Addressing Community Need 

The Communities Lifelong Learning and Employability (CLLE) service which is inclusive of the local authority’s CLD service recognised the impact that the cost of living crisis was having on individuals and communities in Midlothian.

Evidence included: an increase in repeat applications to the Scottish Welfare Fund; Citizens Advice colleagues identifying an increase in demand for their services and a rise in the number of residents experiencing in work poverty who were seeking income maximisation support. 

CLLE identified a need to provide food and fuel support through a cash first, dignified approach, in line with Scottish Government policy, to maximise support in local communities and provide choice. 

Description 

The Trusted Partners network aims to make food and fuel support easily accessible to all who need it, using person-centred approaches that alleviate stress, minimise bureaucracy and promote economic activity. 

The CLLE service in Midlothian has a long established history of working in partnership with community based third sector organisations. In December 2021 partners applied to be part of a trusted network to co-produce and deliver a cash first approach through the winter.

The fifteen partners that formed the initial Network were already known, trusted and operating in local communities. In September 2022, Midlothian Council’s Cost of Living Taskforce, made up of elected members, decided to allocate a percentage of the Local Authority Covid Economic Recovery (LACER) funding to develop the Trusted Partner model, to be led by CLLE.

CLLE developed high level principles to guide the cash first support to low-income households which were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and the cost of living crisis. The CLLE service took a strategic overview to ensure that support was available on the ground in the communities where it was needed most, and reaching identified target groups such as older people and larger families. 

A wide range of development trusts, advice and housing agencies and third sector and community organisations geographically and/or thematically based are now part of the Network. Partners involved:

• Dalkeith and District Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB)
• Penicuik CAB
• Women's Aid East and Midlothian
• Melville Housing Association
• Midlothian SureStart
• Into Work
• Gorebridge Community Cares
• Newtongrange Development Trust
• Mayfield and Easthouses Development Trust (MAEDT)
• Bonnyrigg Rose Community Football Club
• Home Link Family Support
• Rosewell Development Trust Community Company Ltd
• VOCAL Midlothian, British Red Cross (Midlothian Services)
• Food Facts Friends Community Hub
• Midlothian Foodbank

Information about the network is available to CLLE partners and Council Contact Centre staff so that they can refer individuals in need. Support is provided in accessible and known community settings such as libraries, community pantries etc. 

Over 2,000 instances of support were provided through the Trusted Partner model from September 2022 to March 2023. Once immediate needs were addressed, including health and wellbeing, partners were able to refer people on to learning opportunities such as cooking or digital skills provided by the CLLE service.  

Feedback showed that, during a time of crisis, people benefited from speaking to a trusted person who provided immediate reassurance and practical support, and was able to refer on to other supports when needed such as income maximisation, energy advice and foodbank referrals.  

Trusted Partners provide CLLE with monthly reports, which they analyse, for Midlothian Council’s Cost of Living Taskforce and Community Planning Partners’ Strategic Poverty Group to monitor trends and identify areas of need. The CLLE service provides ongoing support to the Trusted Partners to discuss referrals and identify future funding opportunities. 

The Network has responded to feedback and intelligence and has developed over time. Having learned lessons from approaches taken previously to distribute emergency funds, the CLLE service co-produced a set of guiding principles for operation of the network, which included monitoring, tracking and impact evaluation. Service Level Agreements are now in place for all the community organisations, who make decisions about how they use the funding.

Network members are influential in shaping wider services. For example, feedback from Network members prompted the Council to start a process of reviewing application processes for Scottish Welfare Fund, Free School Meals and Clothing Grants. This action is now included in the Midlothian poverty reduction plan. 

Impact 

Over £130,000 has been distributed through the Trusted Partners Network. 

The Cost of Living Taskforce commissioned a review of the operation of the Network to understand the benefits of a cash first approach.  

The review, carried out by Nick Hopkins Consulting, found that the most common use of the payment reported by beneficiaries was for food. Beneficiaries reported being able to afford to:  

• feed themselves properly when they had been living on an excessively restricted diet, for example relying mostly on bread or toast
• buy more appropriate or better food, including food that was essential for a specific diet
• replenish stocks of store cupboard essentials to ensure they always had something in, or filling up fridges and freezers for the same purpose
• to heat their home all day (disabled partner living in house)  
• fuel costs and a bus pass to take their child to nursery  

Trusted Partners reported that of the 2,000 instances of support beneficiaries predominantly spent awards on food and energy costs, with people being able to turn their heating on, or to buy household staples.

