The Active Inclusion Newcastle approach Reshaping financial support to improve outcomes 25 April 2018 Neil Munslow, Service Manager Active Inclusion Dr Chris Parker, Senior Active Inclusion Officer
What we ll cover today Local context & background The Active Inclusion Newcastle partnership approach & service A citywide response to rent arrears: the sustaining tenancies process Supporting residents to settle: the Supporting Independence Scheme Aligning Discretionary Housing Payments with advice & support
Structural context: poverty End Child Poverty report estimates that in 2017, 36% of children in Newcastle live in relative poverty after housing costs (24 th in UK). This is as high as 56% in some areas of the city Newcastle has the UK s largest foodbank 23% of households are workless (UK 15.1%) (ONS, January to December, 2016) Unemployment rate of 6.9% (UK 4.4%) (ONS, January to December 2017) 28% of 427 debt advice clients with unsustainable budgets (at 31 December 2017) 4,584,682 of Your Homes Newcastle (YHN) rent arrears (at 31 December 2017)
Structural context: local authority cuts 283m Estimated reduction in the council s budget by 2020 These are the largest cuts we have ever faced Much of the council s capacity has understandably gone into responding to these cuts & associated crises At the same time, we have faced a growth in demand for financial inclusion & homelessness prevention information, advice & support
Structural context: the welfare reforms 129m Estimated annual loss in working age benefits amongst 40,000 Newcastle residents by the end of 2022-23 Removal of the spare room subsidy (commonly referred to as the bedroom tax ) 3,022 Newcastle households affected by the bedroom tax (at 31 March 2018) losing an average of 14.42 per week (7,109 in 2013) Newcastle University s research Impact of the Bedroom Tax in Walker (March 2015) emphasised that the apparent simplicity behind the idea of making work pay is fraught with complexities Universal Credit Newcastle has been a full service area in all 3 jobcentres since 15 March 2017. There are 14,135 people on Universal Credit in Newcastle (at 8 February 2018) There are limitations around information sharing & ongoing challenges for residents & landlords in managing the cashflow of delayed or lost income Benefit cap 386 Newcastle households affected by the benefit cap losing up to 149.50 per week (at 28 February 2018) This does not include those who are in receipt of Universal Credit as we do not receive figures from the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP)
Systemic context: moving from single services to a single system approach there is a lot of support for people who are vulnerable but it is incoherent (Lord Freud, Work & Pensions Committee, February 2017) Thousands of residents haven t got enough income to cover their expenditure work hasn t filled the income gap for all. The local state can t afford to replace what the national state has cut the challenge of mitigating the adverse effects with less resources transforming to the consequences of a reduced welfare state Poverty & welfare reforms create interconnected & conditional demands on residents & local authority cuts emphasise our responsibility to maximise the value of public investment in our collective responses This means we need to move from a reactive single service culture to proactive, preventative, partnership responses set within a single system These responses must be based on evidence of what works However, this approach is still developing as we seek to meet the challenges of developing consistent & coherent approaches to information sharing, evidence gathering, case management & the alignment with the commissioning cycle a learning framework
Active Inclusion Newcastle (AIN) partnership approach The welfare reforms create interconnected & conditional demands. Our AIN partnership approach seeks to improve the coordination of our collective responses to support residents to have the foundations for a stable life: Somewhere to Live a home Financial inclusion life without excessive debt An Income benefit entitlement Employment inclusive growth Newcastle s ambition is to make identifying & responding to poverty & preventing homelessness everyone s business making prevention the norm & crisis the exception The welfare reforms are being applied over 12 years without a transition plan for individuals or organisations. This has required incremental system change to develop our collective responses in the context of increased complexity & demand & reduced resources. A learning framework to respond to the question what do we do when work doesn't replace the income that has been cut?
