Recession and supporting people back into work
By Aaron Barbour | July 2, 2009
Earlier this week, I attended a TUC seminar focusing on the lessons from the last two recessions in the 1980’s and 90’s. Evidence from the ILO and ONS confirms that this recession is severe - nothing surprising there.
The TUC’s useful work on the recession including reports and the ToUChstone blog describes and comments upon the changing nature of this recession.
As TUC Senior Policy Officer Richard Excel explained “predicting the future is a mugs game”, however unemployment is expected to continue to rise, maybe even to 3.5m, well after an upturn in GDP (the green shoots of the recovery). That’s typical, as is the fact that it will take years for the economy to recover to pre-recession levels of growth. The hardest hit being the lowest skilled and those in the most deprived areas, which is tough for the people we work with in east London as they are over represented in these categories.
Professor Paul Gregg (of DWP Conditionality and Support report fame) then gave an interesting analysis of factors that might reduce disconnection with the (formal) labour market and those who are long term unemployed.
Evidence shows that what works to reduce this disconnection are back to work intervention programmes which:
- Offer active support in getting job ready, acquiring the skills and experience to get a job e.g. job search, CV skills, job interview practice.
- Provide a paid job with work which is valuable to the community - Paul suggested setting up community job banks - not picking up litter but doing youth work, child care etc…
- Focus on getting the individual a job at the end of the programme - both the individual and the organisation where that individual is placed must be focused on finding them a job.
This approach is currently applied (with varying degrees of success) in the New Deal programmes but the stages are followed sequentially. Paul suggests doing all three stages at the same time. His suggested intervention programme is called the Job Guarantee, check here for more details. In effect he’s attempting to mainstream Intermediate Labour Markets (ILMs).
If you’re a regular reader of our blog you might be thinking that this all seems familiar. Well you’re right. It is. Our Community Allowance proposes the same thing but opens up the offer to more people, not just the long term unemployed. We’ve been campaigning for many years to get government to make the link between unemployment, work and community regeneration, which were a part of the Community Programmes of the 1970s and 80s. It’s funny how things go full circle.
We have a meeting with the DWP’s Right to Bid Team this Friday to discuss further details about how we might pilot the Community Allowance across the UK. We’re also following up with Paul Gregg to see how we might connect.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
Topics: Benefits, News, Regeneration, Welfare, employment | No Comments »
Do you earn enough for a minimum acceptable standard of living?
By Richard McKeever | July 1, 2009
About a year ago we wrote a piece reporting on the launch of the Minimum Income Standards research. This is an income figure calculated to reflect what members of the public thought people need to achieve a socially acceptable standard of living. Today the figures for 2009 have been published.
Last year the report delivered a grim analysis for those living on low incomes and claiming benefits. One year on, after regular news of financial crisis and job losses, the picture looks even more bleak. Around one quarter of people in Britain are living below the minimum income standard, and this is increasing as unemployment rises People of working age who are claiming benefits remain well below the minimum income standard and far removed from an acceptable living standard.
These findings have confirmed what we at Community Links have known for years that the current benefit system does not provide a sufficient income for people to live with dignity. In fact it pays people to stay in poverty.
Inadequacies in the benefits and tax credit systems are one of the factors that result in people feeling they have no alternative than to work informally - claiming benefit whilst undertaking cash-in-hand work. Our NeedNOTGreed campaign works to remove the need for cash-in-hand work by creating a modern, flexible welfare system. Our work is summarised in our Social Change booklet on the Informal Economy.
But it’s more than just an argument about figures and statistics. The everyday experience of the people we work with in our own area of east London and communities like ours across the UK indicate the many ways families are struggling. The figures are translated into the child who hopes - but does not expect to get a birthday cake or the family living in overcrowded and unsuitable accomodation that can’t get away for a weekend at the seaside over the summer - or even afford regular healthy lunches whilst the free school dinners are not available during school closure. Our work on Child Poverty is summarised in another of our Social Change series.
