Raising aspirations, building experience and promoting education...

Raising Aspirations, Building Experience and Promoting Education... these terms seem like something taken from a policy document or political manifesto which sound good in principle, but realising the ambitions behind them may take years.

In Monmouthshire Housing (MHA), it was these very terms that set the thematic direction in 2011 of the MHA 'Work and Skills Wise Service'. So 3 years on, what is being offered on a daily or weekly basis in delivering this aspirational service?

I guess it's a range of tools, a belief in everyone we see, a needs-led approach, staff with bags of passion and an unwavering belief that we will get there, taking one step at a time!


Our tools include:

· Individual action plans used to define real goals and small steps to achieve them,
· Access to a range of formal and informal courses at reduced or no cost via our partners,
· Access to all areas in MHA to volunteer, the allocation of a mentor and volunteering skills log,
· Access to a bursary scheme to cover costs which reduce barriers to moving towards employment.
· Self employment support offered in partnership with Centre for Business,
· A tailored six week programme for interview skills, searching the job market, CV writing and
· A partnership approach to the work, working with JCP, colleges and private sector organisations.


Although the service is an employment and skills service, it is delivered holistically and caters for Financial Inclusion issues. We offer better off work calculations and tips to manage money better once in work. I feel that this is imperative when we consider what a huge transition it is for people who have not held down employment previously.

Digital Inclusion is also a cross-cutting theme embedded in our service where we offer free laptops to service users on a loan basis and training on how to use social media effectively. Demand for digital inclusion support is high amongst the elderly but our experience shows that working age tenants present challenges to engagement that requires a carrot approach. This incentive/carrot provides, in my view, access to a previously closed door.

Link to DVD

While all of this is core funded, I'm always on the look out for external funding. The recent youth unemployment focus concentrated our energies on this agenda. Working in partnership with the Youth Service, we were successful with gaining external funding to target young NEETs. This gave us one of our biggest successes this year when the project went on to win the Youth Excellence Award in Employment and Training. Our employment and skills service in now being delivered via a former participant of this project.

Link to DVD

It is important to gather research and intelligence from service users about what we deliver and how it impacts on tenants' lives. This aspect is the 'value added' element that we have captured in our work. From this intelligence we have devised the Basic Skills Continuum which can basically demonstrate how, as the basic skills of individuals grow, so does their confidence. See the continuum below for a better understanding... it works for us!

In my view, I think it is important for the housing sector to develop action research projects that measure impact and learning. Are we not best placed to pioneer some potentially exciting Employment and Anti Poverty action research?

During Employment and Skills Week our team has been out delivering our services in clients' homes using the tools mentioned. Service users are almost always anxious to see the end goal. In many cases, it is employment opportunities or skill courses. To this end, each year MHA hosts the Monmouthshire Employment and Skills Fayre in partnership with the Monmouthshire BEST partnership, which has over 30 exhibitors in attendance from employers to training providers. Our last fayre drew in 440 local residents and offered real time opportunities. The importance of providing one to one support must also be met with access to opportunities. This shows service users that the end goal is now in sight and can be reached!

Our aspirational journey over the last 3 years has been frightfully busy and we've developed the service and tweaked it as we go along, learning lessons. 

Having supported 302 tenants with employment and training over the last 3 years, our outcomes include:

· 24 tenants into employment
· 22 young NEETs into employment
· 90 volunteering placements
· 92 tenants completed courses
· 36 currently enrolled on courses

I think we are beginning to feel that Building Experience, Promoting Education and Raising Aspirations were/are the right thematic principles for us to adopt.

The tailored joined-up approach, linking Financial and Digital Inclusion along with having the right people, with the right support, empowerment, encouraging ethos and delivering services from a needs perspective, are the ingredients in my view for a recipe for developing success...


Farida Aslam
Inclusion Coordinator, MHA

 

 

 

Intensifying our fight against poverty

As 2013 comes to an end, I’ve been reflecting on what the CHC Group and the sector have achieved in 2013. This is the time of year where those of us brought up as part of the Band Aid generation tend to think of those less fortunate. With increased austerity, and the impact of welfare reform and the introduction of the 'bedroom tax', concern for the less fortunate has been at the very forefront of our minds throughout the year.

We held a successful Annual Conference in November, with some clear messages from the Minister on the need to increase supply. So at the end of November I was delighted to attend the Housing Europe network in Denmark and to showcase the Welsh Housing Finance Grant as an example of EU Housing good practice, building 1,000 affordable homes without traditional capital subsidy or traditional bank lending. A real achievement in 2013.

At our Annual Conference, I was also deeply impressed by Sian Williams from Toynbee Hall and her messages about fighting poverty and financial inclusion. Financial education isn’t enough - there has to be access to affordable finance too.

The week after going to Denmark, I took a trip with the Four Feds to Northern Ireland and a tour of Derry and the Bogside to see some impressive housing projects, but also communities exploited by loan sharks. What hit home were the barriers local people encountered in accessing affordable credit, despite the maturity of the credit union movement in Ireland. This is why I’m so proud that members and CHC have worked so well together this year in extending Moneyline services to Merthyr, Swansea and Wrexham and helping so many people through the Your Benefits Are Changing campaign.

