Brighton and Hove Community Banking Partnership Commission

Draft Strategic Delivery Plan:

Brighton and Hove Citizens Advice Bureau & Partners proposal

Contents:

1. Introduction

1.1 Our response to this commission

1.2 Delivery partners within this proposal

2. Coordination & development

3. Capacity Building

4. Delivery of Advice

5. Delivery of Educational Support

6. Integrating provision of Financial Services into the CBP

Annex A: Routes in to the CBP for residents

Annex B: Resource Allocation and Delivery

Annex C: Management and Accountability

This document is provided in addition to the Partnership proposals for Lots 1,2,3 and 4 of

the Community Banking Partnership Commission led by Brighton and Hove Citizens Advice

Bureau (BHCAB).

It is intended to provide an outline of our overarching approach to the development and

delivery of the Community Banking Partnership as outlined in the specification.

It is provided in accordance with questions B3.1, B3.1, B3.2 and B3.2. of the application

forms for lots 1,2,3 and 4 respectively

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1. Introduction

1.1 Our response to this commission

Our response to this commission are locally led and delivered partnership proposals that

will

“ensure Brighton & Hove residents are able to maintain and improve their financial

wellbeing and resilience by Creating a Community Banking Partnership that:

• Inspires and enables people in services, organisations and institutions across

the city to take responsibility for promoting the financial wellbeing of our

residents

• Provides joined up and high quality services and support that meet residents

needs

• Is sustainable, investable and responsive to a changing funding climate

We will offer a flexible mix of self help, reactive provision and pro-active engagement with

particularly financially vulnerable or hard to reach groups. Our approach to Coordination

and Capacity building will ensure that, where possible, residents issues are resolved at the

first point of contact and, where necessary, referral routes to other support are smooth

and effective

1.2 Delivery Partners within our proposal

Brighton and Hove Citizens Advice Bureau (BHCAB) is the lead accountable agency in all

four lots and the primary delivery agency for the Coordination and Capacity Building

elements of the programme. BHCAB propose to recruit a Financial Inclusion Coordinator

and Capacity Builder (FICCB) who will be the key officer responsible for the development

of the CBP

Toynbee Hall is a secondary delivery partner to the Coordination and Capacity Building

proposals. They will bring their expertise to the CBP through the provision of regular

mentoring and technical supervision to the FICCB and through membership of the Core

Strategic Development Group.

Money Advice and Community Support (MACS) are the primary delivery partner for the

Advice Service. They will deliver the telephone Helpline and maintain the gateway to the

1:2:1 Advice Casework Service and allocate cases across a pool of appropriate agencies.

A flexible pool of advice agencies will be secondary delivery partners to Advice Service

and will deliver the 1:2:1 Advice Casework Service. These agencies will be signatories to

our local Advice Services Transition Partnership agreement and have appropriate quality

accreditation, insurance and DBS checks in place.

The Whitehawk Inn, The Bridge, The Brighton Unemployed Centre Families Project and

the Hangleton and Knoll Project will be the primary delivery partners for the Education

Service. They will provide drop-in service across the city facilitating access to a range of

opportunities including access to digital technology and financial services, delivery of short

courses and supported learning progression.

1 Coordination & Development

BHCAB and Toynbee Hall will be resourced to Coordinate and Develop the Community

Banking Partnership.

BHCAB will recruit a Financial Inclusion Coordinator and Capacity Builder (‘FICCB’).

Toynbee Hall will be resourced via a sub-grant arrangement to provide regular technical

supervision, mentoring and training to the FICCB and quality assurance to the Coordination

and Development programme.

The FICCB will be located alongside our lottery funded ‘Advice Brighton and Hove’ project

team. This team will be working with a wide range of local advice agencies and other

stakeholders over the next two years to develop a sustainable, local partnership approach

to advice provision.

