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Introduction
I am pleased to introduce this Annual Report for Scarborough and District Citizens Advice Bureau covering the period from April 2006 to March 2007. I must first pay tribute to my predecessor Dorothy Clegg, who retired as Chair of the Trustees in September 2006 after five years. She has remained on the board and has been joined by new members John Fawcett, Andrew Backhouse and Martin Smith.
I believe that the visibility and involvement of Trustees is key to the health of a voluntary organisation. The manager and I encourage them to visit the bureau to see the work and meet the staff. Our collective leadership and the decisions we make can only benefit from listening to and learning from them all. I thank my fellow Trustees for their commitment and the time they give.
The period covered by the report is one of consolidation and some growth. We recruited and trained more new volunteers - the bed rock of the service and were able to increase Scarborough opening hours. The excellent welfare benefits team expanded and new specialist debt services were introduced. We continue to enjoy a fruitful partnership with our local authorities and other North Yorkshire CABx.
Nevertheless, in common with all voluntary and community sector organisations, we can never relax. None of our funding is guaranteed so the quest for cash to keep services running and to develop and respond to new and increasing demands is a permanent priority. The work of the management team in this area is enhanced by the activities of our new fundraising group. The Trustee Board gives top priority to developing a sustainable fundraising strategy and managing our resources responsibility.
Communities are stronger when citizens have access to high quality advice and information. Our volunteers are in the front-line of the service and rightly take pride in the help they provide to their clients and contribution they make to the communities of Scarborough and District.
Pat Chandler
Chair
Manager's Report
I am delighted to be able to report that this year the amount of advice delivered was finally back up to pre 2003/4 figures and increasing. This can be attributed to two factors.
- Recruitment and retention of the volunteers who constitute the backbone of the service has increased, enabling us to see more clients with general advice needs.
- We have obtained funding to employ a further full time Money Advice Worker in addition to the one providing a service to tenants of Registered Social Landlords. The Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) was created to facilitate an increase in face-to-face debt advice in the UK and that’s exactly what it will do in Scarborough. The amount of debt handled by the bureau has increased by 42% to £5,221,659 (£692,435 of which was dealt with by the FIF worker in her first three months.) The amount of unmet need for advice of this kind in Scarborough is evidenced by the fact that there has been no decrease in the amount of debt managed by generalist advisers, who are still having to refer clients out to other providers wherever possible.
The CAB service as a whole is aware that the advice and information needs of individuals differ and that some may face difficulties accessing services. We have always recognised this in our provision of telephone advice and outreach services and this year we were finally able to offer reception services to personal and telephone callers in Scarborough five days a week.
Paul Bateson (adviser), Steve Drydale (receptionist) and I also visited North Kirklees CAB, who were piloting a new system of advice delivery in their main office. All clients are offered a ten minute assessment interview, where simple matters are dealt with immediately and appropriate referrals to other organisations made. More complicated issues are dealt with at a later appointment. The system has resulted in a reduction in queues and an increase in advice and information delivered overall. We were impressed and look to introduce the system here once adviser levels are sufficient.
Thanks everyone for your support.
Jill Mandy
Manager
Debt Worker
Funder: DTI Financial Inclusion Fund
The government’s Financial Inclusion Fund was set up to increase provision of face-to-face debt advice. It is targeted at areas suffering from deprivation and as a result we received funding for one full time worker and associated admin support.
In keeping with the project aims of the Financial Inclusion Fund, I was new to the advice world and the first 6 months of my employment were taken up with lots and lots of training. I spent September until Christmas training to be a generalist adviser and working on the general rota. At the same time I was attending fortnightly Money Advice training courses in Leeds. From January to March I began to take on a small case load of debt clients, under close supervision and since March the FIF project has been fully underway.
In February Vicki Smith began work as the FIF administration worker and together we have created systems to efficiently manage clients, targets and casework.
So far we have dealt with 40 clients, exceeding our trainee target of 25 clients in the first quarter. By the end of March we had already dealt with debts totalling £692,434.91. We have assisted 11 clients to go bankrupt for a total of £239,957.81
Our clients are referred to us through generalist advisers at the moment and this seems to be working well. We aim to make 6 new appointments a week, and three follow up. Inevitably there is a no-show rate, which goes through peaks and troughs.
