Agenda item

The Chair invited Rose Doran (Senior Adviser) to introduce the Reshaping Financial Support programme. Rose noted that the aim is to support councils in the provision of help and services to households at risk of financial hardship and requested a specific steer from members on developing the Memorandum of Understanding with MHCLG.

Rose introduced Gareth Evans and Matt Earnshaw from the Financial Inclusion Centre to present on the Programme. In the presentation the following points were raised;

-          Work conducted so far has been heavily influenced by the input of local authorities.

-          Matt gave an overview of the Financial Hardship Demand Dashboard which arose out of discussions with authorities on tracking the impact of the COVID pandemic on deprivation and assist in system design.

-          The Dashboard collates data sets from local authorities on deprivation, poverty, employment, housing need and financial vulnerability. Enables wider and faster access to data that is often assessed in isolation.

-          The Dashboard has been made available through the LG Inform portal, allowing authorities to access consistent data sets on a national, regional and local level.

-          Gareth discussed the consultancy work taking place with participating authorities. This included; Ethical debt collection with Leeds City Council

o   Collaboration on service delivery for Brighton & Hove Council

o   Engagement with cross departmental budgeting and income maximisation tools with the Royal Borough of Greenwich

-          A more in-depth case study was presented on a Community Banking programme with Borough of Barking & Dagenham.

-          Research identified a gap in provision for access to affordable credit, with the Borough ranking extremely low on the Good Credit Index. Such has led to circa 6000 households per year accessing subprime credit arrangements.

-          Funds put forward by the Council and the LGA to provide affordable credit to low-income households has had a significant in the Borough; £2.4m financial gains for households and a £1.7 M boost for the local economy over three years.

-          The next steps were outlined as an in-depth evaluation of the case studies to understand the long-term and system wide benefits of early intervention on financial hardship.

-          Rose gave an overview of funding model used using funds from the MHCLG MoU grant alongside funding leveraged from partner organisations.

-          Specific comments were requested on how to advance discussions with MHCLG and develop a focus on helping low credit areas from the COVID pandemic through the provision of affordable credit.

The Chair thanked Gareth and Matt for their time. The following comments were raised by members in the subsequent discussion:

-          A question was raised on whether additional best practice examples could be shared from Board members. Gareth welcomed any additional examples.

-          Energy Clubs were recommended as an area for further development as a means to tackle fuel poverty.

-          It was noted that money spent by local authorities to support local services such as legal centres and credit unions, has a sizeable impact in local economies.

The Chair summarised, noting that the number of financially vulnerable residents is expected to rise and with proactive steps needed to provide support. The potential returns on investment illustrated by the RFS programme, show the importance of a efficiently managed local authority support funds.

Decision

The members of the Resources Board noted the update.

Action

Officers to proceed in line with members comments.