in low paid, insecure employment which makes claiming in-work benefits problematic with continuous changes in circumstance and the duty to notify. The following breakdown of costs has been provided for the services on a County-wide basis: Advice line - 61,620 Training programme - 50,560 Information production - 23,700 Research and Campaigning - 22,120 Total - 158,090 During 2015/16 the Unit reports 161 Woking residents were supported with complex benefit issues including tribunal representation and appeals to the Upper Tribunal. Hundreds more residents were provided with information and advice at over 20 local events. The Unit trained over 650 local advisers, support staff, volunteers and health and social care workers. Those trained and supported individuals will then help many thousands of local vulnerable residents. Furthermore they are provided by the Unit with information resources, benefit rates, factsheets and updates so that they can keep up with the changes in welfare reform. The local residents helped by the Unit have often had a significant change in their lives and benefit issues are often the impenetrable problem that they either do not understand or cannot resolve. During the past year the Unit has undertaken casework where there has been a significant risk of homelessness wrapped up with many other issues such as mental health, bereavement, domestic abuse and court proceedings. Many other organisations will not have the specialist knowledge or capacity to undertake casework that could take 9 to 12 months to resolve. The Unit helps clients who have become too unwell to work, or have suffered an accident or had a stroke. It assists lone parents who have recently separated and need advice on returning to work, or increasing their hours and work and how to get help with childcare costs. It has also developed expertise in EEA social security law and has run several test cases 8

9 during the past 12 months. Despite having lived and worked in the UK for a number of years, EEA migrants are now significantly affected by the new more restrictive benefit rules when illness, redundancy or pregnancy occurs. There is stated to be much research showing links to poorer health outcomes, both physical and mental, for low income households. The Unit is working increasingly closer with CCGs, Surrey and Borders NHS Trust and directly with local hospitals and hospices to help identify unclaimed benefits. Not only does the Unit directly help local residents, it is training and supporting hundreds of advisers to provide advice on benefits, which brings in millions of additional income to the County. The Unit is currently collating responses to the annual survey of user organisations. A total of 119 surveys have been sent out to advisers in local organisations, and 40% have replied so far. To date, 98% have confirmed that they found the Unit's advice line helpful. A total of 75% confirmed that the advice made a positive difference to their client's situation and 83% were financially better off. 91% of advisers stated that they predicted more specialist support would be needed in the future. Very positive feedback was also received from casework clients. The Unit s support is also requested at numerous local events including those aimed at carers, mental health, and family support. Last year over 25 workshops, AGMs and information days were attended. The Unit s expertise is also requested on several local groups such as the Welfare Reform Coordination Group and the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Brighter Futures Group. The increase in complex casework is a symptom of the loss of other casework services such as Legal Aid in benefits cases, Law Centres and the end of the County Council's welfare advice service, delivered through Getwise. The Unit states that its aim is to protect the remaining advice resource and support them in their work. The Unit reports that its core services are funded by a mix of County, Borough and District grants as well as subscriptions and income from delivering training. During 2017/18 the Carer advice project will continue which also adds some income towards the core costs. However the Group notes that its grant income for core services has not increased since The growth in the service has been met through project income and income-generation such as increasing the subscriber base (which also leads to increased demand). The Unit continues to explore future projects and joint working but the funding environment is noted to be very challenging. The Unit is hoping to agree two income opportunities: one to work in partnership with the new Legal Aid solicitors firm offering housing advice in Surrey, and the other exploring providing specialist support to Hampshire CABx. Via a WAVS "Match Made" event in 2015 the Unit has been provided with a free meeting room for Trustee board meetings at the KFC HQ in Woking. The Unit notes that all other Surrey CABx are directly funded by their local borough/district. The County Council grant covers less than 45% of the Unit s core costs. It also needs to secure smaller grants from boroughs and districts and each year make numerous grant applications. For 2017/18 the Unit will no longer have funding from the Getwise service, however its priority is to maintain the advice line opening hours which were extended to 10am-4pm when the Getwise funding began in The Unit states that it is not asking for an increase from Woking Borough Council, though at its current level the grant is essential to ensuring a core offer of services is provided for subscribers and training delegates. The Unit has explored and does not believe that there are other sources of funding which can be secured for core activity. The value of the Unit s work has been independently costed as follows: 112,854 savings to local Government, 1.076m savings in wider economic and social benefits and 3.27m income directly gained by local residents. Woking Borough Council provides the Unit with office space at Monument Way Depot. As a registered charity it also benefits from mandatory rate relief with the remaining 20% met by discretionary rate relief. The Unit states that it is grateful to the Council for support. The Group has provided a breakdown of organisations which have been approached for grant funding: 9

