Background to St Vincent s

Transcription

1 Background to St Vincent s Formed by volunteers from St Cuthbert s and First Martyrs in May 1965 Set up voluntary advice and furniture donation scheme Funded through contracted work, own generated income, grants and gifts Expanded to employ staff (currently 26) April 2012 merged into SVP Both organisations have the same core aim to help vulnerable people Whilst the services compliment each other, both organisations have specialisms and skills which can be shared to the benefit of each other to expand services nationally. Funding and contracts are for increasingly larger areas eg Regional and national. ST Vincent s services Housing Advice: Bradford Council s contract and CHAS own funding 2 Specialist Level Advisors Deal with Tenancy issues such as rent arrears or disrepair and more increasingly mortgage arrears. Can represent clients in Court and prevent Eviction Debt Service: Incommunities, Bradford Council contract and LSC 4 Specialist Level Advisors - Bradford s first Specialist Level Debt Advice project Deal with repayment arrangements, applications for financial assistance, Debt Relief Orders or Bankruptcy. Can represent clients in Court Health Plus: Scheme originally funded through PCT, now Bradford council contract 1 General level Advisor Operates from 4 medical centres across Bradford recognises link between poor housing and poor health General support and advice in applications and appeals for Welfare Benefits and Immigration. Help with applications for blue badges, passports, visas, disabled bus passes and occupational therapy assessments.

2 Support Service: Bradford Council contract Medium Tenancy support for up to 24 clients at a time, for up to 24 months. Average of clients per year Assist with Tenancy Management skills eg budgeting, maintaining a decent home, being an active part of community, self development through training or employment, managing specific needs. Furniture Service: Funded through own generated income and a small council grant Sell good quality donations at low cost anyone welcome. Welfare Reform Changes The new Welfare Reform Bill was published in February 2011 the changes are to radically redesign the social security system by October The Welfare Reform Act 2012 received Royal Assent in March It is virtually unchanged from the original Bill. Based on the ideas of: 1) benefits trap people into a lifetime of dependency 2) work is the best route out of poverty It is based on the intention that all people receiving benefits should have personalised support to assist them into paid work. Current means tested benefits for working age adults and children will be combined into one Universal Credit between 2013 and 2017 Benefits will be capped so a working age household cannot receive more than the average earnings of a working family. From October 2013 Replacing: Income Support, Income based Job Seekers Allowance, income related Employment Support Allowance, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit, Child Tax Credit Working Tax Credit. Some discretionary grants will be devolved to local governments eg Crisis Loans and Community Care Grants used to purchase emergency items for vulnerable households. Budgeting Loans will be replaced by advance payments of Universal Credits.

3 The Disability Living Allowance will be replaced by Personal Independence Payment Working Tax credits have new criteria Some benefits will remain contributory employment and support allowance, cold weather payments, contribution based job seekers allowance, statutory sick pay, maternity allowance, maternity grants, statutory maternity/adoption/paternity pay, child benefit, carers allowance, industrial injuries disablement benefit bereavement benefits funeral payments. Universal Credit: Applies to people who are over 18 years old and under state pension age Is in Great Britain ie excludes people who do not habitually live here or do not have the right to live here. Is not in education (with exceptions) Meets financial conditions of benefit (couples will be classed as one claim) Has a Claimant Commitment Claimant Commitment: A record of work related requirements needed to receive the Universal Credit. Divided into 4 groups: 1) No Work Requirements - Self explanatory People unable to work because of ill health or disability; Lone parents or the main carer from a couple with a child under one; Carers responsible for someone with severe disability. 2) Work Focused Interview Requirement expected to attend occasional interviews with a view to discussing return to work. Lone parents or the main carer from a couple with a child over one.

4 3) Work Preparation Requirement Reasonable preparation for work such as skills assessments, participating in training, work experience or employment programmes. For people with limited capability for work through disability or health. 4) All Work Related Requirements must be actively searching work including job applications, registering with agencies and being available for work. Anyone not fitting into the earlier catergories. Sanctions: People earning less than a standard 35 hour week per week at national minimum wage may also be subjected to conditions to encourage them to work more and and reduce their dependency on benefits People who are in the all work requirement, who do not get a job, refuse an offer of paid work or loose employment through their own conduct, may be subjected to loosing their right to Universal Credit for up to three years. People who fail to look for paid work may loose their Universal Credit for over three months. Hardship payments would be made available for claimants who would be left vulnerable by the loss of their benefit. Myth Busting the Scrounger s living in luxury on benefits In 2010 the population density for Yorkshire and Humberside was 340 residents per sq km, lower than the English average of 400 residents per sq km. Leeds and Bradford both have 1400 or more people per sq km A Quarter of Bradford has residents in households with the lowest incomes nationally. Half of Bradford s most deprived areas have the highest levels of unemployment nationally 63% of Bradford s most deprived areas also have residents with the worst poor health and deprivation. 87% have the poorest education, training and skills. a lot of people looking for a limited number of low skilled, low paid jobs