Systemic context: political leadership Coherent partnership working doesn t just happen; it takes political commitment, energy & discipline to create citywide consensus, meaning & purpose that builds trust with residents & partners by improving their experience of our collective resources The AIN approach comes from consistent & visible political leadership Newcastle s political leaders had to balance cutting services to deliver a balanced budget whilst seeking to mitigate the adverse effects of the welfare reforms, which meant improving efficiency & cooperative working AIN contributes to Newcastle City Council s priority of tacking inequalities tackling discrimination & inequalities which prevent people from fulfilling their true potential by providing a framework to improve the coordination & consistency of information, advice & support, helping partners to increase residents financial inclusion & to prevent homelessness
Active Inclusion Newcastle: ways of working creating coherence Understand the local impact Newcastle Gateway matches 17,745 residents with 76 services by 479 staff users Align budget processes to support vulnerable to prevent crisis partners advised 29,036 residents (2016-17) Develop citywide consensus & partnership responses 117 services & organisations participate in our Financial Inclusion Group & Homelessness Prevention Forum, publishing quarterly reviews on financial inclusion & homelessness prevention to facilitate our collective learning framework Provide infrastructure support information & workforce development to help non-specialist partners in financial inclusion & homelessness prevention to identify risk & to prevent crisis Provide partnerships & protocols agreed ways of working that give consistent governance & practice Maximise the value of touch points & trigger points Adapt core services, target support to prevent crisis & catch residents where we fail to prevent crisis Provide systematic exception reporting & feedback loops to understand why we haven t prevented homelessness or financial exclusion, e.g. due to performance, policy or commissioning, & then problem solving Consider the balance of individual, systemic & structural causes of exclusion
Providing infrastructure to turn the aspirations into reality Since 2013 we have worked to create the conditions for a partnership approach to making the prevention of homelessness & financial exclusion everyone s business. This includes: establishing partnership arrangements to discuss & collectively plan around strategic issues, service delivery issues & individual cases publishing reviews on financial inclusion & homelessness prevention providing online & face-to-face training for multi-agency staff & volunteers providing consistent & up-to-date information, including a weekly information update, specialist topic bulletins & other information resources
Developing a learning framework and culture of considared compassion You ve got to think about big things whilst doing small things, so all the small things go in the right direction (Alvin Toffler) We want to make it everyone s business to consider the cause of the problem & the effectiveness of our response To do this we are seeking to develop a consistent thread between: o Identifying residents that may need advice or support o Assessing the individual needs of those residents & planning how best to respond o Responding to resident s needs appropriately o Systematically recording & monitoring our identification, assessment, planning,& response o Routinely collectively reviewing our quantitative & qualitative evidence o Using this evidence to inform policy & commissioning decisions in order to strengthen the link between our individual & aggregated responses
Case coordination Delivery partnerships Strategic partnerships Active Inclusion Newcastle partnership arrangements: supporting integration Homelessness Prevention Forum Quarterly Financial Inclusion Group Quarterly Cross Council Migration Group Bi-monthly Welfare Reform Board Quarterly Employment Support Compact Quarterly Chair: Cabinet Housing Portfolio Holder Chair: Deputy Leader Chair: Service Manager: Active Inclusion Chair: Director of Resources Chair: Deputy Leader Newcastle Advice Compact Monthly Private Rented Liaison Monthly (internal); Quarterly (external) Welfare Reform Operational Group Bi-monthly Homeless & Lettings Quarterly Tyne & Wear Homeless Operational Group Quarterly Newcastle Employment Support Compact Bi-monthly Gateway Working Group Quarterly YHN Liaison, Homeless Debt & Welfare Rights Quarterly Food Poverty Group Quarterly Multiple Exclusion Common Case Management Group Weekly Supported Housing Move-on Panel Monthly Temporary Accommodation Move-on Coordination Monthly Sustaining Tenancy As required Temporary Accommodation Progress Weekly Employment Support Case Management Group Monthly
Developing a citywide consensus to identifying & responding to challenges Identify what is the problem & what is the cause of the problem? Inform what services do we have to respond to the problem? Integrate is more than a single service required & are there opportunities to prevent crisis? Innovate do we need something new because we can t meet need within existing services? 5 to 6 weeks wait for first Universal Credit payment Crisis Support Scheme (CSS) Repeat CSS referrals to preventative outreach Loan schemes, increased CSS funding, policy change Problems with digital access 610 digital access, 72 training & 69 free Wi-Fi points Raising awareness with support & care workers Changing roles for support & care & use of new technology Personal budgeting & work Personal Budgeting Support & employment support Employment Support Case Management Aligning employment assessments & conditionality Errors in APA payments Raising issues with the DWP Newcastle Advice Compact Changes to rent monitoring Vulnerable residents below social care thresholds but struggling with Universal Credit Floating support Advice & Support Workers, Changing Lives etc Homelessness Prevention Trailblazer pilot with Jobcentre Plus Inclusion Plans, strategic use of conditionality for DHP, rent arrears, Corporate Debt Strategy, recommendations to Work & Pensions Committee
Mitigating the impact of the welfare reforms & poverty Mitigation Transition Rent arrears 4.58m at 31 December 2017 Homeless prevention 4,164 cases in 2016-17 DHP 89% related to the welfare reforms in 2016-17 Food bank users data not available Crisis Support Scheme 45% of 2017-18 spend related to Universal Credit (to 31 December) Benefit exemptions data not available Benefit gains 30.2m in 2016-17 Personal Budgeting Support 361 cases in 2016-17 Debt advice 4,782 cases in 2016-17 Moving home data not available Moved into work due to welfare reforms data not available Supported into work 989 cases in 2016-17 Stable lives data not available Touch points identification, assessment & intervention opportunities to understand need, mitigate risk & support transition reducing self-fulfilling prophecy of crisis-led approach
Making the prevention of homelessness everyone s business: system change Newcastle s Homelessness Prevention Trailblazer 2 year programme using 936k of MHCLG funding to consolidate our Active Inclusion Newcastle partnership approach to supporting the foundations for a stable life Inclusion Plan & pathways Governance Multidisciplinary team case finding not case responding Outcomes focused commissioning Evidence analytics, predictive data, cost benefit analysis & exception reporting Workforce development Homelessness Prevention Pilot with Jobcentre Plus Entrenched Rough Sleeping Social Impact Bond
Before we go on to individual examples of how we are redesigning financial support Any questions or comments about our overall approach?
