PARAGON ACTION SUPPORT & ADVICE PROJECT (PASAP) SUMMARY

Transcription

1 PARAGON ACTION SUPPORT & ADVICE PROJECT (PASAP) SUMMARY

2 PARAGON ACTION, SUPPORT & ADVICE PROJECT Contents What is the project about?... 3 Purpose... 4 Aims... 4 Service Boundaries... 4 Scottish National Standards for Information and Advice... 5 Project Beneficiaries... 5 How will the Project be delivered?... 5 Project Management, Monitoring And Evaluation... 6 What are the Outcomes for the Project?

3 What is the project about? Everyone, regardless of whether their income comes from employment, benefits, pensions or other investments, has to have the ability to make key financial decisions. This is an essential life skill that enables people to manage their day to-day expenditure, cope with unforeseen emergencies and to enjoy their retirement. It is this sense of managing or coping that gives people a sense of financial security and wellbeing. For many people who are unable to work because of disability,illness,caring responsibilities or because they cannot find work it is the benefits system that can provide a safety net against poverty. Ensuring that individuals claim their full entitlement to benefits can be as important for some groups as finding work is for others. To tackle financial exclusion and provide support to Association residents the PASAP project has been developed. With the suport of the Big Lottery s Investing in Communities Fund the Association is now in a postion to recruit two full time staff members to deliver the project. This project is about taking action to ensure residents are able to access the financial products and services that they need, at the time that they need them. An important part of this is helping people to develop the skills, knowledge and understanding that they need to be able to make the best use of those products and services. Building financial capability and confidence is essential to break the cycle of financial exclusion. The project will target those residents who Sare affected by fuel poverty, lack of acess to key financial products, have poor financial skills, low incomes and personal debt and who are often exploited by commercial lenders with high interest rates or targeted by loan sharks. Individual awareness of maximising household income through benefits and reducing expenditure through accessing appropriate services is a key part of individual financial capability. The official tile of the project is PARAGON ACTION, SUPPORT & ADVICE PROJECT however we have given it a working title of the Heads Up project to make it a bit more user friendly and to tie in with the Association s promotion of the message of Don t Stick Your Head In The Sand in relation to Welfare Reform. 3

4 Purpose The Project will provide information and advice to Paragon tenants and members of their household. The service is designed to set users on a financially healthy track. A benefit health check will be offered to ensure the service users are accessing all appropriate benefits establishing the extent of indebtedness and the priorities of these debts planning their finances and choosing key financial products. Aims The project aims to do the following Income Maximisation Debt Advice Financial Education Best Deals Check entitlement to Benefits, Tax Credits, help with Housing Costs, and Council Tax, Pensions etc On managing loans, overdrafts, credit card payments Advice, information and assistance to users to enable them to fully understand their money situation, feel more in control of money, to build financial capacity and help and support with budgeting. Raise user awareness and confidence to be able to choose between options through help to access and open a bank account, reduce fuel costs and assistance to secure the best deals on utilities, insurance and other key financial products. Service Boundaries It is important to recognise that the service has boundaries and limitations It will not provide recommendations on whether a tenant should take out a specific financial product and it will not advise a resident on varying the terms of or disposing of an existing financial product. It is important the service offers information, unbiased advice and support on a wide range of topics. 4

5 Paragon Housing Association recognises that to be effective the PASAP service must provide independent advice to service users which avoids conflicts of interests, allows effective access to users and links to the Housing Management service. Scottish National Standards for Information and Advice The service aims to deliver information and advice to a high standard and while PASAP is not accredited under the Scottish National Standards for Information and Advice at this stage, we seek to use the standards as a framework for the delivery of the service. The Scottish National Standards were compiled by the Scottish Government with the assistance of advice providers in the voluntary and statutory sectors and are a framework for the development of effective and efficient services The Standards framework can be used by any advice provider to improve the quality of its advice service and PASAP will use the Scottish National Standards to set out the scope of the service understand its limitations and to ensure that advice is provide to a high standard. PASAP aims to work towards offering advice to the Scottish National Standards for Information & Advice to Type I and II. Project Beneficiaries It is ensvisaged that the total number of residents who will benefit for this project will be 720. (144 during year one, 288 during year two and 288 during year three) The project is open to all residents however not all households or new residents will have a need for the service which is why we are aiming to identify and target those residents who are most vulnerable and in need of our support with the resources available. Particular emphasis therefore will be on the 660 households who are financially excluded and are experiencing debt situated within our estates identified as highly ranked within the Social Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) areas across the three local authority areas in which the Association operates. New tenants will also be targeted particularly those who housed from the homeless list as they may be at greater risk. How will the Project be delivered? Two full time members of staff will be recruited during 2014 to offer a welfare benefits, money and debt advice service to all tenants of Paragon Housing Association in their own homes. These staff will be on 3 year fixed term contracts. Support will be provided by CAB Stirling who are highly experienced in money advice work to ensure we recruit suitably qualified and experienced staff. 5

