Author: Karen Dunn, Operational Supervisor Changing Futures Team, Welfare Benefits Specialists Team, Citizens Advice Staffordshire North & Stoke on Trent
Citizens Advice Staffordshire North & Stoke on Trent (CASNS) joined the Changing Futures Stoke on Trent Programme in April 2022. It was a slow start but once recruitment took off in late August, we’ve really been able to get things moving…
We have a team of 4 specialist Welfare Benefits Advisors, including the team Supervisor. We sit within a wider specialist team at CASNS which together has approximately 80 years of experience. We can also act as a gateway to other teams within CASNS for example immigration, money management and debt.
We also have a CASNS Housing specialist on the Changing Futures team, however Geoff works slightly differently and is only funded for 2 days a week. He supports the case coordinators/managers to advise their customers about their housing rights, including homelessness, and to challenge any decisions where appropriate.
This project is not like any previous benefits CAB service where a customer would simply be referred to the CAB. This is about a welfare benefits expert engaging with the Changing Futures team to support them, and increase their knowledge of the welfare system, so that they in turn have more understanding of how the system works and can support their customers independently.
For Changing Futures Stoke on Trent, the role continues to have the following aims:
- To ensure a customer receives the Welfare Benefits they qualify for thereby maximising their income, and that DWP/Local Authority/HMRC decisions are checked and challenged where appropriate.
- With the support of our Welfare Benefits specialist team the case coordinators/managers will learn as they work thus consolidating the learning from training sessions. They will develop a ‘law informed’ approach to Welfare Benefits work and will develop the skills to practice that learning, leaving a legacy of skilled benefit advocates.
Since September we have managed to obtain almost £10,000 of benefit income between just 2 customers.
The need to have a flexible approach to working is recognised so we adapt where we can achieve these aims.
Below is a brief outline of how we work closely with the case coordinator/manager.
We:
Supervise. Checking any benefits work undertaken by the case coordinator/manager. Early intervention is vital, so the benefits position of every customer is checked as soon as possible, hopefully avoiding any crisis with financial support later on.
Coach, mentor, and support. Working alongside the case coordinators/managers either undertaking the task with the coordinator/manager or helping and supervising them while they undertake the task. The WB specialist will not usually have direct contact with the customer, rather they will work with the customer alongside the case coordinator/manager.
LEAD. Taking the lead with complex issues and Appeals. The WB specialist will take on the task and work directly with the customer and with the close participation of the case coordinator/manager.
Provide training. The WB specialist assists the CASNS WB trainer in the preparation and provision of Welfare Benefit workshops, formal training sessions, and discussion sessions. The Expert Citizens Insight Academy organises these sessions however where we recognise a need, we also provide benefit updates, and bespoke briefings outside of the formal training programme, for example we recently produced a briefing on the changes from 01/10/2022 regarding the exemptions to the LHA rules.
Provide consultation. The WB specialist team offer a consultation service across 5 days a week (each WB specialist is currently funded for 4 days a week). This can be provided face to face, remote video calls/meetings, email, or telephone enquiries.
Once the Hub is up and running a member of our team will be available on site on any one day and can be consulted on a face-to-face basis.
Now and again particularly complicated or unusual cases require the input of our wider Specialist Welfare Benefits Team based at Stoke on Trent CAB; our Citizens Advice Expert Advice Team; or other nationally recognised expert resources such as Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG). The case coordinators/managers benefit from a broad pool of expertise and knowledge.
Systems Change. To improve the delivery of Welfare Benefits to people with multiple disadvantages locally and nationally, we work together with Changing Futures leadership and partner agencies to identify trends within the Welfare Benefits system. Understanding and overcoming barriers, and affecting systems change as a fundamental part of the Changing Futures programme.
It’s very important to us that throughout this process we too are learning. By attending training arranged by the Insight Academy to equip ourselves to provide a more informed service for people experiencing multiple disadvantages, and on a less formal basis but no less enlightening, from working with each case coordinator and individual customers.
(The need for a Welfare Benefits Specialist working alongside service coordinators, to support them and their customers through the minefield that is Social Security was evidenced in the VOICES report A-Model-of-Specialist-Welfare-Advice-and-Advocacy-at-VOICES.pdf (voicesofstoke.org.uk). VOICES of Stoke was a pilot project funded for 8 years by The National Lottery Community Fund.)
