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Annual Report 2019 | Fairer More Equal Stories

Supporting Our Children Who Are Struggling

The levels of child poverty in Glasgow are amongst the highest in Scotland.  Glasgow currently has 38,000 children living in poverty.  This represents one in every three children; that is 34% of children living in our city.  In some parts of the city, child poverty rates currently sit at 49%.  To compound this, it is predicted that the levels of child poverty in Glasgow are expected to rise as a result of economic and welfare changes.  Without additional intervention at a national and local level, it is forecast that, by 2022, there will be 50,000 children, 42%, living in poverty in Glasgow.

The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 sets ambitious targets to significantly reduce child poverty and requires health boards and local authorities to work together to produce and deliver a Local Child Poverty Action Report (LCPAR).  There are four statutory targets to be met by 2030 with an interim target for 2023.  The 2023 targets are;

  • Less than 18% of children living in relative poverty;
  • Less than 14% of children are in absolute poverty;
  • Less than 8% of children are in combined poverty and material deprivation; and
  • Less than 8% of children are in persistent poverty.

These targets are rightly challenging.  Greater Glasgow NHS, the Health and Social Care Partnership and Glasgow City Council have come together, along with a number of additional partners, including citizens with experience of poverty and the Third Sector, to identify how to achieve these.  GCC and GGCNHS published Glasgow's first LCPAR (2018-19) which details existing, new and planned activities to address the recognised drivers of child poverty; in other words, the reasons why families with children are in poverty and the direct drivers of poverty fall into three main categories, income from employment, cost of living and income from social security and benefits in kind.

You can read the full LCPAR for 2018-19 here

Outlined below are some examples of specific activity that have been put in place that will also impact on our child poverty work.  The Poverty Leadership Panel will build on the successes of these to push further, harder and faster in 2019-20 to achieve real change for our vulnerable children and families.

 

Children's Holiday Food Programme

In May 2018 funds were made available to support the provision of nutritious food during school holidays across the city. A Steering Group comprising of representatives from the Third Sector, Greater Glasgow & Clyde NHS and Glasgow City Council was established to oversee the initial development of this programme including agreeing the key outcomes and funding criteria.

The fund itself was administered by Voluntary Action Fund and was open to organisations that were already providing holiday activities but were able to supplement this with the provision of food. Any organisation working with children or young people aged 0-18 could apply.

In the Summer of 2018, 97 organisations received funding totalling £881,000 to address holiday hunger. This included holiday clubs, community cafés and organisations that worked with families in their homes. Over 14,600 children and young people benefitted and over 131,000 meals were provided. https://twitter.com/hashtag/HoFoP

The success of the summer programme led to further investment for school holidays in both October 2018 and February 2019, building on the lessons learnt in the Summer.

The Holiday Hunger Programme was driven by a desire to address issues about food; to reduce the stigma around food poverty and change mindsets in terms of health and wellbeing. However, by linking this with existing holiday programmes and activities, there have been so many additional benefits.

As well as building knowledge and skills around healthy food and cooking, there has been an impact on physical activity and mental wellbeing. Children and young people have been able to maintain their friendships outside of school and create new ones. This increased social interaction has resulted in improved confidence and self-esteem in participants but also within the wider family. Communities have come together to share this experience, learning more about local services along the way and reducing territorial barriers. Furthermore, local organisations have seen an increase in volunteering and local business also benefitted.

The lessons learnt from this first year of investment will shape the future of Glasgow's Holiday Hunger programme.

Case Study:

On the first day of summer camp this year, we had four children between the ages of 5-11 dropped off to participate at camp first thing each day. Each day the children were very hungry and were hoping to get something to eat. The four children were all siblings and came from a single parent household where the mother worked part-time each day.

Every day we provided a breakfast for them in addition to a hot lunch and an additional bag of food to take home for dinner that night and/or breakfast the next morning or over the weekend. This was clearly a mother who was working very hard to provide for her children but was in need of a little bit of additional support and help.

After a few days of camp we had a chat with her to see if there was anything else we could do to help and she said that the summer camp had changed her life. The camp had allowed her to focus on other things instead of having to constantly worry about providing breakfast each day. Dinner was not as big a worry because her parents helped and often made dinner for them all, but breakfast was, and during the school holidays as the money that was normally spent on breakfast was spent on lunch which meant there was no extra money. Quite often she would go without food herself to ensure that all the kids had something to eat.