A Case Study
Miss X is a single mother to 3 children. She came to the bureau with rent arrears, council tax arrears (from a time when she was working and living with a partner) and several non priority debts. She had been paying her non priority creditors instead of her council tax (now with bailiffs) and rent debts because they had been calling her repeatedly and sending her threatening letters.
We gave Miss X a benefit check to make sure she was in receipt of the correct benefits. We explained the powers of each creditor to Miss X and when she realised the difference between the powers of priority and non priority creditors, she was happy to stop paying her non priority creditors in preference to her rent arrears and council tax. By not paying her non priority creditors she could then afford to make rent and council tax arrangements, which we assisted her to do. We discussed her options for dealing with the non priority debts (totalling £4000). It was decided that an administration order would be the best option for her. We wrote to all of her creditors to try to encourage them to issue her with the County Court Judgment that she would need in order to apply for an administration order. Miss X was now confident about how to deal with non priority creditors so that while she waited for someone to issue a County Court Judgment she was fully versed in her rights and the rights of creditors and felt able to deal with creditor contact.
Frances Butt Philip
Call Centre
Funder: Big Lottery
The Call Centre recruited an experienced adviser from Sheffield to cover the role of Advice Session Supervisor left vacant by the death of Mo. He commenced with us in April 2006, however, due to his partner’s ill health he resigned and returned to Sheffield in September 2006. This position was subsequently filled in January, on a job share basis, by 2 advisers from the Scarborough Bureau. We have 5 new volunteers who are currently training to be advisers.
The advisers have dealt with 2,232 issues raised by 1,269 clients. The main areas of enquiry have been Benefits, Housing, Debt and Employment. The automated advice ‘Q’ Call has been contacted by 1,633 users.
Filey Community Advice Centre is still developing; there have been 125 people who have accessed Jobcentre Plus via the computer and telephone hot line based in the reception area. This has saved them both time and money from having to go to Scarborough Job Centre. There have been approximately 728 callers to the reception wishing to access either local information or booklets/leaflets.
In October an application was submitted to the Big Lottery for the creation of a North Yorkshire Advice line encompassing 8 bureaux and Age Concern. The bid is for a total of £498,154 spread over 5 years.
A Case Study
Our client had received a Personal Pension payout of £6,000 over 12 months ago. He then received a letter from his pension provider saying that he had been overpaid and that they wanted the money back. He and his wife were both distraught and wanted to know if they had to pay. Both the client and his wife suffer from heart problems and his wife had an operation cancelled twice due to raised blood pressure through worrying about this.
We contacted the pension providers, explained that we were helping this client and requested time to check on his income & expenditure. We found that he was entitled to Pension Credit, Council Tax Benefit and Housing Benefit but had not been claiming any of these. We looked at his budget, informed the pension provider of his situation and requested that they write off this debt on the basis that the overpayment was not his mistake and that repayment would cause him severe hardship.
As a result they agreed not to pursue recovery from our client. He and his wife were greatly relieved and pleased to find out they were entitled to claim benefits.
Denise Whetton
Money Advice to Prevent Homelessness
Funder: North Yorkshire County Council
Since the last report we have extended the service to include Chevin Housing Association, Accent Housing and Home Housing and the original partners have continued to refer clients to the service.
By the 31st March 2007 we had dealt with 178 clients with debts totalling £938,068.76.
Clients vary from salaried working couples through to single parents in receipt of Income Support, the elderly, the young and the disabled. The only common factor is the fact that they have rent arrears to Registered Social Landlords.
They all receive the same service which breaks down into a fairly simple format:
- Establish the level of Priority debt and negotiate affordable payments Establish the level of Non Priority debt, and engage with the creditors at the earliest opportunity.
- Maximise the clients’ income by encouraging them to claim all the benefits they are entitled to.
- Work out and finalise a realistic statement of Income and Expenditure.