Branding

We will work closely with the council, partners and stakeholders to develop a cost

effective brand and supporting publicity campaign that:

o Let residents know where, when and how they can access support with

money issues

o Encourages residents to access support by promoting financial well being

in a sensitive, non judgemental manner.

o Creates a sense of shared identity, ownership and mission amongst those

involved in delivering support

We have extensive local experience in developing an effective local partnership brand

through our previous work. For example, in 2009 our lottery funded ‘Advice Brighton &

Hove’ project (previously hosted by BHT but now hosted by the BHCAB) led the

development of the ‘worried about debt’ campaign involving the Council, East Sussex

Credit Union, BHT, BHCAB, St Luke’s Advice Service and MACS. Our product- an eye

catching and informative poster- was developed at low cost, distributed via mailing lists for

local charities, schools, children centres, front facing council offices and GP surgeries and

was displayed widely. Feedback was exceptionally positive and, at the request of the

Council, updated leaflets based of the posters were subsequently distributed to all Council

tenants in 2010 and reproduced within the ‘Summer Fun’ magazines of 2011 and 2012.

Referral Mechanisms

No one agency can ever meet all the needs of an individual and a key aim of any multi-

agency service delivery partnership is to develop referral routes that ensure services wrap

around the client.

In our experience, effective referrals between services providers are underpinned by the

following:

• Strong ‘person – to – person’ relationships between the different agencies

providing support at a frontline level.

• Simple, straightforward, user friendly ‘admin-light’ processes and protocols for

referral.

• The availability of clear, accessible, easy to navigate, regularly updated information

relating to the range of support that meet a persons needs

We have extensive experience in developing good practice locally in this area. For Example

o Our ‘Advice Brighton and Hove’ directory of local services has had excellent

feedback from frontline workers across the city and was reproduced by the Council

and forwarded to thousands of residents

o We bring frontline workers together through Advice Services Network meetings

and workshops and through our training programme, encouraging them to share

skills and gain greater understanding of each others services.

o We have implemented an electronic shared calendar system across 6 advice

agencies, enabling the direct booking of appointments for clients by 3rd

parties

o Our ‘Warm Homes Healthy People Financial Healthcheck’ programme was able to

quickly engage multiple referral agencies as a result of our simple, straightforward,

referral protocols and service description. For example, services that referred to

the programme between January and March 2013 included:

Family Information Service, The Deans Children’s Centre, The Carers Centre, Sussex Central

YMCA, Rough Sleepers Team, Start project, St Martins CE Primary School, SPIN (Single

Parent Information Network), B&HCC Integrated Team For Families, BHT Private Rented

Sector solutions, Access Point (Adult Social Care), In Touch Family Mosaic, Family Support

Service, Hertford Junior School, Support4Housing, St Peter’s Medical Centre, BHT Tenancy

Centre, Carmel House (Anchor scheme), Early Years Visiting Service, Floating Support

Service, ACAS – C&F Duty Service Brighton and Hove, Mind in Brighton and Hove, Hospital

Social Work Team, Smile2Live, Family Health Visiting Service, Firm Foundations

Monitoring and Evaluation across the partnership

We will develop and implement a monitoring and evaluation system across the

partnership that:

• Tells us which residents are engaging with the services and help us to target in

relation to need

• Help us to assess the effectiveness of our referral mechanisms by tracing the client

journey

• Help us to develop the business case for investment by collecting strategically

relevant outcomes in a consistent fashion across the partnership.

The approach we are proposing – where the Financial Inclusion Coordinator and Capacity

Builder manages delivery partners via a sub grant agreement, will help create the dynamic

for effective implementation.

Since 2012, local partners have been involved piloting the Toynbee Hall ‘Financial Well

being’ measurement tool and we are currently discussing with Toynbee Hall the potential

to implement this across the partnership.

In addition, we have a strong track record of working with the council to develop

consistent monitoring and evaluation tools for advice through our lottery funded ‘Advice

Brighton and Hove’ Project (currently hosted by BHCAB). Specifically, this project has

developed and helped implement monitoring and evaluation systems for the following

services:

o The 2010 Benefits Take Up campaign involving delivery by 9 local agencies: BHCAB,

BHT, BUCFP, St Luke’s Advice Centre, Brighton Women’s Centre, MACS, Terrence

Higgins Trust South, The Fed and AMAZE

o The Warm Homes Healthy People Financial Healthchecks programmes in Winter

2012 and 2013 involving delivery by BHCAB, BHT, MACS, BUCFP and Age UK

o The BHCAB advice in GP surgeries service

o The MACS debt advice for Council Tenants and Council Tax Payers Services

o BHT and CAB transitional grant evaluation

Sustainability and Business Case

We greatly welcome the Council’s investment in the establishment of a local Community

Banking Partnership, particularly given the high pressure on public finances at this time.