Full details are available on the Minimum Income Standards website where a there is also a ‘Minimum Income Calculator’ for people to check whether their income meets the MIS.
Topics: Benefits, Child Poverty, Informal Economy, Research, Welfare, debt, employment | No Comments »
London Debt Summit
By Richard McKeever | June 23, 2009
The national Financial Inclusion Champions programme is intended to take forward the work of the Now Let’s Talk Money campaign, and is managed by the DWP as part of the Government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy and Financial Inclusion Fund.
Community Links is leading the development of the champions programme across east and parts of north London.
Financial Inclusion Champion Wai-Fong Pang is based at Community Links and is working to develop and promote financial inclusion services. In this article she comments on the London Debt Summit.
There have been many concerns raised within the advice sector about the impact of the recession on advice services and their clients. So, Capitalise, London’s Debt Advice Partnership and the GLA organised the Debt Summit, which took place yesterday, to address some of these issues. There were a range of speakers invited including the Deputy Mayor of London, funders from both the statutory and charitable sector and the chief executive of a voluntary advice agency. But, despite their diversity they were all in agreement about the need for a co-ordinated and strategic response to the impact of the recession.
Debt advice can deal with the more pressing problems of keeping a roof over someone’s head or the bailiffs from the door, but there are other issues such as redundancy, ill health, relationship breakdown, unreasonable behaviour by creditors and even the tenuous state of advice funding that must also be dealt with.
The report, ‘Up to our neck in it’ was also unveiled at the Summit. Despite the many depressing statistics and figures, the one that really shocked me was the impact this recession is having on the self-employed. Since 2006, Capitalise has seen a 300% increase in average debt levels of these clients, from £10,000 to £44,000. No work - no money, and to compound the problem they also have difficulty accessing benefits because of the need to provide proof of income with a set of accounts prepared by an accountant. The way that I see it, if you can’t afford to pay your rent or mortgage you probably can’t afford to pay an accountant to prepare your accounts!
The BBC journalist, Liz Barclay, was also in attendance, she was a manager of a Citizens Advice Bureau 20 years ago and remembers dealing with clients in debt and dealing with the impact of the previous recession. She asked the question ‘Has there been any improvement since the last recession?’ Not one person put up their hand and said ‘yes’ there had.
I really hope that something good will come from this Summit, there is talk of the formation of a London Debt Strategy group to work cross-sector to find solutions to the problems.
Let’s hope that they succeed.
Wai-Fong Pang
Financial Inclusion Champion - east/north London
Topics: Benefits, Child Poverty, Informal Economy, Regeneration, Welfare, debt, employment | No Comments »
Big boost to Brick Lane research
By Jamie Elliott | June 18, 2009
I recently worked on a research project into the working lives of waiters in London’s Brick Lane as part of the Need NOT Greed campaign. This project got mentioned in The Observer recently and received a big boost this week.
Along with Sharif and Aaron from Community Links I attended an event with other partner organisations intersted in the informal economy in Brick Lane. The meeting included two staff from the Tower Hamlets Learning and Skills team and Graham Fisher, the Chief Executive of Toynbee Hall where the meeting took place. The learning and skills team were well advanced with plans for English classes for waiters to take place in Brick Lane restaurants - a first in the UK we think.
Graham made a firm commitment to Toynbee Hall’s continued involvement in the project, which was good news as both I and Sharif had concerns about the project’s long term future as a whole because there has been so much potential for making a real change for the better for this community
“It was great to see further committment from the local council and working out the practicalities which is often the hardest bit. We hope to have the courses up and running by the summer.”
In the evening Sharif, the main researcher gave a presentation about the main findings to around 40 people in the Hackney Refugee and Migrants Rights Support Group at Praxis in Bethnal Green as part of Refugee Week. His presentation raised a lot of questions and discussion about the informal economy and the contribution this brings to the local community. A number of migrants were present and the meeting heard moving accounts of the struggles, both practical and psychological faced by those who come to the UK in search of a safer and better life.