- Engage with all the creditors and make offers of repayment based on the Financial Statement.
The amount of time spent on the telephone, writing letters, requesting accurate balances, presenting reasoned arguments in favour of reduced payments etc, means that there is never a dull moment.
One of the outstanding successes for our clients is the working partnership we have established with Payplan to use their payment distribution system Paylink. Clients can make a single payment per month by Paypoint Card or Standing Order. This is then distributed amongst their creditors in accordance with our Financial Statement. The success rate of the clients using this system is impressive and we will continue to offer this as an option. We are also trying to encourage the local authorities and other agencies to negotiate with Payplan to include them on the database if practicable.
A Case Study: Married couple in mid thirties, unemployed with two children under five.
In May 2005 the client was employed, his wife was looking after the children and they were struggling on a low income. Despite the best efforts of the CAB advisers the clients could not stick to agreed repayments and their debts fluctuated. There were periods when the clients would not engage with the CAB and they still tried to negotiate repayments with creditors themselves.
In June 2006 they were referred to me by their landlord because they had over £700 rent arrears and a Notice Seeking Possession had been issued. In addition Scarborough Borough Council were pursuing them for Council Tax arrears, Yorkshire Water were seeking immediate payments and they had non-priority debts of over £4000.
By this time he was unemployed and I had to identify any unclaimed benefits and also to ensure that the Tax Credits were correct. I made contact with the creditors and arranged a suitable offer of repayment to the priority creditors.
When offers were made to non-priority creditors the clients were sent various methods of repayment and asked to make payments to different creditors on different days of the month. They struggled to maintain the repayments, because of the different methods and the fact some cost them money to make payments and others would only accept payments through banks etc. After some months of having to write both to the clients to remind them of missed payments or to the creditors to explain the client’s difficulties, the option of using Paylink was explained to the client.
Since transferring the client’s non priority debts and his Yorkshire Water debt to Paylink, the client has been making the required monthly payment on a regular basis using the Paypoint outlet at his Post Office. The creditors have stopped writing to the clients (or the CAB) complaining about missed payments and the client has been able to reduce all his debts and avoid further possession proceedings by his landlord.
A very complicated and time consuming case has been resolved by the use of a third party to make a cost effective and acceptable repayment system work to everyone’s advantage.
Henry Rowlands
Publicity and Fundraising Group
For the year ending 31st March 2007 a total of £3,090 was raised, and the ensuing publicity resulted in the bureau being featured in the local newspaper on several occasions.
We would like to thank the following for their kind donations.
List of Donors
| Bob Rawlinson W Boyes Ltd Burniston Parish Council Cloughton Parish Council Danby Parish Council Denison Masonic Lodge Fylingdales Parish Council Home Guard Club Hutton Buscel Parish Council McCains Mike Penman Mollie Croysdale Charitable Trust |
Newholm-cum-Dunsley Parish Council Northcliffe Golf Clubl Raflatac RAOB Harmony Lodge Rotary Cavaliers Rotary Club of Scarborough Rotary Club of Pickering Scarborough Gay Community Network Scarborough Working Men’s Club Staxton Village Hall West Ayton Parish Council Westborough Church |
We held two in-house activities this year.
In June, on a scorching day, staff, families, friends and dogs walked the old railway line between Cloughton and Hayburn Wyke and back. They raised over £300, most of which went towards an office chair suitable for disabled workers. Thanks to organiser Carole Spink.
In September we held a Shadows Night organised by Barry Soper, our computer specialist and Shadows aficionado. Local tribute band Shadows Music, together with Licorice Locking, a past Shadows member, gave a packed audience a real night to remember. Thanks to Ken Pattison and The Corporation Club for the free use of the venue and their hospitality to us all. We raised £422.
Jo Drydale
John Fawcett
Dave Hawley
Enquiries and Service Outlets Statistics
R U Getting It?
Funder: Scarborough Borough Council (Housing Benefit)
This is the most successful year yet for the Benefit Take-up Campaign. We have had 155 contacts at our sessions across Scarborough, Filey and Whitby and of those, 123 were entitled to benefits such as Pension Credit, Tax Credits, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit. Some were also entitled to Disability Benefits.