We also recognise that this in not envisaged as a time limited project and that future

funding is uncertain.

We therefore propose to create a sustainable CBP by employing a flexible, responsive and

dynamic approach that will enable us to develop and diversify our income and resource

base.

We have an excellent track record, through our ‘Advice Brighton and Hove’ partnership

project (currently hosted by BHCAB) in engaging new commissioners and funders and

demonstrating the strategic relevance of our services. We have identified the following as

potential areas for business development::

• Establishing the CBP as a standalone legal entity

• Potential options for income generation through provision of support the tenants

of local Registered Local Landlords

• Delivery of the Local Universal Credit Support framework

• Private Sector Sponsorship and/or delivery of services to employees of local

private sector companies

• Funding opportunities to deliver services beyond the Brighton and Hove City

Boundaries (e.g. across the ‘Greater Brighton’ region)

Working with Service Users and residents

We consider that hearing and understanding the ‘user’ (and ‘potential user’) voice is

crucial to the effective the development of the CBP and it’s services. We intend to engage

with residents in a range of ways:

• Focus groups

• Surveys and interviews at public events

• Service feedback forms

• Telephone Surveys

We have substantial experience in leading a partnership approach to working with users to

shape services through our delivery of the ‘Advice Brighton and Hove’ partnership project

(currently hosted by BHCAB). Examples include:

o Undertaking follow up telephone interviews across a range of agencies

o Facilitating focus groups of former service users and assessing via discourse

analysis.

o Engaging potential service users in the assessment of ‘pathfinder’ projects aimed

at integrating advice provision

Strategic Development & the engagement of key partners and stakeholders

We will establish a Core Strategic Development Group to oversee the CBP from the outset.

This will meet regularly, be facilitated by the FICCB and comprise of:

• Nominated representatives from delivery partners (MACS, Toynbee Hall, The

Bridge, HKN, BUCFP, Whitehawk Inn)

• a representative from the East Sussex Credit Union

• Other key partners as agreed by the group*

(*NB: We are open to discussion relating to how to best involve the Council in their

Commissioning role)

We will develop a range of methods for identifying engaging and involving operational and

strategic partners and stakeholders through, for example, Forum meetings, newsletters

and events.

2 Capacity building

Our approach to capacity building will:

• Embed financial wellbeing into service provision across the city

• Minimise direct demand on our direct services by developing effective self

help/supported self help resources.

• Help us to ensure our direct services reach priority groups that are difficult to

reach and/or face barriers to the service

It will be delivered by the FICCB (employed by BHCAB with mentoring support and quality

assurance from Toynbee Hall.)

There will be two key elements to our approach:

o The Development of the CBP webpages

o The Development of ‘Community Frontliners’

2.1 Development of the CBP webpages

Our capacity building proposal will help resource the development of an online Community

Banking Partnership resource. This will be promoted as the primary first point of contact

for digitally savvy but ‘financially fragile’ residents, thereby reducing demand on helpline

and drop-in provision.

Our webpages will:

• Link seamlessly with the Advice Directory and online Advice Service that is to be

delivered as part of our lottery funded ‘Advice Brighton and Hove Project’

• Host and link to a range of self help resources and national helplines

• Provide a user friendly directory of local educational support opportunities based

on the Mapping exercises specified within the ‘Education’ lot.

We have demonstrable experience in delivering effective web resources at low cost. For

example, the current ‘Advice Brighton and Hove’ website (which hosts the local advice

directory) was developed without any specialist IT support, using only free, or readily

available software and is hosted at a cost of £100 per annum. It has received over 5,500

unique visitors and has been actively promoted by a number of local public and voluntary

sector managers as a useful tool for frontline workers.

The CBP webpages will be professionally developed by SCIP (a local not for profit IT

support company).

Although the pages will have their own domain name and brand identity, they will be

developed as part of the lottery funded ‘revamp’ of www.advicebrighton-hove.org.uk and

will integrate with the online advice service that we are developing as part of that project.

IT support costs and hosting for the development of the ‘Advice Brighton and Hove’ site

are already covered within the lottery budget. The only additional resource we anticipate

therefore requiring will be the time of the ‘Financial Inclusion Coordination and Capacity

Builder’ to develop content.