The interest that came from the group that night and the trust that was formed so quickly confirmed how important this project is and the desire out there to get involved in Need NOT Greed and escape the vulnerable situation that traps so many in poverty.
Read the Waiting for Change report online
For more information contact www.neednotgreed.org.uk
Topics: Informal Economy, Regeneration, Research, employment | No Comments »
Refugee Week
By Richard McKeever | June 15, 2009
Today sees the start of Refugee Week an annual opportunity to reflect on the contribution that refugees have made to the UK and to “identify positive educational messages that counter fear, ignorance and negative stereotypes of refugees.”
It sometimes feels that few understand the reasons why people seek sanctuary in the UK and - if the tabloids were to be believed - this country does not appear to be a welcoming place for those seeking asylum and coming to live here in a place of safety.
This year Refugee Week falls as we come to terms with the UK being represented in the European Parliament by two members of the British National Party and further job losses are announced making the UK a tougher place for many to live and thrive.
A little while ago we at Community Links published a book identifying projects led by or working with refugee and asylum seeking communities. The book’s title “Small Places, Close to Home“ is a quotation from a speech Eleanor Roosevelt made to the UN General Assembly marking the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”
It is a very powerful idea that enormous overarching global concepts - like human rights - can only have real meaning if each of us takes responsibility for safeguarding them where we are. Where we live, work and play together…
This year the focus for Refugee week is the Simple Acts campaign. Simple Acts is inspiring individuals to consider 20 small, everyday actions which if carried out by a large number of people will help change perceptions of refugees and promote better relations between refugee and host communities. The aggregate effect of many small actions can be immense.
The actions, including “Tell a child a story from another country“, and “Cook a dish from another country” are all detailed on the wondefully designed Simple Acts website along with short-films, original writing and links to loads of resources to inspire further action.
The Campaign takes a very similar approach to We Are What We Do, which was initiated at Community Links: Small actions X lots of people = Big Change!
As well as the very powerful message behind the campaign the approach is very refreshing - some ideas are identified and some resources are made available via the campaign website and then readers are encouraged to take the ideas and develop them - so their Facebook group includes invitations to film showings and self organised events across the UK. For example people are introducing a refugee angle to their regular poerty group or just making a point of talking to friends in the pub about a current topic.
Spare a few minutes this week to show a bit of support to vulnerable people in those “small places close to home”.
Topics: Communication, Inspiration, News | 1 Comment »
Launch of Child Poverty Bill and Take-Up Report
By Aaron Barbour | June 12, 2009
Today we have two announcements from the Child Poverty Unit: Firstly the much anticipated Child Poverty Bill was presented to parliament yesterday and is being published today. Details here.
The Bill is so important because it enshrines into law the target of eradicating child poverty by 2020. It is an essential step forward in tackling child poverty and one we welcome. Our own work on child poverty over many years is summarised in our Social Change booklet. Ending child poverty is not a luxury, but a necessity. The Campaign to End Child Poverty (a campaign which we are proud to be a part of) has maintained pressure on government to “keep the promise” to halve child poverty by 2010 and eradicate it by 2020.
Please do write to the Chancellor, Alistair Darling; Ed Balls, Secretary of State for DCSF; and Yvette Cooper, Secretary of State for DWP - or your own local MP welcoming the Bill but note that it is vital that the focus on 2020 should not detract from the pressing need for Government to invest the necessary resources to get as close as possible to the interim target of halving child poverty by 2010.
Secondly “Take Up The Challenge” the Chinn report of the national Take-Up Taskforce, which I sat on, is also being published today. Download it free here.
Poverty means more than just low income and material deprivation. It affects the everyday experiences of families and communities. The tax and benefits system provides financial support to help make sure that work pays and supports families who cannot work. But many families are not taking up all of the financial support to which they are entitled. For example, (the latest available figures are from 2006-07) Housing Benefit was being claimed by between 86% and 94% of entitled lone parents and by only between 60% and 74% of entitled couples with children. This amounts to only between 67% and 82% of the money available to couples with children being claimed.
