End of year review 2013-2014. Advice & Support - Consultancy 12,067 calls were made to our housing...
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Transcript of End of year review 2013-2014. Advice & Support - Consultancy 12,067 calls were made to our housing...
Advice & Support - Consultancy
12,067 calls were made to our housing consultancy lines
….a 22% increase on last year!
We responded to 27% more new and repeat enquiries, a total of 10,218!
9613 confirmation of
advice emails were sent
On average each call takes 28 minutes
In addition to calls the online queries were up by 32% for CABs with 526 enquiries, and up 64% for LAs & agencies with 234 enquiries
Members advice (by cases opened)
Q1 Apr - Jun 2013 Q2 Jul - Sept 2013 Q3 Oct - Dec 2013 Q4 Jan - Mar 2014
1517 1665 1608 2053
643 706770
651
Local Authorities
Bureaux & Agencies
Regional matters – by cases opened
East Mids; 311
Eastern; 904
London; 823
North East; 124
North West; 384
South East; 1274
South West; 553
West Mid-
lands; 558
Yorkshire; 358National; 68
East Mids; 182
Eastern; 326
London; 218
North East; 78
North West; 268
South East; 524
South West; 396
West Mid-lands; 341
Yorkshire; 294
NHAS Consultancy Line (bureaux and agencies)
Local Authority Housing Advice Line
Top 10 presenting problems*
Landlord dispute/
problem/other; 1577
Possession action: s21/
other manda-tory; 757
Homelessness: general advice (homelessness/
street homeless options); 725
Dampness/ disrepair; 417
Tenancy de-posit problem;
404
Arrears: rent; 384
HB / Local Housing Al-
lowance; 335
Homeless-ness: chal-
lenge to home-lessness de-cision; 321
Relationship breakdown;
292 Homelessness: help with homelessness application;
291
*not including ‘other’
Homelessness: general advice
(homelessness/street homeless
options); 679
Possession ac-tion: s21/other
mandatory; 516
Landlord dispute/problem/other; 410
Homeless-ness: help with homelessness application; 374
Ineligible due to immigration status; 165
Homeless-ness:
Threatened; 136
Homeless-ness: chal-
lenge to home-lessness de-cision; 134
Relationship breakdown;
103
Seeks Accommodation; 98 Tenancy deposit problem; 97
NHAS Consultancy Line (bureaux and agencies)
Local Authority Housing Advice Line
Training
There have been year on year increases to our training services, and in 2013-14 we have:
Delivered 394 face-to-face courses to 4170 advisers Trained 5561 advisers through our e learning or bite size Reviewed and updated 18 courses from our bureau and agency programme Developed 5 new bureau and agency courses Produced 4 new Bitesize, and an Introduction to advising on mortgage arrears
self study pack Reviewed and updated the Local Authority training programme and rolled out
a new welfare reform course Delivered 22 webinars Developed and launched a new online booking system for bureaux and
agencies Seen growth in on demand training requests – where courses are delivered in
house – and bespoke scheduling:73 additional course requests processed in 2013/14
Advisers trained (F2F) – all members
Q1 Apr - Jun 2013 Q2 Jul - Sept 2013 Q3 Oct - Dec 2013 Q4 Jan - Mar 20140
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
557 405 702 680
354
491
314302
Bureaux/Agencies LAs
Ad
vise
rs t
rain
ed
Course Topics
Rented Housing Issues Made Clear; 32
Mortgage Arrears & Possession Process; 29
Housing and Welfare Reform; 40
Housing Foundation ; 141
Mortgage Arrears & Possession Action; 6Homelessness Advice Next
Steps; 14
Hlessness Casework Skills, 6
Housing Assistance for Persons From Abroad; 12
Possession Proceedings for Rented; 39
Homelessness & localism sem-inar; 1
Mortgage Arrears & Budgeting; 18
Housing Advice & Relationship Breakdown; 53
Homeowners in financial dif-ficulty; 14
Housing Options and Localism; 25
Rented Housing Next Steps; 11
Courses delivered - Bureaux and agencies
Courses delivered - Local Authority training
Young People, Hlessness & Housing
Options; 8
Housing Advice for Housing
Options; 27
Basic Mortgage Debt Ad-vice; 18
Relationship Breakdown, DV &
Hlessness; 15
Persons from
Abroad; 35
Advising Non Priority Clients; 14
Welfare Reform for Rented Accommoda-
tion; 8
Advising & Assisting Non Prior-ity House-holds; 6
Spare Room
Subsidy; 4
Student Union
Tenancy Deposits;
6
Preventing Mortgage Repos-
sessions; 4
MRS Briefing, 2
Face to face Webinars
Information Resources
Housing and homelessness information in AdviserNet
Housing Matters (bi-monthly)
Adviser magazine (bi-monthly)
Housing Matters factsheets for clients
Range of publications e.g. dealing with mortgage arrears
Wide range of briefing material and FAQs available from www.nhas.org.uk
Monthly e-bulletins to members
Improving Outcomes for Young People
This new website launched in May 2013 to help professionals working with young people on housing and homelessness issues.
