Welfare Rights Team - Annual Report 2023/2024

We asked particular communities what they needed from us to improve access and reduce barriers.

Working with the Gypsy/Traveller Community

What the community told us - "we're struggling to access advice services"

What we did

The Winter period brought additional financial pressures to households across Perth and Kinross, not least due to cold temperatures and the rising cost of living, including the increased cost of energy/fuel. Most gypsy/travellers are living rurally with no fixed-abode and this too can bring barriers to access. We worked closely with one of the Council's Community Engagement Assistants (Jan Manion), Broke Not Broken, one of the Council's Community Learning & Development Assistants (Zoe Garvie) and the Council's Equalities Team Leader (David McPhee) to remove the barriers Gypsy/Traveller communities in our area experience accessing services by delivering our service in the way that best suited their needs.

We delivered three outreach sessions, specifically targeting Gypsy/Traveller sites (Double Dykes and Green Acres) and a further outreach in a village where many households took up the opportunity of advice and assistance. Where outreach was not possible (Bobbin Mill) but the need was time critical, we used a seamless online process for those households in urgent need. Offering more than one method of access to our service meant that no households willing to take up our offer of advice and assistance missed out.

All but one household were in receipt of their full benefit entitlement however we were able to assist with almost £5k in Financial Insecurity Fund payments paid between 13 households to assist with rural hardship, solid fuel, clothing for children and adults and data packages for mobile phone use to help the community stay connected with extended family in other parts of the country.

Whilst undertaking our comprehensive benefit checks we identified credits on Council Tax accounts for 16 of the households totalling £3,398 and we arranged for refund of these credits to each of these households.

We have a duty incumbent upon us to provide financial assistance to eligible members of the Gypsy/Traveller community via the Scottish Welfare Fund to ensure that we accept community members with no-fixed abode wherever they may be in Scotland.

£1.8k in additional funding was provided to two Gypsy/Traveller Community Groups (Rajpot and Mangin Manashies) to provide food vouchers to community members.

Feedback from Bobbin Mill resident Roseanna McPhee:

It certainly did make a huge difference because - unlike the previous winters-  we did not have to prioritise logs & coal over food.

By the end of winter in recent years, my essential vitamins and minerals were so low from the poor diet that I had extremely sore bones and on taking all of my benefit one week to visit  a physiotherapist/ chiropractor, I was advised that the shape of the ankle / ribs suggested a deficiency in diet (follow up blood tests identified the deficiencies.)

I have recently had my blood tested and this is not the case for the first winter in recent years.

I would therefore say that this help with solid fuel has made a difference in basic health terms; allowing both myself and other older sisters to be able to afford multi- vitamins, fresh food( including butcher meat and fresh fish, which is extremely expensive) and any other supplements, such as menopausal support.

In terms of the fuel grant, I ordered more coal and logs twice and we shared this communally with the others(4 tenants); as well as cracking up the fire in the office chalet where older members were able to go online and use WhatsApps( Internet & signal doesn't work very well in other chalets) to connect over the festive period with an elderly sister, aunt and cousins U.K. wide. This was especially welcome to be able to do this without sitting with blankets/ fleeces on because everyone was trying to struggle through the daytime without the fire on( except on the extremely cold days) and save the fuel for the evening; as was our normal practice in previous years. 

The solid fuel fund therefore made a substantial difference but we were just short of a few hundred pounds for the second round of coal which we bought in Feb. However, it did allow us collectively to save a little bit towards the second coal delivery: normally, most of our food bill for the month is wiped out by the Jan/ Feb coal order.

 The only downside is the size of our fires which meant that heat does not extend to the kitchen/ dinette areas so we have to eat on trays on our sofas directly in front of the stove (2 members of organisations recently visited and ended up putting their long coats on whilst sitting back from the stove, saying that their legs were cold.)

However, I appreciate that is a different issue from the subsistence of solid fuel.

The fuel grant itself was a very welcome lifeline that meant we did not have to prioritise fuel over food this last winter.

So what next for gypsy/travellers and other minority ethnic communities...?

