MIDDLESBROUGH COUNCIL

AGENDA ITEM

Unclaimed Benefits Campaign

Executive Member for Finance and Governance

Director of Commercial and Corporate Services

Date 5th July 2016

PURPOSE OF THE REPORT

1. To consider proposals to extend the Unclaimed Benefits Campaign (UBC) and integrate it with an existing Hub Advice Service (HAS) initiative.

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS

2. TheExecutive is asked to :

a) note the success of the two campaigns and support their integrationinto one new initiative;

b) approve Council funding to mainstream the new initiative;

c) that the Council’s Benefits Manager, in consultation with Executive Member for Finance and Governance, be authorised to approve the detail of the new service; and

c) note the partnership bid to the Big Lottery Fund to provide three year funding from January, 2017.

IF THIS IS A KEY DECISION WHICH KEY DECISION TEST APPLIES?

3. / It is over the financial threshold (£150,000)
It has a significant impact on 2 or more wards / X
Non Key

DECISION IMPLEMENTATION DEADLINE

4. For the purposes of the scrutiny call in procedure this report is

Non-urgent / X
Urgent report

BACKGROUND

5. The UBC provides Middlesbrough residents with advice and support to claim welfare benefits to which they are entitled. The service is peripatetic, usually delivered from one venue for two weeks before moving to the next venue. A list of the venues that have been used since the service started in 2014are covered inAppendix 1.

6. The HAS provides Middlesbrough residents with benefits and debt advice. Advice and support is delivered weekly from the same locations. A list of locations is also detailed in Appendix 1. This service aims to ensure consistent access to support for people in areas of particularly high levels of deprivation, or for people who would otherwise be geographically remote from advice services. The HAS was developed to help support Middlesbrough Council’s hub strategy.

7. Both services are delivered by a partnership of organisations including Middlesbrough CAB, ACTES, Age UK Teesside, Cleveland Housing Advice Centre and Middlesbrough Council’s Welfare Rights Unit. Both services operate under the auspices of Middlesbrough Financial Inclusion Group (FIG) and as such provide progress reports to that Group.

8. When and where possible, other support agencies are invited with a strong emphasis being placed on those with a health and well-beingbackground. This has included, for example, healthy heart checks and talking therapies. A full list of additional services that have been made available are also included in Appendix 1.

DEMAND FOR THE SERVICES

9 Middlesbrough continues to experience high levels of deprivation. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has identified Middlesbroughas the local authority with the highest number of neighbourhoods in the top 10% of deprived neighbourhoods in England.

10. Figures quoted in the Middlesbrough Joint Strategic Needs Analysis (JSNA) dealing with poverty show that over half of Middlesbrough's population live in areas that are defined by the ONS as among the top 20% most deprived areas in the country. Concerns about poverty are also reflected in a recommendation in the JSNA which states the need to“Ensure people claim all benefits to which they are entitledby providing sound benefits advice, proactively finding people who are entitled to benefits and encouraging rightful benefit uptake.”

11 The Middlesbrough FIG also collates quarterly statistics around financial inclusion related issues. The latest report shows that demand for debt advice from the CAB in the first 9 months of 2015/16 reached 90% of the total for the full year 2014/15. The number of people receiving support from Thirteen’s Money Advice & Employability team in the first 9 months of 2015/16 has exceeded the total for all of 2014/15.

12. Demand for the services offered through UBC and the HAS continues unabated. Between January 2015 and March 2016, the UBC assisted over 1000 people to claim £3.3 million in benefits. Between September 2015 and May2016, the HAS assisted 568 people to claim £1.03 million in benefits and 282 people to manage £1.1 million of debt.

