Community Links

Community Links blog

Archive for May, 2009

CREATE Consortium – Community Allowance news

Friday, May 29th, 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

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Benefits, Community Engagement, Regeneration, Volunteering, Welfare, employment | No Comments »

MP expenses scandal: Greed, not Need

Thursday, May 14th, 2009

Palace of Westminster
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

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Benefits, Informal Economy, Regeneration, Welfare, employment | 8 Comments »

Create: a Community Allowance and the Future Jobs Fund

Friday, May 8th, 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

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Benefits, Community Engagement, Regeneration, Research, Welfare, employment | No Comments »