The total of all benefits they were entitled to amounted to £500,825, which included Housing Benefit of £116.808 and Council Tax Benefit of £53,469.
Case Study 1: Lone Parent with Mental Health Problems
She was getting Income Support with a disability premium. From the information she gave us we felt she was entitled to Disability Living Allowance and we referred her to our colleagues who specialise in these benefits. The outcome was that she was awarded High Rate Care and Mobility, which meant that as she didn’t have anyone claiming Carers Allowance for looking after her, she was entitled to more Income Support as well. In total we helped increase her income by £163.57 per week, which was really helpful for her as she was moving into a new home.
Case Study 2: Single Working Man with Difficulty in Working Full-time
He is 26 years old, working full time and in receipt of DLA high rate Mobility. Because of his disability he was finding it difficult to continue working full time and he wanted to know what would happen if he dropped his hours to 16 a week. We asked him if he was claiming Working Tax Credit, but he hadn’t heard of it. We advised him that normally WTC is only payable to single people over 25 and working 30 hours a week or more, which he was, but as he was getting DLA then the minimum hours he needed to work dropped to 16. We calculated that if he continued to work 40 hours a week he would be entitled to £53.87 Tax Credits a week, but if he dropped his hours to 16 he would get £74.69 Tax Credits per week.
We explained that overall he would be worse off by £45.22 a week if he reduced his hours to 16, but when we discussed the costs of him travelling to work etc, he was no worse off. In fact due to his circumstances he would get the same money, but only have to work 2 days a week instead of 5. Our client felt that this was the help he was looking for, as he still wanted to work despite his disability.
Ken Nikolic
Town Hall Project
Funder: Scarborough Borough Council - Housing Benefit
The sessions at the Town Hall are very busy. Contacts are up by 80% on last year. We had 644 contacts raising 1098 issues, with Debt at 39%, Benefits 28% and Housing at 11%.
Being located in the Customer First premises means we are more accessible to the general public and it has really worked out well.
However it’s the relationship we have with the different departments, such as Housing Benefit, Recoveries, Council Tax and the internal Bailiffs that make the session at the Town Hall work well. Having access to the staff in these departments makes life a lot easier, as they will go out their way to help me, so many thanks to them all.
As you can see the figures for Debt are higher than last year and most of the debts are arrears of Council Tax. An increasing number of people are defaulting on their monthly payments, which means more work for the recoveries team and for us.
Some people will contact the Recoveries Team themselves, but a majority of them will contact us. We look at maximising their income, by checking their entitlement to any benefits and then helping them to prioritise their debts. We can either arrange for them to see a member of staff from the recoveries section or we can do it on their behalf, but most do tend to have an appointment made for them and the recoveries team are only too willing to help as are the other departments.
Normally I would give a case study, but I would like to report some good news instead. You may remember that over 2 years ago we raised an issue on Shared Ownership Schemes with our Social Policy team. Basically Shared Ownership means you rent part and own part of the property. However unless the other partner was a Housing Association, Housing Benefit could not be paid on the part that was rented.
No one realised this until January 2005, when it was picked up by Scarborough Borough Council and Housing Benefit stopped.
However the good news is that the Government has amended the legislation, and from October 2007 Housing Benefit will now be payable. The bad news is that only one of our clients has managed to keep their house. The others, as far as we are aware, had to sell. Although it has taken over 2 years, it does show that the work our Social Policy section does is very worthwhile.
Ken Nikolic
Welfare Benefits
Funders: Legal Services Commission and N Y County Council
2006-2007 was a hectic time for the welfare benefit team with priority being given to meeting our LSC contract requirements. We have spent the year obsessed by targets, time recording and performance monitoring and have spent many a happy hour discussing LSC strategy and how the team will meet the ever changing contract requirements. Our graphs are becoming increasingly colorful and complex and Pete has mastered the art of “A graph for every occasion!” (See graphs below.)