A citywide response to rent arrears: the sustaining tenancies process The Sustaining Tenancies guidance was initially developed in 2008 & agreed by a range of social housing providers in the city A formalised process has since been developed with Your Homes Newcastle (YHN), the arm s length management organisation of the council s housing The guidance is focused around the active identification of issues that could lead to residents losing their tenancy & responding to help them sustain their tenancy Effectively, putting money advice at the start of the income recovery process
A citywide response to rent arrears: the sustaining tenancies process Identifying a problem Responding Pre-tenancy checks to identify potential difficulties in managing rent payments Debt, budgeting & benefits advice & support from YHN Advice & Support service Series of trigger points aligned to rent arrears process Specialist debt advice from Newcastle City Council s Money Matters team Co-location of YHN staff at Jobcentre offices to identify residents transitioning onto Universal Credit Proactive approach by Cherry Tree View preventative outreach service for vulnerable residents
A citywide response to rent arrears: the sustaining tenancies process 72% reduction in evictions between 2007-08 & 2017-18 250 200 150 100 50 0 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 Evictions from YHN 197 137 118 95 106 85 97 62 48 58 57
Supporting residents to settle: the Supporting Independence Scheme The Supporting Independence Scheme (SIS) replaced the Community Care Grant element of the DWP s discretionary Social Fund from 1 April 2013 The SIS provides furniture, white goods & other essential items for households who are in receipt of income-related benefits, are receiving support from a partner agency & are: - being resettled into the community from an institution, or - at risk of homelessness or of having to move into an institution The SIS is administered by the Council s AIN Unit & is aligned to locally commissioned support services which are coordinated by the AIN Unit using the Newcastle Gateway, which helps to match 17,745 residents with 76 services by 479 staff users
Supporting residents to settle: the Supporting Independence Scheme Support providers are empowered to manage more of the resettlement process; reducing transaction costs & uncertainty for clients as the application process is based on agreed need This allows us to ensure that SIS awards are aligned with ongoing support to help residents to maintain independence, avoiding duplicating the verification of need It also means that resettlement workers can control more of the process, helping to reduce the costs & distress of aligning services with the start of a tenancy date
Supporting residents to settle: the Supporting Independence Scheme 670 awards made in 2017-18 371,000 reduction in the costs of delivering the SIS compared to the DWP scheme a year 95% 23% Increase in expenses & debt of beneficiaries of the scheme in 2017-18 were continuing to sustain their tenancy (out of 489 for whom a 3 month review was completed) of residents were identified as having a negative budget were the 2 most common reasons why applicants were facing financial hardship
The benefit cap in Newcastle At 28 February 2018, our internal information showed that there were 386 households in Newcastle who are affected by the benefit cap. This is made up of: 189 YHN tenancies 159 private tenancies 38 other Registered Social Landlord (RSL) tenancies This includes: 165 households who have had a benefit reduction of up to 29 per week 51 households who have had a benefit reduction of between 30 & 59 per week 165 households who have had a benefit reduction of 60 or more per week (There is a time-lag as we incorporate real-time information into the citywide view of the impact & screen cases, which is why some of the numbers don t match with the above total)
The benefit cap: support to non-yhn households We screen the households against various databases to assess risk & improve coordination of support New benefit cap families have been given automatic awards of DHP to cover 70% of the shortfall in Housing Benefit (HB) which is attributable to the benefit cap We assign RAG rating to all households: o Red or high-risk Households that had contact with our Housing Advice Centre, statutory temporary accommodation (Cherry Tree View), debt & budgeting team (Money Matters), Early Help or children s social care in the last 2 years & households that have lost 60 per week & over in HB o Amber or medium risk Households that had a SIS award in the last 2 years & households that have lost between 30 per week & 59.99 per week in HB o Green or low risk Households that have lost less than 30 per week in HB
The benefit cap: support to non-yhn households Money Matters debt advisors have supported 170 families from 1 June 2016 to 31 January 2018 37 households are no longer affected by the benefit cap (22%): 23 exemptions (11 Working Tax Credit, 4 Carer s Allowance, 5 Disability Living Allowance (child), 2 Personal Independence Payments, 1 Employment & Support Allowance Support Group) 14 benefit cap removed: 7 households moved 4 households found work that reduced benefit income below the cap 2 due to an identified error 1 Child Tax Credit amount reduced