"Just knowing the kids can come here, have fun, get something good to eat at lunch and early in the morning has made everything so much easier. I am not having to worry every single day about food during the summer. I can go to work and then come up here and see them. They are happy and running about every day."

I am delighted to say that all four children are now regularly involved in sessions every week and that we have been able to find additional support to ensure that things are not as hard for the whole family.

 

Tackling Homelessness and Housing Need

The Private Rented Sector Support Hub is unique in Scotland. Established in 2018, it aims to prevent homelessness by providing a holistic and multi-agency support service.  The Hub is part of the Council's wider housing team, however, it is being developed with partner organisations. Its aim is to support tenants, especially families with children, living in private rented housing, many of which are living in poverty made worse by the welfare reforms. 

The Private Rented Sector Support Hub has a proactive approach to working with families referred to them, particularly those that are hard to reach. Officers are often the first person families have dealt with, which places them in a unique position to act as a link to additional services. Referrals for the service come from a wide range of partners, including health staff, DWP, housing and homelessness organisations. Support is provided on housing issues, such as sustaining their tenancy, advice on sourcing alternative housing as well as considering the tenants financial or personal needs. Locating the unit within the Council has meant that the team are also able to inspect the condition of properties and ensure that landlords meet their obligations and have up to date registration.

The team works with an increasing number of families who are transitioning to Universal Credit. They support tenants affected by the delay in rent payments and prevent crises caused by rent arrears accrued during the assessment period. Productive relationships with landlords have been crucial to preventing homelessness.

In the past two years the team have saved families more than £3.6million. Work continues to develop additional referral pathways into the Hub from as many contact points as possible.

Anonymous Case Study

The PRS Hub team received a referral in relation to Ms P. At the time she was at high risk of homelessness due to rent arrears. Ms P and her three children had lived in their private rented tenancy for four years. Ms P was in receipt of Income Support, Child Tax Credit and Child Benefit but, as result of the benefit cap, she was still nearly £20 per week short of her rent. She had been borrowing from family members in order to make her payments. Her landlord was regularly in touch with rent reminders and advised he would be visiting to collect payment. He had also stated his intention to both increase the rent amount and to serve Ms P with a notice to leave so that he could sell the property. Ms P found this very stressful and was worried about losing her home.

A visit from the Hub team identified that Ms P was heavily reliant on family assistance to meet the shortfall in her rent as well as other essential costs, such as gas, in between benefit payments. Ms P had a number of financial commitments, including a DWP budgeting loan to meet from her limited income, none of which could be reduced. This left Ms P with very little money which often left her reliant on foodbanks. Her financial situation was having a detrimental effect on her existing mental health issues for which she was already medicated. In addition, she was being supported by a separate organisation with regard to historic abuse. She expressed concerns about her ability to cope with the challenges facing her.

Following the Hub Team's initial visit, Discretionary Housing Payment was secured for six months to cover Ms P's rent gap. Ms P was supported to apply to Glasgow's No.1 Baby & Family Support Service and she secured clothing for herself and her children. She pursued Child Maintenance Service and was awarded around £13 per week. Support was also provided to apply to the Scottish Welfare Fund for necessities.

As well as financial support, the Hub Team is qualified to inspect and make assessments on the property. A referral was made to Scottish Fire & Rescue Service to address the lack of adequate smoke or CO2 detection. A temporary fix was immediately installed. The Hub Team were also able to liaise directly with Ms P's landlord. By working together there is now a substantially improved relationship. This has directly resulted in the completion of outstanding repairs including addressing the fire safety issues. Ms P was able to set up a standing order for her rent and the landlord decided not to sell. Ms P now feels more secure in her tenancy and has discussed with the Hub team and her support worker a longer term housing plan.

Ms P is now much more in control of how she moves forward. The Hub Team's Welfare Rights Officer continued to support Ms P with applications for additional eligible benefits she was not aware of - Personal Independence Payment and the Early Learning Payment (Best Start Grant of £250). Assistance will continue to be provided, with housing applications and to secure employability support, as Ms P determines her own future.

 

Mitigating the Impact of Welfare Reform - Best Start Grant

In 2018, the Scottish Government introduced the Best Start Grants to provide lower income families with financial support during the key early years of a child's life. They replace and expand on the UK Government's Sure Start Maternity Grant by providing entitled families with £600 on the birth of their first child and £300 on the birth of any subsequent children. Whilst this additional support is hugely welcome, in Glasgow we understand that there are many reasons why individuals may not apply for these funds. They might not know about it, may not understand how to apply or that they are eligible, they might not speak English or feel confident in completing forms. In an effort to tackle this, a new scheme has been established to link the Council's birth registration process to benefit entitlement. This will ensure that no new parent, that meets the eligibility criteria, leaves Council offices without being given the opportunity to make an application.