We have represented our clients at over 100 social security tribunals and have built up an excellent reputation for representing clients with complex case work. We now routinely appeal to social security commissioners over errors of law and have had major successes in overturning tribunal decisions. We have been successful in having the parliamentary ombudsman investigate and change DWP procedures after a client won an appeal against the decision that he is fit for work.
Thanks to Pete our electronic case management system has continued to evolve and has meant that we are able to manage all the requirements of the LSC contract. The system allows us to track cases, send messages to each other, electronically file review cases and record and report on LSC key performance indicators such as case duration, case outcomes, sufficient benefit etc. The system also provides a key date and diary system so deadlines aren’t missed. A similar system bought in would cost the bureau approximately £12,000.
Adam has provided an outreach service to clients with mental health problems and visits clients by appointments at the Ellis Centre, Cross Lane Hospital or Trafalgar Square. The Outreach Service provides access to specialist level welfare benefit advice for clients most at need. Unfortunately the demands which the LSC place on providers and the move to the unified contract, (the subject of next year’report!) do not encourage an outreach service so it is with regret that we will have to end this in October 2007.
The LSC contract provides the main body of the welfare benefit funding pot. Unfortunately the contract only provides funding for clients who are eligible under the legal aid system. To safeguard against a two tier service developing we have volunteers providing a specialist advice service to non eligible clients. The specialist volunteers play a central role in the development of the unit and work at exactly the same level as the paid members of staff. A massive thank you goes to Pete, Mary and Miriam for their work and input into the team.
Rachel Boyes
Becca Robinson
Adam Holden
Personnel
| Management Committee | |
| Pat Chandler
Ken Dale Andrew Backhouse Dorothy Clegg Dave Hawley Nasr Emam John Fawcett Pat Goldsmith Ian Poole Martin Smith Brian Watson Catherine Webster Jean Rhind Miriam Alcock Jo Drydale Alan Stewart Sue Butcher |
Chair
Vice Chair Ordinary Member Ordinary Member Treasurer Scarborough Islamic Society Ordinary Member Ordinary Member Ordinary Member NYCC Scarborough Borough Council Law Society Citizens Advice Bureau Staff Representative Staff Representative Staff Representative Minuting Secretary |
| Paid Staff | |
| Rachel Boyes
Frances Butt-Philip Adam Holden Maurice Le Cuirot Jill Mandy Julie Maskill Ken Nikolic Sharon Noble Becca Robinson Henry Rowlands Victoria Smith Phillipa Valentine Julie Wardle Denise Whetton |
Welfare Benefits Worker
Financial Inclusion Fund Worker Welfare Benefits Worker Session Supervisor (Call Centre) Bureau Manager Welfare Benefits Administrator Deputy Manager Office Manager Welfare Benefits Worker Money Advice Worker Financial Incl. Fund Administrator Guidance Tutor Cleaner Call Centre Manager |
| Volunteer Advisers | |||
| Miriam Alcock
Paul Bateson Tony Bellwood Jean Crossan Greta Griffin |
Tracy Jarratt
Pen Jenkinson Maurice Le Cuirot Mary Mynot Valerie Nicol |
Maggie Ratcliffe
Angela Richings Peter Rothery Carole Spink Alan Stewart |
John Truscott
Josie Williams |
| Trainee Volunteer Advisers | |||
| Pat Church
Chris Gadd Lucia Goodman Ally Harrison |
Helga Immison
Shirley Keyworth Keith Mollison Kay Peirson |
Paul Seddon
Vicki Smith Harry Stevens Christine Swaine |
Susan Thompson
Gwynneth Townson |
| Volunteer Guidance Tutors | |
| Maggie Ratcliffe | Carol Spink |
| Volunteer Administration | ||
| Vicki Allen
Adrian Andrews Lionel Beck |
Rachel Bellwood
Ian Clark Jo Drydale |
Jamie Myers
Anne Phillips Barry Soper |
| Volunteer Receptionists | ||
| Steve Drydale
Kathy Hardy Leslie Michalak Arliene Monsey |
Jamie Myers
Chris Parsons Christine Raper Lynne Reed |
Sylvia Smith
Wendy Wilson |
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