There is a strong argument for local authorities and partners to focus on increasing take up of benefits and tax credits by poor families with large unclaimed amounts. That’s why a letter from Ministers will go to all local authority chief executives, lead members and directors of children’s services today, informing them of the Bill, and urging them to take the action in the report. Take up can contribute to tackling child poverty, and related issues such as social exclusion and health inequalities. There are also benefits for the local economy, with money claimed in benefits and tax credits being spent in local communities. Furthermore, improving take up will help local authorities and partners to ensure that hard to reach and vulnerable families are receiving support, and are in contact with services. Read the report to find out the principles needed for effective implementation.
And finally, Hilary Fisher, Director of the Campaign to End Child Poverty is moving on at the end of next week. She’ll be sadly missed by those of us in the Child Poverty arena, but gladly welcomed by the National Council for Palliative Care Thanks for everything Hilary.
Will you “Take up the Challenge” to lobby for the end of child poverty? Keep in touch with our work aaron.barbour@community-links.org
Topics: Child Poverty, News | No Comments »
Community Anchors Conference
By Aaron Barbour | June 10, 2009
“In these uncertain financial times will Community Anchors really be ‘fit for purpose’?” This was the title of a conference at the Tab Centre in Shoreditch, last week which was co-hosted by the Bromley-by-Bow Centre, Community Links, Toynbee Hall, and the Centre of Institutional Studies at the University of East London. It was an intimate affair focusing on current issues surrounding the sustainability and future of Community Anchors.
The opening plenary set out the challenges faced by Community Anchors.
There followed three workshops repeated so that everyone could attend and contribute, these were:
Workshop 1: How do we know that Community Anchors are viable institutions? This workshop looked at the theme of how we measure our social impact. Milla Gregor, Toynbee Hall and Lucy Heady, New Philanthropy Capital, discussed how and why they have developed their social impact measurement.
- Download workshop papers:
Milla Gregor, Toynbee Hall.
Lucy Heady New Philanthropy Capital.
Milla challenged us to come together and agree a set of indicators for Community Anchors to use. Get in touch with her if you’d like to get involved: Milla.Gregor@toynbeehall.org.uk
Workshop 2: How can Community Anchors become sustainable institutions? Stephen Thake, London Metropolitan University, and Max Weaver, Community Links presented this workshop discussing the financial sustainability of Community Anchors in the current financial crisis.
- Download workshop papers:
Stephen Thake, London Metropolitan University
Max Weaver, Community Links
“We’re in trouble” were Stephen’s opening remarks. Funding is becoming increasingly tight with an end of national area based grants, a move towards sub-regional, mega contracts and commissioning services; added to this is the long shadow of the recession that will be cast over the next funding cycle 2011-14 (at least). However it’s not all doom and gloom. There is still plenty that can be done to argue our position, possibly develop a Community Anchors manifesto, and take the campaign for Community Anchors to a local, regional and national level.
Workshop 3: How can Community Anchors contribute to the overall social improvement and well-being of a locality? Christopher Durkin, University of Northampton and Rob Trimble, Bromley-by-Bow Centre, looked at how the issues of partnership, competition, and local relationships with community groups can ensure Community Anchors have a greater impact than they might otherwise have had.
- Download workshop papers:
Christopher Durkin, University of Northampton
Ben Hughes, bassac, ended by summing up the key points, which for him were:
- Emphasise the strengths of the holistic approach taken by Community Anchors, whilst recognising that it’s hard to do
- Communicate, articulate and prove the benefits of Community Anchors
- Be fleet-of-foot and look at the opportunities to be had from a (possible? doh!) change of government and the recession.
Topics: Communication, Community Engagement, Regeneration, Research | No Comments »
CREATE Consortium - Community Allowance news
By Richard McKeever | May 29, 2009
We at Community Links have been a part of the CREATE Consortium since its inception. The campaign calls for changes to benefit rules which would enable community organisations to pay people to do work that strengthens their neighbourhood without it affecting any of their benefits.