Table 1overleaf shows the level of awards delivered up to January 2016 through both initiatives

13. The underlying levels of deprivation indicate that demand will continue well into the future. Changes to the benefit system, particularly the phased introduction of Universal Credit, which started in Middlesbrough in February 2016 will add to the demand for advice. Those affected will need to come to terms with the disruption to household budgets caused by the new system, which includes an extensive waiting period for payment of benefit and monthly rather than weekly payments. Further cuts in welfare benefit spending – such as those of £12 billion announced by the government in 2015, are likely to increase the need for benefit and debt advice.

14. The UBC and HAS both play a major role in supporting residents to access unclaimed benefits. However, the nature of the benefit system means that the services also have a significant role to play in helping people to retain the benefits to which they are entitled. Two of the benefits most difficult to claim successfully are Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and Employment Support Allowance (ESA). They have in common a medical assessment and frequent reviews of entitlement. The medical assessments often result in claimants having their benefit entitlement withdrawn, only to be subsequently re-instated following the intervention of advisers.

INTEGRATION OF SERIVCES

15 HAS and the UBC campaigns have developed as separate but linked initiatives.The proposal is to now merge them into an integrated model for the delivery of a single benefits take up service based in the community.
16 Demand for benefits advice is widespread however resources do not allow for the provisionof fixed weekly benefit advice sessions in all localities across the Town. Building on the success of the existing models, it is therefore intended to provide weekly sessions,centred mainly around the Hubs, where demand is the highest to be complimented by a peripatetic service which will operate on a flexible basis in other localitieswithin the town. Access to the services will be enhanced by the provision of a benefits hotline and a dedicated email address. Both the weekly fixed sessions and the peripatetic service will be accessible via appointment or bydrop-in. There will be a team of skilled advisers delivering both services.
17 A quality assurance system will also help to ensure a consistent level of high quality advice is provided and a common electronic case recording system is used.
18. Initially, the delivery partners will be Age UK Teesside, Actes, Cleveland Housing Advice Centre, Middlesbrough CAB (lead) and Middlesbrough Council Welfare Rights Unit. The lead service manager will also engage with other service providers who have an interest in issues related to financial inclusion. There will be particular emphasis on engaging with health related services. Thus, at both the fixed weekly sessions and the peripatetic sessions, local people may also be able to, for example, receive support around healthy eating,energy best deals etc.
19. The integrated model will provide access to benefits advice for a wide range of people. However, the partners recognise that some groups may need additional support or have additional access issues.
20. In this regard, partners are to submit a bid to the Big Lottery (see paragraph 24 b below) which if successful, would be used to further enhance the integrated service proposed in this report. In terms of how it would be used, this will be guided by the ongoing evaluation of the new service and the identification of possible areas for further development. Some analysis already undertaken on the existing service has shown, for example, the need to provide greater access and additional support to some vulnerable groups.

21. Given that there is further work to be undertaken in finalising the detail of the new service, it is proposed that the Council’s Benefits Manager, in consultation with Executive Member for Finance and Governance, be authorised to approve the detail of the new service. This will also involve working in close conjunction with the key partners involved in its delivery.

FUTURE FUNDING FOR THE INTEGRATED SERVICE

22. The HAS started in September 2013 with funding provided by the Big Lottery. As this funding ended in July 2015, funding of £135,000 was then provided by the Council to enable the service to keep running until July 2016.

23 The UBC started in 2014 with funding provided by Public Health and the Council. This has enabled the service to be delivered up to 31 March 2016.

24. In terms of future delivery there are two key funding issues:

a) Given the success of the two campaigns and the Council’s commitment in seekingtomitigate the impact of welfare reforms through a partnership approach, it isproposed to provide mainstream funding of £200,000 per year to support the delivery of the integrated service over the long term. The funding will come from the Community Support Fund which has previously been used to support such initiatives.

b) ACTES and Middlesbrough CAB have had discussions with the Big Lottery (BL) to determine the opportunity of developing a bid to their Reaching Communities programme. The BL have encouraged a bid (based on the evidence to date of the programme) which if successful, would provide approximately £100,000 per annum for 3 years. The funding would be to further enhance the services as described at paragraph 20 above.