6 The team will consist of a Financial Support and Inclusion Officer and a Financial Support and Inclusion Assistant. These staff will form the Heads Up team. The team will be responsible to the Housing Manager and work closely with front line housing staff. When the team is recruited it will further develop, refine and execute the new service to residents through providing a comprehensive information, advice and support service on money & debt advice and a full range of welfare benefits which aims to improve the financial skills and financial wellbeing of residents living within the Association s estates. An induction will be provided for new staff to ensure they have a comprehensive understanding of the services directly available for tenants of the Association but also to gain a full knowledge of the wider referral networks available to support residents needs. We need to build awareness of the project through direct marketing and recommendation for referrals from staff. Service Delivery Staff will provide person centred support via one-to-one appointments in the home, with a focus on maximising income / resolving indebtedness, increasing financial literacy / financial capability and finally increasing access to appropriate key financial products and services. The Heads Up Team will work with the client from start to finish. Advice and support will be given to set clients on the right path in terms of planning for their finances and choosing products by providing unbiased money advice on a range of financial services. Repeat visits may take place due to the complexity of the client s needs. Rather than setting an allocated time for each client and be quantitative driven, we want this project to be qualitative in that it makes a difference to clients lives. Project Management, Monitoring And Evaluation Currently we have an internal working party which meets to discuss the impact of welfare reform and to develop repsonses to this. This group is currenlty working on a Heads Up project handbook. An Advisory Group has also been set up consisting of tenant and management committee representation, Citizens Advice Bureau representation and Association staff. When in post the Financial Support and Inclusion Officer will join the group. Internally this group will monitor and evaluate the service.targets and outcomes will be reported to this group. This will ensure that there is regular dialogue and an opportunity to discuss the quality of the service, progress and any issues that arise. 6

7 As an advisory body this group will make recommendations to the Management Committee who retain full project control with certain authorities delgelegated to officers. We will also work with Citizens Advice Bureau Stirling to provide technical peer review support and to refer any complex cases where the level of support required is above the knowledge and experience level of our in house staff. What are the expected outcomes of the Project? Outcome 1 Financially excluded residents will have improved financial capability and financial management skills by the end of the project, preventing their transition into debt. Indicators Outcome residents will receive support and money advice to manage their household budget and report increased financial sustainability. 320 residents will have improved financial management skills such as the ability to manage their household budget, prioritise bills and manage debt 320 residents will maximise their income through claiming their full welfare benefit and credit entitlement or making costs savings 320 residents will report an increased sense of well-being as a result of having more control over their finances Financially excluded residents living in areas of multiple deprivation will have an increased uptake of key financial products and will maximise their benefit and credit entitlement which will prevent and reduce unsustainable debt. Indicators 720 residents will have improved knowledge and understanding about key financial products such as credit union account, home insurance and low cost loans. 320 residents will report a reduction in the levels of financial stress through interacting more confidently with financial services providers 25 residents will consolidate debt and access affordable credit options 25 residents will report they will open a basic bank account or credit union account 25 residents will report they will access affordable home insurance Staff will collect monitoring information in respect of the indicators highlighted above. This will be reported in line with the arrangements outlined below A monitoring and evaluation plan will be developed. 7

8 Reporting on progress will be on a both formal and informal basis Formal reports will be produced monthly. These reports will be submitted to the Advisory Group and the Management Committee On an informal basis, there will be regular input from project officers to staff team meetings as required for the effective delivery of the service Client will be contacted by staff after 3 months to conduct a customer satisfaction survey and find out what difference the project has made to their lives In addition, staff will undertake an annual survey of service users to find out if they are satisfied with the project and if their quality of life has improved Staff will also document and record case studies of a sample of residents who have been involved in the project. This will give more detail on the method and progress the resident has made and an in-depth analysis can be made. External consultants will be appointed to conduct an independent evaluation of the project towards the end of the final year. For further information at this stage contact Marie McKay, Regeneration Officer or Sheelagh Norris, Housing Manager Paragon Housing Associaton Limited Invergrange House Station Rd Grangemouth FK3 8DG Telephone : E Mail : enquiries@paragonha.org.uk 8