In a guest blog here CREATE Consortium co-ordinator Naomi Alexander updates the campaign progress.
I’m writing to let you know that the CREATE Consortium’s Right to Bid proposal for a £2.2 million programme of activity in 15 different areas across the UK has got through the latest stage of assessment from the DWP.
At a two day meeting held in Sheffield on 27th - 28th May, civil servants from across the Department considered several Right to Bid proposals and the Community Allowance pilot programe was one of the few to go through to the next stage.
A civil servant from DWP said they were “very keen on the Community Allowance proposal, but could give no guarantees at this stage that it would definitely go ahead”. The bid will go through a further scrutiny process within DWP with operational and policy staff exploring the impact a pilot programme would have on the DWP’s work. DWP indicated that they are more likely to approve a pilot of ESA/IB client groups rather than JSA as there have been so many initiatives aimed at people on JSA in the recent budget.
The DWP indicated that the Right to Bid process should come to an end in a matter of weeks, but is unable to give a definite date as this is the first time the Department has run an initiative like this.
We still have a way to go and there will be a period of detailed assessment and negotiations to get through, but this is another really positive step forward for the Community Allowance.
We’ve set up a blog for the CREATE consortium this week so you can keep in touch with us and let us know what you think.
Thank you for all you have done to get it this far.
Naomi Alexander
www.communityallowance.org
Topics: Benefits, Community Engagement, Regeneration, Volunteering, Welfare, employment | No Comments »
MP expenses scandal: Greed, not Need
By Maeve McGoldrick | May 14, 2009
As MP’s expenses hit the headlines this week, there is public outcry over the abuse of the current expenses system. It has been fascinating to watch the party leaders respond to what appears to be an inquiry lead by the media, on behalf of the public. First we heard about Labour MPs, then the Tories and now the Lib Dems and each time the tone has changed, but is ultimately wrong: remarkably casual. From discontent at a flawed system; to anger and frustration at the recklessness of politicians; to the recent demand that claims should be repaid but MPs not disciplined - that is until Elliott Morley’s suspension.
On the BBC Radio4 Today Programme John Humphreys (listen) interviewed the lawyer Steven Barker asking if this was a case for a fraud investigation. Mr Barker said that first we need to differentiate between a mistake and intent. Many MPs have blamed the complexity of the system for unintentionally abusing the expenses budget at the cost of the taxpayer. When asked if he thought they should be prosecuted Mr Barker said no, rather than see taxpayers’ money spent on a political show trial it would be better spent reforming the system.
A recently published DWP report “Factors affecting compliance with rules: Understanding the behaviour and motivations behind customer fraud” includes the following:
“The design of the benefits system probably enables some customers to hide behind the excuse of misunderstanding the system or being misinformed by benefits office staff” .
As the news came in of the ongoing revelations at Westminster this report quietly landed in my inbox. It begs the question if there was a report on MPs behaviour and motivations would it be fair to say the same about them; that they are using excuses, hiding behind complexity? It is hard to say, but as Mr Barker has recommended, ultimately the system needs to be reformed so that this activity is prevented in the future, MPs need to be more aware of the rules so the level of error and fraud are reduced and even eliminated. To tackle benefit fraud the report recommends that
- the benefits system is simplified
- easing the transition on and off benefit for people in temporary jobs
- raising awareness about what customers can report
One of the main findings was that “hardship is an important factor motivating people to commit fraud. The DWP could consider raising the limits on what can be earned without deductions from means-tested benefits.” In other words this means increasing the levels of Permitted Work Earnings Disregards.
The report suggests that most fraud occurs with JSA claimants and yet the DWP have increased the Earnings Disregard for lone parents and have today announced that Housing Benefit disregards will align Incapacity Benefit and ESA benefit disregards, so effectively government isn’t giving with one hand and taking with the other, increasing the incentive to take up formal employment. Yet why not extend this disregard to JSA which is currently at £5, less than one hours minimum wage and hasn’t changed since 1988?