When we re-emerge in 2014, I want us to redouble our efforts in fighting poverty and extending social justice. As Sian from Toynbee Hall told us, 'We shouldn’t be worried about welfare reform – we should always have been angry about poverty' … our members are at the leading edge.

You can find out more about the CHC Group's activities over the last year in our Annual Review for 2013. 


Nick Bennett
Group Chief Executive

RSLs as place makers

The Royal Society of Architecture Wales conference I attended recently on 'The place of home' inspired me to write this blog post. For me, the conference raised a key question: How do you define a home? In the sector we often refer to creating 'homes' instead of 'houses', but what is the difference?

In my opinion, the word 'housing' denotes a physical structure or a 'unit' as the development industry would say. Comparably, the word ‘home’ is a word with deeper meaning. The perception of the word ‘home’ depends on the individual and their experiences but will often resonate feelings such as security, happiness, freedom and comfort. It may refer to a residence or a place such as the community or the city you live in.

So how do RSLs create the ‘place of home’?

No longer are RSLs considered as just affordable housing providers. The 2013 Welsh Economic Research Unit report highlights this by showing that in addition to new build development, maintenance and renovations, RSLs spent approximately £509m during 2012/13 on community regeneration initiatives. In this year’s WERU report, we wanted to highlight the types of community regeneration that this includes which cover areas such as financial inclusion, skills and employment, tenant engagement, food poverty, energy efficiency, open space improvements, social enterprise, digital inclusion… the list goes on.

What all these areas of work have in common is the fundamental principle of supporting deprived people to help them to reach their potential and have a place they can call home. Supporting both place and people through these initiatives ultimately contributes towards the thriving of communities, empowering those who live within them. RSLs are place makers in this sense, contributing to both the physical and social regeneration of the most deprived communities across Wales.

The WERU infographic summarises the findings of the report and you can view the full report on CHC's website.

Hayley MacNamara
Regeneration Officer, CHC and CREW Regeneration Wales

Tackling the pay day lenders

Bethan Jenkins explains why she is introducing legislation in the Senedd tomorrow to help people facing bad debt...

It was around a year ago that I first wrote to Bridgend County Borough Council, asking it to block access to payday loan sites from its public library computers. I was told that this was nigh-on impossible to achieve – which was not encouraging, particularly since other local authorities such as Dundee have already done it.
Meanwhile, the present economic situation continues to push people on low incomes into debt they cannot afford from lenders who demand sky-high rates and use harassing methods to get their money back.

I become more and more concerned every time I hear of a constituent who has been through this process – especially when the reasons for going to a payday lender is to borrow for precious things, like children’s Christmas presents.

The extent of these problems is shown by the number of people with financial difficulties who are seeking help from Citizens Advice Cymru. Of those who approached it between April 2012 and March this year, 84 per cent had financial capability issues. Of these, 74 per cent continue to receive support.

How can people work and spend their income in the local economy if they are doomed to spend years repaying a company whose profits are most likely off-shored? Money management is likely to become a greater issue for those out of work as well, with the advent of Universal Credit and its switch to monthly payments. These will require a culture change for generations used to managing finances on a weekly basis.

Legislation I am proposing on the floor of the Senedd tomorrow will give people the tools to turn their lives around. Aimed at helping them to make more informed choices about their finances, my Financial Education and Inclusion Bill is divided into two areas:

• Promotion of financial education to help future generations manage their money.
• Providing greater powers for local authorities to promote financial inclusion – to help people with their current debt problems.

At the heart of the Bill is a statutory duty placed on local authorities to promote financial inclusion. Statutory duties have come in for a fair bit of criticism in recent times. It has been said that they achieve little and are too open to abuse. But you can argue that about pretty much any poorly written piece of legislation or regulation. Provided we have in place the means to measure outcomes, I believe this could encourage local authorities to think outside the box at a time when finances threaten successful service delivery.

Properly implemented, the proposals in the Bill will produce a greater co-ordination of services resulting in:

•  One-stop internet shops that can provide visitors with the help they need – the Bill prevents local authorities from charging for internet access.
• Promotion of the Money Advice Service’s excellent tools and resources.
• Local authorities collaborating to produce an awareness campaign for Money Made Clear and for Welsh credit unions.

The Bill’s proposals have been welcomed by a range of organisations, including Community Housing Cymru, Swansea Council, Consumer Futures, Action for Children, Age Cymru, and Shelter Cymru. Individuals who are supporting the Bill include the Welsh Financial Inclusion Champion, and Martin Lewis, creator of MoneySavingExpert, who has run a long and high profile campaign to have financial education included in the curriculum in England.

It is encouraging that the Welsh Government has already taken steps in this area, particularly in financial education. However, poverty Minister Jeff Cuthbert recently told the Western Mail that 'more needs to be done' on combatting payday lenders, while Education Minister Huw Lewis recently told me in the Senedd that there was 'room for improvement' in financial education.

If my colleagues give me leave to take my Financial Education and Inclusion Bill forward I am sure we will be able to improve its proposals. AMs from all four parties have spoken with great concern on this issue. If we work together I believe we can produce legislation that will bring significant improvements in people’s lives. Indeed, the Bill is a great example of what the Assembly was created to do – to move decision making closer to the people it affects and, in this instance, giving them a better life away from bad debt.
 

Bethan Jenkins AM 

You can read the relevant press release on CHC's website.