EVALUATION OF WIDER BENEFITS

25 Whilst there has been ongoing evaluation of the service, it is also proposed as part of this package of funding, tocommission a piece of work that will assess whether any wider benefits (e.g. economic, health and wellbeing and financial factors) have also been achieved in Middlesbrough through the new integrated service.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT (IA)

26. Not relevant because as the proposals relate to extending existing initiatives.

OPTION APPRAISAL/RISK ASSESSMENT

27. An option appraisal is not considered relevant as the proposals to extend and combine existing and very successful initiatives.

FINANCIAL, LEGAL AND WARD IMPLICATIONS

28. Financial –The funding costs have been identified at paragraph24above.

29. Ward Implications - This report will be of interest to all Councillors.

30. Legal Implications– There are no legal implications.

SCRUTINY CONSULTATION

31. Updates on the partnership approachadopted in Middlesbrough in mitigating the impact of the welfare reformshave been previously been provided to Scrutiny.

RECOMMENDATIONS

32. TheExecutive is asked to:

a) note the success of the two campaigns and support their integration into one new initiative;

b) approve Council funding to mainstream the new initiative;

c) that the Council’s Benefits Manager, in consultation with Executive Member for Finance and Governance, be authorised to approve the detail of the new service; and

c) note the partnership bid to the Big Lottery Fund to provide three year funding from January, 2017.

REASON
  1. There is a need to extend two successful campaigns which are providing support to the residents of Middlesbrough
BACKGROUND PAPERS

No background papers were used in the preparation of this report.

CONTACT OFFICER: Nigel Sayer

TEL NO: 01642 729031

______

Address: Civic Centre, Middlesbrough

Website:

Appendix 1

Venues

a) Unclaimed Benefit Take Up Campaign Venues

Middlesbrough BTU Campaign project was implemented following a successful pilot (FIG Funded) scheme ‘It’s your right to claim campaign’ (2014) which targeted the Coulby Newham and Hemlington areas over a two week period and identified a substantial amount (£93,200) in unclaimed benefits for Middlesbrough residents.

Late 2014

  • Coulby Newham (Parkway centre/various)
  • Hemlington (various)

January 2015 – June 2015

  • North Ormesby Community Hub
  • The Trinity Centre
  • Middlesbrough House
  • Middlesbrough College
  • North Ormesby Community Hub
  • Resource Centre
  • Southlands Centre
  • Langridge Initiative Centre
  • Habinteg Community Centre
  • St. Agnes Church
  • Middlesbrough & Stockton Mind
  • Breckon Hill Community Centre
  • Newport Settlement Community Hub

June 2015 – March 2016

  • North Ormesby Community Hub
  • Neptune Centre
  • Middlesbrough Baptist Church
  • Middlesbrough & Stockton MIND
  • Newport Community Hub
  • Life Store
  • North Ormesby Community Hub (Scheduled final delivery w/c 07 – 09th March 2016)

b) Hub Advice Service Venues

  • North Ormesby Community Hub (Friday mornings; Monday and Wednesday by appointment)
  • Grove Hill Community Hub (Wednesday mornings & Thursday afternoons)
  • Hemlington Library (Monday afternoons)
  • Thorntree Resource Centre (Thursday afternoons, Friday mornings)
  • Newport Settlement (Monday mornings)

c) Additional Services offered at take up campaign and/or hub advice centre

Additional support services to UCB included:

  • Middlesbrough Environment City support services
  • Middlesbrough & Stockton Mind
  • Macmillan
  • Developing Communities and Supporting Communities
  • Know Your Money (KYM)
  • Middlesbrough Council (Social Fund)
  • Volunteering Matters
  • Thirteen Group
  • Stop Loan Sharks
  • Stop Smoking Service
  • Healthy eating
  • CVD/health Check screening (South Tees NHS team)
  • Energy best deal (CitA)
  • Affordable Warmth (Via MEC)

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