The benefit cap: linking financial support to ongoing support Benefit cap households targeted by Money Matters (1 June 2016 to 31 January 2018) Examples of outputs & outcomes achieved: Provided debt advice: 60 Provided budgeting advice: 38 Secured a Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) award: 35 ( 44,936) Prevented homelessness: 28 Registered with Tyne & Wear Homes (to bid for alternative accommodation): 13 Referred for employment support: 12 Secured a Northumbrian Water support scheme award: 11 Negotiated debt repayments: 8 Secured a SIS award: 7 ( 6,065) Negotiated non-priority debts: 4
Lower benefit cap cases poverty related causes, responses & obstacles Responses from a Debt Advisor perspective Provided debt, money or budgeting advice Supported Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) application to be awarded Prevented homelessness Registered on Tyne & Wear Homes Referred for employment support (Newcastle Futures) Registered for Northumbrian Water support scheme Adjusted budget & debt repayments Supported Supporting Independence Scheme application Referred to a Homelessness Prevention Officer Negotiated non-priority debts Reduced expenses Secured miscellaneous benefit gains Negotiated Council Tax payments or water debt Supported move to cheaper accommodation Referred to the Employment Support Case Management Group Referred to a food bank Set up television licence Negotiated rent arrears Secured charity grant Provided bank account advice Referred to Energy Services Increased income Set up direct debit for rent payable to YHN Provided credit score advice Referred to Shelter for legal representation Obstacles to a stable life Addictions 16 (13 smoking, 2 alcohol, 1 drugs) Benefit issues 10 Caring responsibilities for an adult 3 Child behaviour issues 5 Child ill / disabled 10 Childcare access to 23 Digitally excluded access 2 Digitally excluded skills 5 Disability physical 4 Employment initial expense 3 Employment needs training 13 Employment no confidence 15 Financially excluded 3 Health issue long-term 15 Housing unaffordable 31 Language barrier 6 Literacy or numeracy issue 2 Mental health issue 9 28
The benefit cap: linking financial support to ongoing support case study Gained a SIS award of 1,003.26 to replace hire purchase furniture from Brighthouse Gained a 3 month DHP award for 104 per week ( 1,431.22 total) to mitigate the impact of the welfare reform & prevent homelessness 2016 2017 A couple receiving Jobseeker s Allowance with 4 dependant children living in a private tenancy. Housing Benefit reduced by 104 per week November December January February March April Referred the resident to employment support from Newcastle Futures Began working with the resident to consolidate debts & establish affordable payment plan Referred to Welfare Rights to explore Disability Living Allowance (DLA) award for the resident s child (autism) The child was awarded DLA, making the household exempt from the benefit cap
Aligning Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) to advice & support While the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) has commissioned research on how local authorities are using DHP, it has not evaluated the effectiveness of the different uses of this funding [including] how effectively local authorities are using DHP in tackling homelessness (National Audit Office report on homelessness, 2017:p.4) Central Government allocation of DHP funding to local authorities in Great Britain DHP award in Newcastle 2017-18 166.5 million 2017-18 1,169,857 555% 2011-12 30 million 1,240 % 2011-12 94,326
Aligning Discretionary Housing Payments with advice & support DHP is one of the main ways that we have mitigated the adverse impact of the welfare reforms Since 2015 we have sought to strengthen the alignment of DHP with our directly delivered & commissioned advice & support services We want to maximise the value of these services by changing the work from being about claiming DHP to helping the residents deal with the underlying issues that lead to DHPs being awarded DHP funding is only a short-term solution & conditional upon the residents increasing their income or reducing their expenditure to meet their rent obligations From April 2017, the DHP team have been sending the individual applications & / or award letters to the Active Inclusion Service who manually input the information onto the Newcastle Gateway system to enable some analysis, targeting & follow-up of outcomes to be done. We are working on improving this process