Simply by asking a couple of additional questions when the appointment to register a new baby is made, staff can identify the eligibility for the new Best Start Grant and whether an application is already underway. A confirmation of appointment message then advises of any additional documentation that parents should bring on the day. Once the baby's birth has been registered, customer service staff support the online application for BSG.

So far more than 200 families in the city have been helped to apply for the (BSG) and it is anticipated that around 30 families per week will be supported. This joined up approach has been hailed as an example of best practice by Social Security Scotland. Work is now also underway to build on this approach to increase the uptake of the BSG payments made at other key milestones (nursery age and starting school).

 

Mitigating the Impact of Welfare Reform - Universal Credit

Universal Credit (UC) was rolled out in full across Glasgow between September and December 2018 for any new benefit claims. UC replaces six other benefits; Housing Benefit, Income Support, Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit, Income Related Employment and Support Allowance and Income Based Job Seekers Allowance. These are now known as "legacy benefits".

This change to benefits has been challenging and to mitigate these, Glasgow has used its Invest to Improve funding to establish our UC Hubs. These are based in nineteen locations, mainly libraries, across the City. These Hubs primarily provide financial and digital support to citizens to make and maintain their UC claims online. This is done by Universal Support Officers (Glasgow Life Staff) and Customer Service Assistants (Jobs & Business Glasgow staff). However, staff also carry out a holistic needs assessment (HNA) that identifies a range of additional issues facing applicants to identify referral routes for additional support. This onward referral is done with the applicant's permission and using our Fast Online Referral Tool (FORT). This enables statutory, voluntary and 3rd Sector organisations to refer to one another seamlessly. This wraparound support joins up agencies to provide co-ordinated assistance to vulnerable citizens including;

  • IT training to help maintain the citizen's UC claim through their on line journal, which includes the claimant commitment;
  • Advice and training for employment;
  • Help with registering to vote;
  • Housing Benefit and Council Tax advice; and
  • English classes for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). The UC application is in English only, therefore ESOL courses are provided as well as translation services to assist people for whom English is not their first language.

 

The UC Hubs work with:

  • Glasgow Advice & Information Network (GAIN)
  • Advice Direct Scotland (ADS)
  • Money Matters
  • GEMAP
  • Jobs & Business Glasgow (JBG)
  • Private Rented Sector Support Hub
  • GHeat
  • One Parent Families Scotland (OPFS)
  • Glasgow Disability Alliance (GDA)
  • Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership (GCHSCP) homelessness team
  • Simon Community
  • Govanhill HA
  • Glasgow Association for Mental Health (GAMH)
  • GCSCP Linguistics service
  • Global Language Services Ltd
  • Registered Social Landlords
  • DWP

Case Study

A couple with two young children and living in homeless accommodation presented at the library to get assistance with their claim for UC. The family were destitute and extremely worried about how they were going to survive. There was also a language barrier as English was not their 1st language. A translation appointment was arranged for an interpreter to be on hand to assist in explaining the claim process. The citizen and his wife were both keen to work and understood that the opportunity could be enhanced if they spoke and understood English better. The support officer was able to support the family not only to get their UC claim submitted but also arranged the identity appointment with the Jobcentre, got them onto an ESOL course and set up an appointment with Jobs and Business Glasgow to help create a CV. The family had no food therefore the support officer arranged a food parcel for them at the local foodbank and helped them apply for a crisis grant through the Scottish Welfare Fund. The citizen stated "Thank you for your service, I do not know where my family would be without this assistance".

Case Study

This citizen is a single parent following separation from her partner and had suffered domestic violence. At the time of her application for assistance she was sleeping on the floor of her mother's house. She had also experienced the death of one her children and was suffering from anxiety and depression as well as other physical problems. Our support officer checked her benefit position and provided advice on how to proceed with her UC claim and her application for tenancy of a privately rented flat. The support officer helped her submit her claim and arranged for her to claim a payment from the Welfare Fund and some charities for furniture for her flat. The citizen received her furniture package and has moved into her new accommodation, received her Universal Credit, Council Tax Reduction and is waiting on the result of her application for Personal Independence Payment.