Some condone fraud outright, while others condone it in certain circumstances. Is there a moral code about benefit fraud made on the basis of need or greed? Is there a comparison between the behaviour of people struggling on benefits, below the poverty line and working cash-in-hand for below the minimum wage with what is happening at Westminster? If so should the solution be the same for both; reform the system or prosecution? join us at www.neednotgreed.org.uk and have your say
Topics: Benefits, Informal Economy, Regeneration, Welfare, employment | 7 Comments »
Create: a Community Allowance and the Future Jobs Fund
By Aaron Barbour | May 8, 2009
Jess Steele is Development Trusts Association Head of Consultancy and currently on secondment to the goverment Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) working on community assets, such as the Asset Transfer Unit the “meanwhile use” policy, and rethinking community finance. Jess has been instrumental in developing Create: the Community Allowance, which we at Community Links have been involved with for the past few years, and have been blogging about over the last year.
Jess sent through some thoughts about the newly announced Future Jobs Fund and how this opportunity relates to the Community Allowance.
Here they are:
“OK, so I’ve seen Secretary of State for Work and Pensions’ James Purnell’s YouTube video and had a good look at the guide to the DWP’s Future Jobs Fund; and I think this is a major step forward, not necessarily as exactly what we asked for, but a step in the right direction thanks, in part, to our intensive lobbying, with the help of all our supporters.
The important points of the Future Jobs Fund (FJF) are:
- create additional jobs for long term unemployed people;
- benefit the local community; and
- create a significant proportion of jobs quickly.
DWP have accepted the ‘benefit the local community’ aspect (an enormous step forward from 2001, when I joined the National Community Forum).
They want the Fund to:
- include proposals for training to develop an individual’s skills;
- contribute to the creation of a significant number of new green jobs; and
- provide value for money and / or include additional funding from other sources.
They have accepted the idea that these jobs should include training to develop an individual’s skills. The ‘Green jobs’ reference is interesting, though I feel that more detail is needed to determine exactly what they mean by a green job. In other places they’ve talked about ’socially useful’ work. Their third bullet point talks about ‘additional funding from other sources’. One of the unique selling points for the Community Allowance is getting the wages paid through local programmes.
They want to involve other parties. It isn’t all local authorities.
- Other large organisations such as social enterprises and voluntary sector bodies will be able to bid as long as their proposals meet the criteria set out during the bidding process.
They have been increasingly recognising the need to involve other providers since the influential Freud report (and before). The door is open. (They hadn’t heard of social enterprises in 2001!).
However we need to continue influencing and shaping the criteria set out during the bidding process.
As well as making a significant contribution to the Government’s guarantee for young people, it will also provide much needed and valuable support to other people who have been out of work and on benefit for around a year, helping to ensure they do not lose touch with the labour market. This dual approach ensures that young and disadvantaged people do not lose touch with the labour market….We are particularly interested in hearing from organisations in areas of high unemployment to understand how we can best create new jobs in these areas.
The importance of deprived neighbourhoods is clear. They haven’t got the idea yet that new jobs can be created specifically to deal with the problems of deprived neighbourhoods but we’re getting there. We need to influence the kinds of bids that go in from Local Authorities (as the main bidders).
- We want to get this up running as soon as possible, with some jobs in place as early as October 2009.
Things are moving fast. The ideas, values and innovation behind the Community Allowance are too important - we won’t let go of the idea of our own pilots, or let them ignore the Right to Bid approach just because they’re going to be busy with this latest initiative, but we do need to move quickly to be part of this ‘Future Jobs Fund’ as well
OK, so what do we do from here? We need to continue with our DWP Right to Bid application, to be able to pilot the Community Allowance in 15 pilot areas; and we need to prepare for a Future Jobs Fund bid which will mean submitting our ideas outlining what we could do.”
If you’re interested in getting more involved with the Community Allowance contact our co-ordinator Naomi Alexander and visit our Community Allowance website: www.communityallowance.org
Topics: Benefits, Community Engagement, Regeneration, Research, Welfare, employment | No Comments »