The site is a knowledge base for those involved in helping young people sort out their housing problems and encourages local authorities and their voluntary sector partners to take a more proactive approach towards preventing young people becoming homeless or vulnerably housed.
Since the site launch in May we have had:• 5,567 website visits• 19,061 page views: • 9,267 visits to the ‘Advice for advisers of young people’ page• 3,170 visits to the ‘Delivering services for young people’ page
Mortgage Debt Advice
18%more households with mortgage debt issues were helped this year, a total of 2400!
Developed and delivered Preventing Mortgage Repossessions webinars for local authorities and other voluntary agencies
Lenders had commenced possession proceedings in 45% of cases
Homelessness was prevented in over 1,400 cases,
40% more than last year
142 different local authorities referred cases to us
Mortgage Debt Advice – referral agency
Q1 Apr - Jun Q2 Jul - Sept Q3 Oct - Dec Q4 Jan - Mar
LA 232 204 243 215
RP 18 30 49 32
Shelter 100 240 163 265
OVAs 64 62 71 87
Returning client 74 79 72 87
50
150
250
350
450
550
650
750
Cas
es o
pen
ed
Client Outcomes
Cl advised & taking action self/with 3rd pty help; 293
Homelessness delayed; 19
Matter stopped on adviser's recommend; 23
Permanent existing accomm re-tained; 896
Client gets lump sum payment; 5
One-off case - client informed of all options; 108
Hlessness Casework Skills, 6
Client loses accommodation, no further action possible; 42
Client referred on externally; 98
Client referred on internally; 9
Outcome unknown; 114
Client secured permanent/settled housing; 32
Permanently re-housed; 54
Client secured temporary ac-commodation; 12
Client's benefit issues resolved/benefits increased; 7
Other outcome; 204
Client's housing costs reduced to an affordable level; 15
Debt issues resolved/Affordable debt payment plan in place; 39
Homelessness prevented, 226
Most common presenting problems
Affordability problems; 270
Possession action; 7
Arrears: mortgage; 1121Arrears: rent; 10
Eviction (bailiffs warrant): mortgage; 392
Eviction (bailiffs warrant); 5
Hlessness Casework Skills, 6
Possession action: S21/mandatory; 11
Supported Money Advice Scheme (Bureaux)
Handled 710 cases where the client was in mortgage arrears, at risk of possession and qualified for MRS
Homelessness was prevented in 84% of cases
On average during the year the top two presenting reasons were illness and relationship breakdown
In about a third of cases MRS was identified as the option to pursue but in approximately half of cases were able to identify an advice/budgeting/income maximisation option that would enable the client to retain their home
Jointly delivered the MRS Direct Lender referral option for Lenders
Provided in house support workshops to bureaux
Provided briefing material and updates for bureau staff on MRS and mortgage arrears options
Development – Training for Bureaux & Agencies
New face-to-face courses developed
Housing & Welfare Reform
Mortgage Arrears & Budgeting
Mortgage Advice and Possession Proceedings
Housing update course
Rented housing issues
New bite size
Housing disrepair
Housing & homeless applications: the different
Housing status refresher
Introductory and starter tenancies in a nutshell
New self study pack
Introductory to advising on mortgage arrears
Development – Training for Bureaux & Agencies
Can my client afford to stay in their home?