2.2 Development of ‘Community Frontliners’

A key aim of our Community Banking Partnership proposal is to Inspire and enable people

in services, organisations and institutions across the city to take responsibility for

promoting the financial wellbeing of our residents

We know that many people working at the frontline find it difficult to identify, assess and

assist residents with financial issues. For many, even starting the conversation can be

difficult. Key to our capacity building proposal, therefore, is our programme for the

development of ‘Community Frontliners’.

Through this programme we will, Develop a training and support offer to improve

awareness of Financial Inclusion issues and links with local CBP service provision. This will:

o build our existing training programme that is to be resourced by the lottery and

delivered by our ‘Advice Brighton and Hove’ project over the next two years.

o Offer a tailored training, workshops and support in a variety of settings

o Be responsive to feedback and input from participants

We aim to develop Community Frontliners in a wide range of settings across the voluntary,

private and public sectors (including work with local councillors). However, As we know

from the Financial Inclusion needs analysis and from our own experience that some of the

most Financially Excluded residents in the City face barriers to accessing mainstream

services, our priority will be to support people in organisations that have the trust of

particularly financially residents that might not otherwise come to us for help. In

consultation with the council we will also consider prioritising referrals from particular

Community Frontliners to ensure effective targeting of provision.

We have an excellent track record in this area: examples of local services and groups that

have engaged with our Advice Partnership training programme and/or Advice Services

Network workshops in the last year include:

Amaze, Brighton Women’s Centre, Brighton Voices in Exile, Friends Families and Travellers, MindOut, East

Sussex Credit Union, Rise, SPIN (Single Parents Information Network), Brighton and Hove City Council (Local

Discretionary Social Fund, Access Point, B&HCC Welfare Rights, B&HCC Adult Social Care, Neighbourhoods

Team, Inclusion Team, Family Information Service), Young Peoples Centre, Trust for Developing Communities,

Volunteer Centre , Healthwatch, MIND, Sussex Central YMCA, The Carers Centre, One Church Brighton, Bangla

Brighton, The Fed, The Carers Centre, Sacred Heart Church & St Vincent De Paul, Bevendean Community Cafe

and Food Bank, Moulsecoomb Children’s Centre, Christians Against Poverty, Parish of Aldrington TDC, Age UK

Brighton and Hove

Community Frontliners will have a key role to play in the longer term shaping of the

Community Banking Partnership and, in particular, will be able to help us design services

that are responsive and accessible. We will therefore ensure we maintain engagement

with them in a variety of ways including:

o Frontline focused events

o Newsletters and training

o Online Surveys

3 Delivery of Advice

Our proposals will ensure that residents receive high quality advice to resolve their

immediate issues alongside and holistic support that helps build their resilience.

Our lead delivery partner for the Advice Service will be Money Advice and Community

Support (MACS), a local organisation with an excellent track record in the provision of in-

depth money advice and holistic financial inclusion solutions for clients.

3.1 The Community Banking Partnership Helpline:

The Community Banking Partnership Helpline will be delivered by MACS. It will be open 20

hours a week (at times to be negotiated with the council). It will be staffed by suitably

qualified and experienced advisers and will provide a first point of contact for many

residents that are unable to resolve their issues using the CBP website.

Callers will be able to access immediate, in-depth help in relation to complex debt and

benefit problems alongside generalist support relating to food and fuel poverty issues,

basic banking and money management.

3.2 The 1:2:1 Advice Casework Service

The 1:2:1 Advice Casework Service will provide in-depth specialist advice and advocacy to

resolve benefits and debt problems as part of an overall holistic package that supports the

client to improve their resilience and financial well being.

It will be accessed by a simple referral mechanism and we will ensure effective

engagement and communication with a range of community groups and frontline services.

Where appropriate we will, in consultation with the Council, target provision by

implementing systems to prioritise referrals for particular groups.