An opportunity to build on & strengthen our existing approach: Homelessness Prevention Programme On 17 October 2016 the Prime Minister launched a new Homelessness Prevention Programme: a fresh government approach to tackling homelessness by focusing on the underlying issues which can lead to somebody losing their home Newcastle is one of only 3 national early adopters for the Homelessness Prevention Trailblazer part of the programme. Our Homelessness Prevention Trailblazer is a public service transformation programme focused on the prevention of homelessness at an earlier stage by working with a wider group of residents at risk to help them before they reach crisis point This has contributed to our focus on strengthening Newcastle s citywide system for identifying & responding to the risk of homelessness at the earliest stage the foundation for our Homelessness Prevention Trailblazer programme
Newcastle s Homelessness Prevention Trailblazer: Multidisciplinary team structure Team Leader Somewhere to Live An Income Financial Inclusion Employment Opportunities Housing Specialist Welfare Rights Specialist Debt & Budgeting Specialist Employment Specialist
Homelessness Prevention Trailblazer: Multidisciplinary team initial ways of identifying residents Initial datasets Segmentation Prioritisation Screening 695 YHN tenants in the outer west affected by the bedroom tax 68 YHN tenants affected by the benefit cap with high levels of complexity Segmented according to receipt of Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) Prioritised according to number of DHPs received, current DHP end date & level of arrears Segmented & prioritised according to the risk of homelessness faced by the household. Risk was determined using a RAG rating system Initial screening undertaken by the Active Inclusion Newcastle Unit to determine whether the household had multiple needs Screening by Children s Social Care & Early Help to determine whether there was any active plans in place for the household In depth screening by each team member to collate relevant information & determine an appropriate approach
Homelessness Prevention Trailblazer: the cycle of debt, deductions & Discretionary Housing Payments Debts continue to grow until court action Deductions from benefit entitlement to recoup debts Support fails to engage with resident or does not identify a sustainable solution Shortfall between income & housing costs emerges or extends Resident referred for financial support Rent Arrears accrued DHP paid to prevent eviction
Number of DHP s received Homelessness Prevention Trailblazer: the cycle of debt, deductions & Discretionary Housing Payments Debt Council Tax Arrears: 7,723.25 (32 residents) Housing Benefit overpayments: 30,486.54 (7 residents) Support Money Matters & Welfare Rights established contact with 5 of 51 residents in the last 2 years YHN Advice & Support Workers (last 2 years) Deductions 22 residents with deductions from their benefits 20.19 average deductions per week (19%) Council Tax arrears & water debts most common reason for deduction DHPs 45.28 average DHP per week Approached by the YHN ASW Team YHN ASW Team established contact 18 31 6 5 1 3 Further DHP applications made Contact stopped after DHP application 8 14 4 3 2 4 16 22 Further work done after DHP application 6 1 5 Further work done (No DHP application) 4 Number of Residents Number of Residents
Aligning Discretionary Housing Payments with advice & support: case study Established contact with the resident after 2 phone calls, 2 text messages & a unannounced home visit Work done to collect information on & put holds on outstanding debts while a Debt Relief Order (DRO) is being established Employment Specialist begins working with resident on volunteering & employment skills DRO application submitted to write off the resident s debts A single mother with 5 dependant children affected by the benefit cap. Housing Benefit was originally reduced by 96.31 per week 2018 January February March April 2 nd DHP award in place until April 2018 for 96.31 per week Gained a SIS award for 1,962.83 to replace a YHN furniture pack, reducing rent payments 3 rd DHP award in place until June 2018 for 65.96 per week
Our next steps Building on our work to predict & prevent crisis: We are using our Homelessness Prevention Trailblazer programme to strengthen our Active Inclusion Newcastle approach by: maximising the value of our touch points & data to predict & proactively support residents strengthening & extending our workforce development developing an outcomes focused commissioning function Working to maximise our collective investment: by developing the Newcastle Homeless Commission to support our aim to align public, private, charitable & religious resources in the city to maximise the value of our collective investment by increasing cooperation & reducing duplication Building on our learning framework & strengthening our evidence to support lobbying: by collecting & analysing routine, rigorous & reliable information on what is happening & the effect of our responses with the aim of informing & influencing policy, practice, communications, shared understanding & public perceptions. We will be working with Heriot-Watt University to research the role of the local state as the national state withdraws & Newcastle University to improve our understanding of residents stories Ambition for everyone to have a home not just a room; a stable life not just a precarious existence
Any more questions or comments?