Housing rights for agricultural tenancies
Tenancy deposit scheme
Tenants of landlords facing possession action
Tenancy deposit scheme
Tenants of landlords facing possession action
Introductory and starter tenancies in a nutshell
Housing court desk skills
Landlord harassment
Applying to suspend a warrant of possession
Courses amended, reviewed, updated
Advising on possession proceedings for rented housing
Housing assistance for persons from abroad
Homelessness Advice- Next Steps
Housing and Relationship Breakdown
Housing Foundation
Housing Options and the Localism Act
Housing Rights for Students
Housing Rights for tenants with tied tenancies
Housing rights for ex offenders
Localism Act 2011 and housing
Development – Local Authority Training
Developed and rolled out a Welfare Reform for Occupiers in Rented Accommodation course
Developed a Security of Tenure course ready for delivery in 2014/15
Introduced a webinar on the Spare Room Subsidy to complement the face to face welfare reform course, and a Student Union Tenancy Deposit webinar
Completed course reviews of 6 core training courses:- Housing Advice for Housing Options- Persons from Abroad- Relationship Breakdown, Domestic Violence and Homelessness Prevention- Young People: Homelessness and Housing Options- Advising & Assisting Non Priority Households- Basic Mortgage Debt Advice
Development – Agency Membership
28 new members signed up25 local advice agencies and 3 national organisations
Overall membership included145 OVAs 12 Nationals27 Student Services12 Refugee and Migrant organisations
2 Registered ProvidersMembership
100 expressions of interest in membership15 expression of interest meetings22 existing agency meetings17 presentations to potential, new existing members
New members – voluntary organisations
Chapter 1
LAMP
Leeds University Union
Herts Young Homeless
The Bridge
Keyhouse
MAP
Eaves Housing for Women
DIAL (Leeds)
Camden Community Law Centre
Castle Vale TRA
Homemaker South West
Look Ahead
St Basils
Kent Union
Greater Kent Student’s Unions Together
Coulsdon Sixth Form College
Encompass SouthWest
Gipsil
National Autistic Society
Barnsley MBC Children’s Centre
Berwick Youth Project
Huntingdon’s Disease Association
Aston Students Union
Wigan Housing Solutions CIC
Shinewater Shaftesbury Centre
Reading Community Welfare Rights
Prisoners Abroad
Resources
150,889 website visits – more than double last year
Top web pages for members:
Member Page
Public Publications for tenants
Bureaux Resources for Advisers
Voluntary agencies Training courses
Local Authorities Resources for Advisers
Alongside our established monthly updates to Local Authorities and Advice Agencies, from October 2013 we introduced monthly MDA bulletins
Bi monthly updates for Housing Matters providing you with leaflets on the Spare Room Subsidy, Benefit cap, Full Housing Duty, and Suitability, and articles covering Eligibility for Croatian and A2 nationals, High Court Bailiffs, the Social Fund after April 2013 to name a few
Advisor magazine – contributed regular housing articles to this bi monthly publication
Developed or updated over 289 housing information items on AdviserNet
Produced briefing documents on areas such as Tenancy Deposits, spare room subsidy etc for advisers – accessible through the website
Published leaflets for the general public, such as ‘Can I afford my mortgage?’
FeedbackConsultancy LineWe saw an increase in the number of returned surveys this year – thank you for taking the time to provide feedback! (NB COA = confirmation of advice)
LAHAL - 17% of all COAs sent resulted in a completed survey
NHAS - 12% of all COAs sent resulted in a completed survey
Overall - 13% return rate
The information and advice given on the telephone was clear and helpful to my client. - 93% Agree or Strongly Agree
I would use the service again.
- 95% Agree or Strongly Agree
Training
Agency training - 95% (average) rated the course as good or excellent, 93% (average) rated the trainer as good or excellent
LA training - 93% (average) rated the course as good or excellent, 95% (average) rated the trainer as good or very good
89% that attended local authority training would recommend the course they attended
90% that attended local authority training thought the course level was appropriate
I regularly use this service and find it invaluable to support my role, my enquiries are varied and the NHAS
team never fail to provide accurate, and relevant information
about the issues my clients are facing. Thank you a million times
for this great service..(Advice Agency)
I’ve been asked to pass on the following by a couple of trainees who attended the recent course. They thought [the
NHAS trainer] was brilliant. They were not sure how to write this on the
evaluation sheets, but they wanted to express how good he was, that he was
very good at keeping their interest levels high and that they learnt a great deal. They are now very enthusiastic
about housing.(Bureau)
FeedbackMortgage Debt Advice
98% of LA’s that responded said that people they spoke to were friendly and informative.
96% of LA’s that responded said that they would refer cases to the service again.
96% of end users that responded said that MDA staff were friendly and approachable.