Partners were clear that the interconnected nature of budgets meant that award money being spent directly on food would free up resources to be spent on fuel and vice versa.

Awards had sometimes functioned as bridging payments whilst benefit or fuel bill issues were resolved. Some felt they had been particularly valuable for people with no recourse to public funds.   

The psychological impact for beneficiaries included the:  

• reduced stress and anxiety: ‘a weight off their mind’, as a result of being able to afford food and to pay household bills, including for people already prone to anxiety, and as a result of not having to worry about specific expenses such as attending medical appointments
• better health and comfort as a result of being able to eat properly or to afford necessary hygiene products
• feeling better because they had not constantly had to refuse to buy particular foods for their children, or because they had been able to afford to buy better Christmas food for their children, some of whom had been very aware of their family’s financial situation

The commissioned report included lived experience from some beneficiaries of the LACER funds. Almost all beneficiaries interviewed reported having difficulties affording food and in a few cases accessing support from a foodbank. Some beneficiaries spoke of restricting their eating or the variety of food they ate, or of not being able to afford the diet required by their health condition.

Similar numbers reported struggling to pay energy and other bills, and cutting back on household energy use, in particular heating. Both living alone and having children were seen as creating additional difficulties.   

Beneficiaries were clear that conversations had been sensitively handled, and that they had not felt embarrassed by the their finances being discussed, although one reported feeling the need to apologise when offered help, and another had felt that others might need assistance more urgently.  

The CLLE service collates monthly information about activity and spend from the partners which they analyse to monitor trends and identify community needs which are not being met.   

Next steps 

The commissioned report highlighted that the programme was necessary, effective, and should be continued into the longer term, at least until the cost of living crisis had passed. Some Trusted Partners felt that there was unmet demand which was likely to grow. Several had already drawn upon a second tranche of funding when it became available.   

Recommendations included:  

1. Trusted Partners should consider further how the receipt of support under the LACER programme can act as a trigger for/ passport to other cash based or in kind support provided locally or nationally, ie to be fully integrated into other support systems.  
2. Each Trusted Partner reviews the additional information, advice and support that they provide to beneficiaries. This review should aim at ensuring that as standard, each beneficiary should receive or be referred for a benefit/ financial/ household energy health check, and a discussion of their general life circumstances, where these have not been carried out/ are not part of current engagement with the Trusted Partner.  

Each beneficiary should also receive/ be signposted towards printed or online materials aiming to build their capacity to ride out the cost of living crisis, including materials produced by Midlothian Council, and any materials produced as a further element of the work of the Council’s Cost of Living Task Force.   

Looking to the future, CLLE will continue to gather evidence of success and impact and ensure this is shared and understood by all key stakeholders. CLLE, in partnership, will prepare and submit an application to the Scottish Government Cash First Programme Fund to allow further development of a cash first approach in Midlothian.  

“The money that we were given has helped us with our heating costs. With a seven month baby in the house it’s so important we have heat and the heat seems to be the most expensive”  

“Thanks so much for the funds you were able to give me for my family, this has helped so much in this difficult time of the year. I’ve been able to get some winter clothing with the money I saved on the bills. Honestly it was much appreciated and I’m so grateful”  

Reflections 

It is important to recognise the significant role of CLLE in developing and sustaining this model. CLLE promoted the effectiveness of a trust based model with elected members, senior managers and stakeholders. The service created an application process for organisations to become trusted partners, implemented monitoring and provided governance of the funds.

They secured 15% of the funding for on costs for delivery partners and created a network of support. CLLE managed the contract of the consultant to evaluate the cash first approach, including securing the voice of those with lived experience and providing statistics and impact reports to elected members and community planning partners.  

CLLE were able to build on the close working relationships that were developed during the pandemic response and this has fostered a culture of learning and sharing. The CLLE service has devoted time and effort to build the capacity of community organisations to respond effectively to the cost of living crisis. Through their knowledge of local communities they have been able to advise local groups and support them to apply for funding and to start up new services.   

It was important to take the time needed to establish guidance and operating principles, this then enabled network members to take the rapid decisions needed for an effective response to immediate need.   

Further Information  

Stay warm and well | Support coping with rising living costs | Midlothian Council  

Midlothian - Worrying about Money?  

Contact: catherine.duns@midlothian.gov.uk