10 - Surrey County Council No decision beyond 2016/17 - Guildford Borough Council Decision probably April Tandridge District Council Decisions made each Spring after budget setting - Elmbridge Borough Council Decisions made each Spring after budget setting - Waverley Borough Council Application opens October Spelthorne Borough Council Application opens Autumn 2016 The Unit also anticipates 50,000 being received from Surrey County Council for Carer Advice project funding, and from Hampshire CABx for project funding for specialist support During the past year the following fundraising has taken place: - Additional funding from Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Surrey 4 - Commissioned courses delivered outside of Surrey and to statutory and non-subscriber organisations - Securing funding for a pilot with Citizens Advice Hampshire due to start this financial year - Securing funding for providing support to new Legal Aid Housing Contract for Surrey - Still awaiting bid decision on Enterprise M3 application lead by Surrey Community Action - Raising small donations via Easyfundraising and Easysearch sites. The Unit was audited by Citizens Advice last Autumn who confirmed the Advice Quality Standard in welfare benefits casework, and also awarded the Advice Quality Standard in Telephone Support; the first Citizens Advice service to receive this. Citizens Advice remotely monitors the standard of advice via its Quality of Advice Assessments system through a traffic light system whereby a random sample of advice enquiries are rigorously checked by an independent auditor. Performance targets are set and monitored by the trustee board. These include answer times to enquiries; which is collected via the user survey. All training is anonymously evaluated. The Unit holds the Office of Immigration Services Commission Level 1 standard and is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority so that it can deal with benefit overpayments. The Trustee board conducts an annual complaints review and monitors both outputs and outcomes against the business plan. They also regularly attend local events and networks and independently receive feedback from the users of the Unit. Over 70 local organisations are supported including local hospices, housing associations, youth support, Age UK Surrey, local Citizens Advice and disability organisations. The Unit is also a member of the following: HM Courts and Tribunals Liaison Group; Child Poverty Action Group; Surrey Welfare Reform Coordination Group; National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers; Surrey CABx Research and Campaigning network; Citizens Advice Surrey; and Citizens Advice Universal Credit Intelligence Hub. The Unit Manager is also Chair of Surrey CABx Managers Network. Considerations Improving incomes and ensuring take up of entitlements is a fundamental area of advice that communities require. The complexity of the social security system means that anyone providing benefits advice needs to be trained and have access to proper resources and specialist support for complex enquiries. There is evidence available nationally which shows a need for up-to-date information and support due to the substantial ongoing welfare reforms taking place nationally. Woking enjoys an active advice sector with many volunteers undertaking to provide welfare rights advice. In order for them to have the confidence and knowledge in what they are advising, they access the Unit for support and regularly attend training, ensuring that they keep up to date with changes and new legislation. Especially in the present economic climate families, carers, disabled people and older clients will need access to advice in order to reduce debt, minimise the risk of homelessness, meet basic bills and help them cope in times of change such as loss of job. The Unit ensures that the organisations supported in Woking 10

11 deliver the best quality services they can. The Unit is well respected by other voluntary and statutory agencies, and Woking Citizens Advice Bureau makes referrals/obtains advice from the Unit. In view of the role played by the Unit in advising and assisting local organisations and statutory agencies (including Woking Borough Council), it is recommended that the Council s support of 10,000 continues for the 2017/18 financial year. The financial pressure on the Council s budgets is expected to continue in the coming years and accordingly the overall level of support available in future years may be reduced. The applicant is therefore to be advised that the award of funding for 2017/18 does not imply that a similar application in 2018/19 would be supported. In particular, it is emphasised that the Council is unlikely to be in a position to award any sums above the 2017/18 levels. In view of this, the applicant is to be advised to ensure that contingency plans for the Group s operations for 2018/19 have been drawn up in the event that the Council is unable to continue its support beyond April As in previous years, all applicants are strongly recommended to pursue alternative sources of funding and are encouraged to approach Woking Association of Voluntary Services for advice and support. S142 Local Government Act 1972 Legal Authority REPORT ENDS 11