Child Poverty Toolkit

Projects featured:

Daycare Trust
Hertfordshire County Council

Daycare Trust

Name of Project

Parent Champions.

Objectives

To increase awareness amongst parents of childcare services and help with childcare costs.

Target group

Parents using childcare services and those considering using childcare services.

How was it funded?

The project was funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, and was managed by the Daycare Trust.

How was it run?

During the 6 month trial project, August 2007-March 2008 a group of 12 parents became Parent Champions. They used outreach skills to engage with other parents and speak about their own positive experiences of childcare, and of ways of overcoming barriers to accessing services.

The Daycare Trust ‘Paying for Childcare’ website www.payingforchildcare.org.uk helps parents understand the different types of financial support to help with the costs of childcare including help through working tax credit

Impact

1809 parents found out more about childcare and at least 75 began using childcare, including in hard-to-reach communities targeted in the three London boroughs who participated in the pilot, Tower Hamlets, Newham and Camden.

Lessons Learned

The project demonstrated that parents appreciated the information that Parent Champions provided about finding local childcare and getting help with childcare costs. They trusted the Parent Champions because they were also parents, many of whom had similar experiences. Parents also appreciated the support provided: Parent Champions helped other parents to feel confident enough to use local childcare.

Contact:

Emma Knights and Alison Garnham, Joint Chief Executive, Daycare Trust, email: chiefexecutive@daycaretrust.org.uk

Hertfordshire County Council

Name of take up project

Childcare costs.

Objectives

Provide advice and information to parents about the different types of help available with childcare costs.
Provide information and training to professionals to help them advise parents re help with childcare costs.
Help maximise family income through encouraging take up of benefits and tax credits amongst low income families
Encourage take up of in–work benefits, to promote a smooth transition, for those moving off benefits and into work
Encourage take up of in–work benefits for those in lower paid work
Encourage take up of formal childcare and childcare element of WTC by working families on a low income.

Target groups

Families on a low income, particularly parents who are thinking of returning to work and those in lower-paid work
Professionals who are working with these families.

How was it funded?

Cost of leaflet funded by Families Information Service.

Other work supported by Money Advice Unit core funding.

How was it run?

Run by Hertfordshire County Council Money Advice Unit (MAU) in partnership with the Family Information Service, children’s centres, childcare affordability campaign, health and voluntary organisations.

Impact

Information

5000 copies of, leaflet ‘Help with Childcare Costs’ are distributed per year. This is targeted at people who use Children’s Centres as well as employees of major local employers (NHS, local councils etc). A range of other information also provided to families and professionals including Benefits for Carers, Families and Benefits, Maternity and Benefits and Benefits for Children with a Disability which are distributed widely throughout the county. This information is also available electronically on the unit’s web channel www.hertsdirect.org.uk/benefits, along with other information about benefits and links to useful sites.

Training

A number of training courses have been developed and provided to a variety of professionals and volunteers including courses on tax credits, maternity benefits and childcare costs, benefits when going back to work. Further support is provided via the unit’s daily telephone and e-mail Advice Line service.

Advice

Talks, information and drop-in sessions about family benefits, childcare and benefits, maternity and benefits, in-work benefits have been provided to parents/carers, prospective parents, young parents, ante and post natal groups in a number of settings including Children’s Centres.

Advisers from Money Advice Unit have also supported local HCC, CIS and NHS childcare initiatives, providing workers with information about in-work benefits, including tax credits, maternity and benefits and childcare costs.

This work involves basic advice and signposting, as opposed to on-going casework assistance to claim benefits so no measures for tax credits/benefits claimed etc. Numbers of parents provided with advice are monitored, eg - 82 parents were provided with information during Childcare Affordability fortnight. Tools are currently being developed to measure success in this type of 'drop in' information session work, eg - number of venues visited, number of parents provided with information, number of parents provided with advice, number of parents signposted for further assistance, type of information/advice given etc

Lessons learned

Information sessions work best where local effort and knowledge has been input beforehand, eg - by a Children’s Centre manager, to ascertain what specific advice local service users need. It also seems to help if there are other events on, particularly for children.
There is a need to develop meaningful tools to monitor success in this type of work.
Some people need more ongoing one-to-one advice and assistance to claim tax credits and benefits on a casework basis and help with liaising with the various agencies. The provision of in-depth meaningful 'back to work' calculations requires time and a private space, which is not always available in 'drop in' type events.
A MAU Children’s Plan draws together the different types of work with families, to develop a strategy for increasing MAU’s work with children and families and to maximise use of MAU services by Herts Children’s Trust partnership members and CSF staff. This was reviewed half way through the year and was useful in helping to focus MAU services more firmly on the child poverty agenda.

Contact

Bernie O’Gorman. Senior Adviser, Money Advice Unit, Hertfordshire County Council. 01438 843592, bernie.o’gorman@hertscc.gov.uk