The gateway to the service will be maintained by MACS and individual cases will be

allocated across a range of appropriately quality accredited partners. St Lukes Advice

Centre, BHT Advice, Age UK and The Fed have expressed and interest in joining BHCAB and

MACS in this pool. Brighton Women’s Centre and Brighton Unemployed Centre Families

Project- have also expressed an interest in attaining the necessary quality accreditation

that would allow them to join the ‘pool’ at a later date

We are proposing this method because

• Engaging multiple partners ensures delivery from multiple locations without the

additional expense associated with outreach

• Engaging multiple partners in actual delivery helps achieve ‘buy in’ to the CPB

ethos from the outset

• It is flexible and responsive (for example, with Warm Homes Healthy People 2013,

we were able to deliver a £50,000 3 month’s campaign at very short notice)

thereby improving the partnerships ability to quickly expand and contract to take

advantage of short term funding steams

We know this approach works as we have used it to deliver the ‘Warm Homes Healthy

People Financial Healthchecks’ programmes of 2012 and 2013.

4 Delivery of Educational Support

Our approach to the delivery of Educational Support is strongly on our delivery partners

expertise in community development and in-depth knowledge of the diverse communities

within our City.

DROP IN GATEWAY

4. 1 Drop-in gateway sessions:

We will provide drop in gateways to the education service and broader Community

Banking Partnership community locations in the East, North, West and Centre of the city.

Residents at these drop-in’s will be encouraged to engage in an assessment of their

financial wellbeing needs. Following this they will be supported to participate in a range of

learning opportunities and referred, as appropriate, to other Community Banking Support.

Our four delivery partners- The Whitehawk Inn, The Bridge, The Hangleton and Knoll

Project (HKP) and the Brighton Unemployed Centre Families Project (‘BUCFP’) have a

track record in community engagement, community development and provision of adult

education:

4.2 Supported learning

Following needs assessment, our drop in gateway officers will support residents to access

a range of appropriate educational opportunities including:

• One to one support to identify how service users are financially excluded and to

develop a plan for gaining the knowledge and skills they need to progress in their

lives or as a minimum, access the information they need to address the financial

issues that are most pressing.

• Short courses that are developed based on the needs identified through the drop-

ins and one to one support. These will formalise and develop both the financial

and digital inclusion skills required to increase service user aspirations and develop

the practical skills required to save money, generate income and/or seek

employment.

• Needs led approach that supports service users to identify their own needs,

prioritise them and develop a plan for how these will begin to be met through

clear progression routes.

• The development of service users into becoming drop-in volunteers. This will

increase the capacity of the service and will also develop key people who are able

to champion financial inclusion in the community.

• The development of peer to peer support / informal mentoring. This will happen in

different ways depending on the context of the partner organisation. At HKP this

will be through identifying members of community groups who need support

around financial inclusion, providing the support they need and encouraging them

to support other members of their group by talking about their situation and

promoting the support available to them. BUCFP will do this through informally

encouraging their service users to befriend new, incoming service users. The

Whitehawk Inn and the Bridge will do this through their network of informal

learning groups.

• Providing drop-in support for people to bring their own equipment, be shown how

to use it, get online and informally promote some of the easiest ways for people to

save money, access benefits and/or increase their income.

• Promotion of the financial inclusion work through the network of local community

organisations, ensuring that those who are most active in the community, have the

information required to promote the education services to the vulnerable

residents they come into contact with.

5 Integrating provision of Financial Services into the CBP

Access to, and effective use of, financial services is a key aspect of Financial Inclusion and

Wellbeing. Local Providers of accessible financial products will therefore be key partners

in the development of the CBP and it’s services. Our approach is outlined below:

CBP FINANCIAL

SERVICE PROVIDERS

5.1 Integrating provision with East Sussex Credit Union Services:

East Sussex Credit Union (ESCU) are the local not for profit savings and loans co-operative

that is committed to the reduction of Financial Exclusion and Poverty.

We will work closely with ESCU at an operational and strategic level to

• ensure they are an effective access point for wider CBP services and support

(Advice, Education etc.)

• Ensure other CBP support services effectively refer residents to them when

appropriate them.