98% of end users that responded said that advice was explained clearly to them
98% of end users that responded said that they were happy with the service.
93% of end users that responded said that the service had a positive impact on their case.
Agency survey
92% were extremely likely to recommend to a colleague
82% are happy the training is meeting their organisation’s needs
100% are satisfied with the Consultancy Line time taken to answer a query
90% find the NHAS website provides the housing resources and information they need
Thank you again for all your assistance throughout this
process. I can't praise [NHAS MDA] enough for your expertise whenever I've got in touch and
needed assistance. Very impressive service!
(Local Authority)
'Keep up the very good work you do.'
'Very satisfied. Thank you.'
'It is reliable, high quality and I can't fault it.‘
(Comments from agency survey)
Other activities - Preventing Mortgage Repossession Events
The Mortgage Rescue Scheme delivery group agreed to hold a series of events across the country to support wider communication of the close down of MRS two, and to disseminate and gather further information on lessons learned from the scheme.
Four events were held in Manchester, Leeds, Nottingham and London. Council of Mortgage Lenders delivered presentations outlining the lenders’ perspective, the Homes & Communities Agency, and Greater London Authority (London only), covered the MRS programme and lessons learned, with NHAS providing an update on the money advice support available
167 delegates attended – with a good mix of LAs, CABs, voluntary agencies, and a small number of housing providers and lenders
Other activities - Preventing Mortgage Repossession Events
Delegates raised concerns about a number of issues but principally focussed on the loss of MRS and Preventing Repossessions Fund monies and the inevitable lack of anything to replace the scheme.
NHAS has prepared a Lessons Learned report that pulls together the positive and negative aspects of the scheme using contributions from key stakeholders – this has been shared and is available to view at www.nhas.org.uk
Other activities – NHAS supporting the Gold Standard Programme
The Ministerial Working Group published the ‘Making Every Contact Count – A joint approach to preventing homelessness’ in August 2012. The documents set out 10 local challenges for local authorities to achieve. NHAS secure funding from DCLG to provide LAs with Shelter Legal membership, training and tools.
306 local authorities took up Shelter Legal membership – each membership allowed access for up to 20 users
324 training days, covering intermediate and advanced level topics, were provided and 4062 delegates attended
The 3 most popular courses were: Homelessness Update; Housing Law Update and Security of Tenure
The feedback showed that 95% of delegates rated the course as good or excellent, and 96% rated the trainer as good or excellent
Shelter Legal Training
Housing Law Update; 48
Homelessness Update; 59
Young People Housing & Home-lessness; 36Security of Tenure; 40
Assured Shorthold Tenancies; 27
Disrepair (2 day); 20
Homelessness Casework Skills, 6
Universal Credit; 29
Localism Act 2011 & Tenure; 9
Allocations after Localism; 21
Other activities – Homelessness practical workshops
We developed a practical workshop for bureau advisers in response to the kind of queries they were getting. The format covered case studies looking at advising on Homelessness and allocation policies. The feedback we received was excellent for the content and format, and in the end 9 were delivered across England.
“Delivery included discussion and tactics which our advisers found
very helpful”
Other activities – Gold Standard Bespoke Training
NHAS commissioned the Youth Pathway: Developing a pathway for young people in housing need (16-25 year olds) course, and it was rolled out in March 2014.
The course was designed to ensure participants leave with a range of ideas, information and increased knowledge regarding how to improve joint working and prevention of homelessness amongst young people.
2 local authorities hosted cluster training for the Youth Pathway course, delivered by St Basils, and 38 delegates were trained
Other activities – Gold Standard Tools
NHAS (Shelter) developed:
Diagnostic Peer Review Tool: this has allowed LAs to assess their service with other authorities in a peer setting
The stats compiler: this allows local authorities to look at their local area statistics
National Practitioner Support Service (NPSS) website: NPSS have overall responsibility for the delivery of the Gold Standard Programme
Outcomes
We wanted to find out more about the outcomes for you and your clients. The percentages below are based on the members that replied to our request for information on outcomes from NHAS support:
Consultancy Lines
17% of respondents said cases resulted in homelessness prevented
17% of cases resulted in clients securing settled or permanent housing
100% of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the service
Training for Local Authorities
78% of those that completed the survey said their confidence in dealing with the
training topic had increased, both immediately after training and sustained this 3
months on
89% said that they had been able to apply the knowledge gained
45% said they had cascaded information they had learnt on to colleagues