• From May 2024 we will be providing outreach at Gypsy/Traveller sites on a 6-weekly basis at Double Dykes at the request of the community. We are hoping to extend this offer to both Bobbin Mill and Green Acres sites should they feel that this approach best meets their needs.
• We will ensure that all gypsy/travellers resident in our area are aware of the services we provide.
• We will continue to provide financial assistance via the Financial Insecurity Fund to households with no recourse to public funds that are in crisis or who experience rural hardship.
• We will work with our colleagues across the Council and with our Partners (Perth & Kinross Foodbank and Mears) to provide regular, targeted advice and assistance to Asylum Seekers living within our authority to prevent financial crisis during their transition from Asylum Seeker to Refugee status and from the hotel setting to homeless accommodation.
• From June 2024 we will be delivering a fortnightly outreach at 2 Sisters chicken factory in Coupar Angus.

Working with the school community

What the community told us - "help us to help our families that are struggling" 

What we did

Since 2015, the Welfare Rights Team has worked closely with schools, providing written and verbal updates, talks and training to teachers and other workers in schools, including Early Years Practitioners and other members of the Parent and Family Learning Teams, regarding changes to the benefits system and how to refer to our team. We have a seamless referral process in place with all schools and an excellent working relationship with Head Teachers and other teaching staff.

Last financial year we received 85 referrals from schools and almost 50% of these were from our colleagues in the Parent and Family Learning Team:

• 37 of these were from schools out with Perth City.
• 28 were lone parent households.
• 25 of the households had someone with a disability.
• 11 of the households had 3 or more children.
• 7 of the households had someone from an ethnic minority background.
• 2 households had no recourse to public funds.
• 1 household had a child under 12 months.

21 of the referrals led to no further action and so the households were either receiving their full benefit entitlement, they declined a benefit check or they chose not to engage.

The remaining households required advice and assistance from us which, so far, has resulted in just under £44k in additional benefit income for these households with more benefit decisions pending. Most of the benefits we identified as missing related to disability benefits and these decisions can take up to 6 months, some benefit decisions can take up to 18 months when decisions have to be challenged. 28 households were paid payments from the Financial Insecurity Fund to the value of around £15k and some Welfare Trust payments to the value of £2k.

School case studies

Case study 1

We received a referral from the Parent and Family Learning Team to offer Ruby a benefit check because although she was working, due to the cost of living she was struggling financially.

Ruby was living in a mortgaged property with her 2 children.

Following previous contact with us she had been awarded the Higher Rate of the Daily Living and Lower Rate of the Mobility components of Child Disability payment for her eldest.

We advised Ruby of the ancillary entitlements such as a bus pass and cinema card this award brings.

Ruby was working earning approximately £1000 per month and also received Child Benefit for both Children, Universal Credit and Scottish Child Payment.

We undertook a comprehensive benefit check whilst we had Ruby on the phone and we identified that although Scottish Child Payment was in payment it was only being paid for her youngest child so she was missing out on £25 per week. We completed the application with her there and then.

We did a Universal Credit calculation and noticed that she was missing the Higher Rate of the Disabled Child and Carer Elements following her eldest's Child Disability Payment award. So, we emailed Ruby some narrative to put on her Universal Credit journal to have these elements added there and then during the same call.

We also submitted an application to the Financial Insecurity Fund while we had her on the phone.

Following our involvement Ruby was awarded:

• Scottish Child Payment - £25 per week.
• Higher Rate of the Disabled Child and Carer Elements within Universal Credit of an additional £148.33 per week.
• The award of these 2 UC elements was backdated to the date Child Disability Payment was awarded with the arrears of £9937.90 being paid by Universal Credit.
• One-off Financial Insecurity Fund payment of £200 in respect of clothing for her children.

Case study 2

We received a referral from an Early Years Family Inclusion Teacher from a school as a family, living rurally, are struggling financially and their youngest child has development difficulties.

Veronica was a lone parent with 4 children. Mum has back pain, anxiety and depression. 2 of the children have health problems and she provides additional care for her youngest son who is being assessed for autism.

Following contact with the team we established that Veronica's Universal Credit missing the Lower Rate of the Disabled Child element despite the fact one of her children was in receipt of the lowest rate of the care component of Child Disability Payment.

