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  • Into Work Schemes
  • Tax Credit Take-Up
  • Childcare Costs
  • Children with Disabilities
  • Housing and Council Tax Benefit Services
  • Young People Leaving Care
• New! Child Poverty Conference

Into Work Schemes

• LB Southwark: partnerships with job brokers
• East London City Strategy Pilot
• Newham Mayor’s Employment Pilot
• Greenwich Local Labour and  Business
• LB Camden: supporting parents into training and work

• Helping working families with childcare costs
• Tackling lone parent worklessness and child poverty
• Tackling financial exclusion

• Using detailed data held by the Council’s Revenues and Benefit Service on some 8000 workless lone parents (without compromising customer confidentiality);
• Developing a carefully tailored campaign to promote the message that work pays for lone parents;
• Using targeted direct mail to get that message out to workless lone parents and including a hotline number for lone parents to contact local EZ providers.

Impact

• Five experienced HB Officers are employed by the local authority to work exclusively with groups that need intensive support to get back to work, including the very long-term unemployed (3 years plus), workless households, parents and carers. They are based in-house at Workplace and in community locations across the borough including Children’s Centres and libraries.
• A Citizen’s Advice Bureau adviser offers independent, impartial advice on in-work benefits, debt and legal issues.
• The team has been trained to deliver advice about benefits which has a ‘back to work’ emphasis; encouraging candidates to consider the positive impact that working would have on their household income.

• Flexible funding that is tailored to the individual (where other funding is not accessible) to cover costs associated with entering work such as travel, equipment and training.
• “In work” payments to the individual. A reward is offered to encourage participants through the first few weeks of work, which is paid after 13 weeks in employment.
• A guaranteed HB top-up is available to those who find themselves worse off by returning to work, which is offered for up to one year.
• Funding for out of school childcare for children over the age of five, which extends the London Development Agency Childcare Affordability Programme for children under the age of five. Childcare is funded for up to six weeks when a parent starts work to bridge the gap between signing off benefits and being having working tax credit awarded 
• Funding for childcare for up to three months in any calendar year is available for parents participating in voluntary work or unpaid work experience.   

• 66 (60%) were unemployed for over 3 years
• 28 (25%) are lone parents
• 34 (31%) are parents
• 59 (65%) live in a workless household
• 83 (75%) were still in employment at 13 weeks

On average, beneficiaries have been over £80 per week better off when they return to work. No one has been worse off working. This is due to the holistic benefit support available, ensuring that beneficiaries claim and are awarded all the in-work benefits to which they are entitled.

• ‘Advisor Discretionary Fund’ is available for customers to overcome barriers when moving towards and into employment, this includes training and volunteering.
• Customised Training offer to customers wishing to change career direction or up-skill.
• Reimbursement of travel costs once customer has completed 4 weeks in employment.
• Access to high street gift vouchers or travel fare costs upon securing employment
• Strong partnership work with Families Information Service allows a seamless route to accessing the Childcare Affordability Programme funding.

• As a result of the partnership work with Greenwich Welfare Rights Service there has been an increase in take up of the GWS BOC service by GLLaB advisers (although take up has not been a high as anticipated and GLLaB are working with their advisors to increase this)
• Based on the calculations carried out for GLLaB advisers during this financial year, customers are on average £116.37 a week better off in work.
• GLLaB has created a new post with a remit around support customers with the transition from benefits to employment to resolve any in-work benefits issues. The adviser has supported a number of customers to access tax credits, in work credit, childcare costs and housing benefit entitlement. The post holder has picked up on several benefits that people are entitled to but have not been receiving.
• There has also been an increasing number of enquiries from people coming out of work and going onto benefits due to the economic climate.  

• Assist Camden low-income parents into training, employment or volunteering
• Support Camden parents to remain in employment
• Support parents to maximize their working hours and/or their income
• Help low-income parents take up childcare places by providing information and support

• 66 parents were given a benefit check and/ or detailed welfare rights advice and casework support in connection with maximising their income while entering or remaining in work or training.
• 71% of parents using the service were from black and minority ethnic communities, 58% were lone parents - both groups at higher risk of poverty and worklessness than national averages.
• £65,675 was raised in total extra income for families using the services of the project.
• 7 parents were helped into new employment/ self employment.
• 6 parents were helped to remain in work.
• 15 parents were signposted to vocational training opportunities.
• 35 parents were helped to access affordable childcare provision.
• Staff from 12 local organisations/services received training on the benefits available to parents entering work and training.
• A resource pack on childcare funding streams has been produced for staff working with Camden parents.

• The project confirmed the need for a service that centred on finances related to childcare and provision of support during the transition into employment.
• It was felt that a full-time equivalent worker would be better able not only to maintain a caseload but also to talk to parent groups and organisations working with parents, thereby developing a wider network for referrals.
• Benefits advice can be most effective for helping people to enter work or stay in work. It was more difficult for the project to assist those entering training due to lack of childcare funding provision.