5 Unintentional homelessness in Bradford has risen by 80% in last 12 months. Between July 2010 and June 2011 there was a 35% increase in cases seen by BMDC under the 1996 Housing Act A typical CHAS client in % of our clients were female. 62% of our clients are single; half of these are parents. Single women with children is a declining group, in 2011 we saw this group drop by 1/5 th of its 2007 demand. Nearly half of our clients fall within the 35 to 49 age bracket. In 2009, at the beginning of the current recession, we saw nearly twice the number of people over 65 years old than we saw in Clients in full time employment dropped by 4.5% between 2010 and In % more CHAS clients had a long term standing illness than clients 5 years ago. In % CHAS clients had mental health problems, 6% higher than % of clients in 2011 had a physical impairment, compared to just 3.4% in 2007 IMPACTS ON VULNERABLE PEOPLE Being paid all in one lump sum and monthly instead of weekly. Payments will be made directly to the claimant (Direct Payments) or if the client cannot manage a bank account they will be issued with a payment card so they can collect their money from Paypoint Outlets based in local newsagents, convenience stores, supermarkets, garages or Off Licences!!!! Very vulnerable people will need to manage their own affairs.. Money Management Scheme. Following the introduction of Universal Credits the amount of clients needing housing advice due to rent arrears is expected to soar. Working Tax credits changed on 5 th April Couples now have to work for a minimum of 24 hours per week instead of 16. Exceptions are where one works 16 hours but the partner is unable to work due to health reasons, receiving carers s allowance or if in hospital or in prison.

6 If not this could lead to a loss of 3500 per annum where the additional work is not available. If income rises during the working tax year new systems mean it will be withdrawn faster; but if your income falls by up to 2500 you will not receive any additional funds. Income Support From May 2012 those on income support who s youngest child is over 5 years will need to claim Job Seekers Allowance instead. If the parent has a health condition or disability they will need to claim Employment Support Allowance. Child Benefit rates have been frozen for three years. Child Benefit will be withdrawn at where someone has an income over 50K, at 1% per 100 over 50k However a couple who both earn just under 50k each will not be penialised; ie they can have a household income just under 100k and still receive child benefit Assessments for the Personal Independence Payment are no longer based on medical opinion and self assessment. Most claimants will have a face to face assessment; however there is concern in the Advice sector that people are not trained to make these assessments. It is expected to be harder for people to prove mental health issues as well as reduction in the amounts payable; Being Prompted to do activities is rated as a low need so many people with Alziehmers/ Dementia or brain injuries may not score highly if they have no other physical issues. Nearly all of the automatic payments have been removed ie people with a severe mental or visual impairment have to justify their additional benefits. Only the terminally ill will be exempt from this requirement. The use of aids will be taken into account for example if someone is mobile with a manual wheelchair. This would not necessarily take into account the other factors faced by a wheelchair user which restrict their ability.

7 The government hopes to reduce claims by 20% on DLA Claims. Nationally 80% of applications are failing tenants living in Bradford s Incommunities properties are affected; never mind the 1000s of others living in other RSLs. Council Tax Benefit Devolved to local authorities to support people in their own areas. Housing Benefit All tenants will be subject to local housing allowance, not just the private rented sector. These changes are expected to affect 670,000 social sector tenants. The LHA rates will be increased in line with the Consumer Price Index, not actual rents in the local area. People will be penalised if they under occupy a house. Their benefit will be cut by 14% if they under occupy by one bedroom and 25% if two bedrooms or more. What CHAS does to help alleviate debt: Our Specialist Level Advice Services provide a comprehensive package of practical and emotional support through Free Advice Face to Face appointments throughout Bradford - 71% of our clients are seen through our appointment schedule Telephone advice 10% in 2011 compared to 0.6% in 2007 Assistance at Court Comprehensive casework an average of 6 months per case Financial Literacy sessions Self help leaflets Debt Advisors deal with an average 226 clients per year each Housing Advisors deal with an average 194 clients per year each Actions Taken: Prepare a financial statement looking at household income and expenditure Provide budgeting advice Income maximisation benefits check

8 Identification of priority and non priority debts Set up realistic arrangements for repayments of debt Negotiate with landlord on issues of disrepair Negotiate with landlord/mortgage provider on behalf of client Negotiate with Courts to arrange realistic debt repayment sums Representation at Court Advice and support on client s rights when dealing with Baliffs Action at Court to prevent evictions Applications for grants from energy or water trusts Request reduced repayment plans, interest/debt freezes, or write offs Adminstration Orders total debt under 5k plus a County Court Judgement Debt Relief Orders total debt under 15K, cannot be homeowner or have assets more than 300 Bankruptcy above 15k or if the client doesn t meet the criteria of AO or DRO