At the time the family were referred to the team they were in receipt of Universal Credit, Scottish Child Payment x 4, Child Benefit x 4 and Child Disability Payment (lowest rate of the care component). Universal Credit and Scottish Child Payment of £319.85 per week, Child Benefit of £71.70 per week and Veronica had a single person's discount on her Council Tax liability and she was in receipt of Council Tax Reduction which meant she had only water and sewerage to pay of £6.28 per week.

We assisted Veronica with a Child Disability Payment claim for her youngest son and helped her to construct some narrative to submit via her Universal Credit Journal so that the missing element of Universal Credit could be paid.

Following our involvement the family had additional income as follows:

• Child Disability Payment was awarded in respect of Veronica's youngest son of £101.75 week and a backdated amount of £3663.00.
• Universal Credit Disabled Child Element lower rate of £33.77 per week and a backdated amount of £1463.37.
• Universal Credit Disabled Child Element higher rate of £105.44 per week and a backdated amount of £4,525.73.
• Universal Credit Carers Element of £42.89 per week following the award of the enhanced daily living component of Child Disability Payment and a backdated amount of £1,858.57.

The family also received one off Financial Insecurity Fund payments as follows:

• £200 Rural hardship
• £520 to clear school dinner debt
• £96 Disabled Child Payment
• £450 in respect of clothing for adult and clothing for the children.

Working with people in prison and their families

What the community told us - "we want to avoid being in an immediate crisis when released from prison and we want to know our families will be ok"

What we did

Our work with prisons began early last financial year in collaboration with Scottish Welfare Fund, Community Justice, Scottish Prison Service and Homeless colleagues to provide a seamless transition from the prison setting to a secure tenancy. This enhanced and early intervention service was provided on a pilot basis to some people being released from prison via voluntary throughcare (where the person in prison had served less than a 4-year sentence). This meant that we worked with services to ensure that decisions on Community Care Grants were fulfilled prior to release so that tenancies were signed for and furnished, providing a secure and homely environment.

Our long-term aim is to provide a variety of services from prison establishments including, HMP Perth, HMP Glenochil and Castle Huntly to ensure that people being released have access to cash assistance at the earliest opportunity. Our team members have undertaken the necessary Personal Protection Training in order to deliver within the prison establishment.

Our teams (Welfare Rights and Welfare Fund) will also be attending "Child Impact Assessment Toolkit Champion" Training in May and Trauma-Informed Approach Learning.

The service is being delivered alongside our Welfare Fund colleagues providing advice and assistance to people in prison and their families. We will assist any person in prison with regard to benefits advice and assistance, irrespective of which local authority area they will be released to, however those being released to the Perth and Kinross area will receive an allocated worker and decisions on any local authority administered grants applied for as soon as possible following release.

We aim to ensure that people being released from prison have the best start in the community and to ensure that their families' household incomes are maximised while their family members are in prison. To ensure that the families of people in prison can access support we have a seamless/reciprocal referral process in place with Families Outside.

We continue to work closely with our Community Justice colleagues and the Scottish Prison Service to establish a relationship which has allowed us to deliver two Life Skills sessions to over 20 people in prison.

The welfare rights team have participated in two sessions of HMP Perth's life skills course.  The course has been designed for people who are either due to be liberated, have an upcoming parole board or who are on remand.  We had three welfare rights personnel on the first course and two on the second.  The demand for information on Welfare rights is huge, especially for those getting liberated so the benefit of having more than one member of the team attend the course was fantastic. The team were brilliant at setting an informal tone in each session, delivering information to the whole group and then naturally guiding men on an individual basis which allowed for discreet conversations to ensure that all information could be person centred.  The feedback from course users has been very positive and a better indicator to the effectiveness of the inclusion of Welfare rights has been when the men have gone back to the residential areas and spoken about the session as I have had more men ask about the course for access to the Welfare rights team.

So what next for people in prison and their families...?

• We will continue to deliver our Life Skills course in collaboration with Scottish Prison Service colleagues.
• We will continue to provide an enhanced service to people being released from to secure tenancies.
• We will be delivering outreach surgeries on a regular basis within both HMP Perth and Glenochil establishments.
• We will be working with OWLS to provide advice and assistance to women with the aim of ensuring that entitlements are in place to contribute to our overall aim of preventing re-offending.