In doing this, we will be drawing on well established operational and strategic links with

ESCU at a board, management and frontline level. Past history of partnership work with

them includes:

o Joint delivery of the 2009 partnership debt advice and publicity programme

(involving BHCAB, MACS, BHT, St Luke’s Advice and ESCU)

o Sharing of skills and experience of frontline staff at Advice Services Network

meetings

o ESCU participation in the 2013 Advice Brighton and Hove training programme

o Joint delivery of the March 2011 Family Finance Day

To give an indication of the practical steps we will take, we are currently already exploring

the following possibilities for integrated, joint working:

o Training ESCU frontline staff in the use of the online referral/integrated multi

agency calendar system (currently resourced by our Advice Brighton and Hove

lottery funding)

o Delivery of an debt advice sessions at ESCU premise

o Referrals from advice agencies to the ESCU small loans pilot

5.2 Developing Mainstream basic banking providers as a CBP access point

We are aware that the Council has made substantial progress in promoting the availability

of accessible financial services to residents by engaging local mainstream banks via the

establishment of their ‘Basic Banking Forum’. We will engage directly with this forum to

explore how high street banks might also become an access point to wide CBP support.

Ring the helpline

Engaged by a trusted 3rd party

or service

approach the East Sussex

Credit Union (or participating

basic banking provider)

Attend the drop in

LookOnline

CBP HELPLINE

CBP WEBPAGES

CBP EDUCATIONDROP IN GATEWAY

CBPCOMMUNITYFRONTLINERS

CPB FINANCIALSERVICE PROVIDERS

Annex A: Routes into holistic & integrated support

Referred for in-depth support

Our proposals for Service Delivery ensure a flexible mix of self help, reactive provision and pro-active engagement with particularly financially vulnerable or hard to reach groups.

Our approach to Coordination and Capacity building will ensure that, where possible, residents issues are resolved at the first point of contact and, where necessary, referral routes to other support are smooth and effective.

Brighton and Hove City

Council

Brighton and Hove Citizens Advice

Bureau

COORDINATION & DEVELOPMENT

Money Advice & Community

Support

ADVICE: Telephone advice

service& 1:2:1 casework

gateway

ADVICE1:2:1

casework

Quality Accredited local Advice Services Transition Fund

partners

ADVICE:1:2:1 casework

Toynbee HallWhitehawk

Inn

EDUCATION:City East Drop in

Gateway & learning

Grant agreement

Sub grant allocation

Delivery Delivery

The Bridge

EDUCATION: City North

Drop in Gateway &

learning

Delivery

Hangleton & Knoll Project

EDUCATION: City West

Drop in Gateway &

learning

DeliveryDelivery

Brighton Unemployed

Centre Families Project

EDUCATION: City Central

Drop in Gateway &

learning

Delivery

Sub grant allocation

CAPACITY BUILDING

Delivery

Sub grant

allocation

Annex B:Resource allocation & delivery

Support

Brighton and Hove Citizens Advice Bureau are the named lead partner in all four lots.

Resources for the delivery of Advice and Education, and an aspect of Coordination and Capacity Building, will be allocated to partners via sub grant agreement

Any overheads associated with management of this will be covered by the Coordination proposal.

Brighton and Hove City

Council

Brighton and Hove Citizens Advice Bureau

STAFF: Financial Inclusion

Coordinator &Capacity Builder

Money Advice & Community

Support

STAFF:2 x 0.5 Advisors

Staff:Macs Advice Caseworker

pool

Quality Accredited local Advice Services Transition Fund

partners

Staff:Advice

Caseworker pool

Whitehawk Inn

STAFF: Drop in gateway assessors

Performancemanagement

Linemanagement

Performance Management

Linemanagement

Linemanagement

The Bridge

STAFF: Drop in gateway assessors

Linemanagement

Hangleton & Knoll Project

STAFF: Drop in gateway assessors

Linemanagement

Linemanagement

Linemanagement

Brighton Unemployed

Centre Families Project

STAFF: Drop in gateway assessors

Linemanagement

Performance management

1:2:1 Gateway Staff

Performancemanagement

Annex C:Management & Accountability

Toynbee Hall

Supervision, Mentoring

& Quality Assurance

Brighton and Hove Citizens Advice Bureau are lead bidder in all four lots. They will recruit a ‘Financial Inclusion Coordinator and Capacity Builder’ (FICBB) who will performance manage the delivery of the Advice and Education Services via sub grant/Service Level agreements.

Structuring the partnership in this way will provide clear lines of accountability to the Council and will provide the FICCB with additional leverage to support the adoption of common monitoring and referral mechanisms.