Report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods).

This report provides an overview of Manchester’s advice services, including the ongoing pressures experienced by services. It details the range of provision across the city and outlines the outcomes achieved through the advice contracts that the Council commissions. It also provides an update on the recommissioning of the City-Wide Advice Service contract and how the new model will help to tackle inequality in the city. The report explains the offer that other advice providers deliver, including the Councils retained advice service and Registered Providers provision.

The committee considered a report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) which provided an overview of Manchester’s advice services, ongoing pressures experienced by services, the range of provision across the city and the outcomes achieved through the advice contracts that the Council commissions. It also provided an update on the recommissioning of the City-Wide Advice Service contract and how the new model would help to tackle inequality in the city.

Key points and themes within the report included:

• Providing an introduction and background to the City-Wide Advice contract and the City-Wide Advice Partnership, which consisted of Citizens Advice Manchester, Shelter and Cheetham Hill Advice Centre;
• The City-Wide Advice contract covered the provision of welfare?benefit advice, debt management, and?housing/homelessness advice, delivered across six channels;
• How advice services were delivered across the city;
• Demand, trends and pressures on advice services;
• The consultation undertaken regarding recommissioning of the City-Wide Advice Service and the themes that emerged from this;
• The model for the new City-Wide Advice Service;
• That CAM, working in collaboration with Shelter and CHAC, had been awarded the new City-Wide Advice Service contract, which would start in October 2024 and run for a period of three years, with the option to extend for a further two; and
• Other advice providers in the city.

Some of the key points and queries that arose from the committee’s discussions were:

• Commending the service provided to residents;
• What place-based advice services would be offered as part of the contract?
• Who would benefit from the Advice and Extra Help Support and whether this would be offered outside of the 15 priority wards;
• Expressing concerns about waiting times on Shelter’s telephone helpline;
• Expressing concern about 72% of online survey respondents experiencing barriers to accessing advice;
• Whether organisations offered a callback service and what could be done to improve responses where service users might not respond to unknown phone numbers;
• How the impact of advice services on reducing poverty and inequality would be evaluated;
• Requesting that satellite hubs be provided in specific wards; and
• What support was available for those experiencing digital exclusion or where English was not a first language (ESOL).

Introducing the item, the Statutory Deputy Leader commended the work of advice service providers in an increasingly challenging climate, recognising rising levels of debt and demand for services in the city. 

The Strategic Lead (Homelessness) explained that the new City-Wide Advice Service contract had been awarded and would look at how to tackle inequalities in the city; improve community connections; deliver high-quality advice; and how to provide additional support for those who struggle to access advice services.

Representatives from Citizens Advice Manchester, Shelter and Cheetham Hill Advice Centre – which had successfully bid for the contract – attended the meeting and provided an overview of their organisations and the support they offered.

In response to members’ queries, the Strategic Lead (Homelessness) explained that the development of the Advice Extra Help and Support programme arose from consultation with a range of stakeholders, partners and those with lived experience to understand gaps around the City-wide Advice Service contract as well as what worked well and where additional input was required. She stated that feedback suggested that the Advice Service contract was working well but there were challenges in certain areas of the city where language barriers made accessing advice services difficult. She explained that the Council wanted to provide additional capacity to some organisations in different priority wards to build up skills and knowledge by working with the main contract providers and to create a link to services. She advised that the approach to the Advice Extra Help and Support programme would be developed over the next few months and that providers would be commissioned in early 2025 with the contract to begin in October 2025. It was also confirmed that this would be targeted in the 15 priority wards, but the wider City-wide Advice Services contract provided services across the city.

The Chief Executive, Citizens Advice Manchester expressed his organisation’s appreciation of the Council’s investment into the City-wide Advice Service contract. He commented that the tender proposed the expansion of the current service model to create 15 principal advice hubs to support 45 satellite hubs which would consist of a combination of caseworkers, video consultations and mobile services in areas with the highest demand. He stated that CAM’s advice van enabled the organisation to be responsive to need and demand. He commented that following the recent award of the contract, a mobilisation period was underway, and conversations would be held with local stakeholders such as the Council and the healthcare sector to understand the best locations for satellite hubs.

In response to a member’s concern regarding call wait times, the Chief Executive, Citizens Advice Manchester explained that the City-wide Advice Service contract funded approximately 4000 responses to calls per month but that the current demand was around 7000, highlighting challenges with resourcing and demand. He provided assurances, however, that the new contract provided additional investment for CAM to provide more place-based and digital advice. The Service Manager, Shelter apologised for the difficulty experienced personally by the Member and agreed to look into this further. She explained that there was a direct referral pathway to Shelter through the contract and that urgent cases were contacted on the same day.

With regards to barriers to accessing advice services, the Strategic Lead (Homelessness) stated that this was often due to a lack of awareness of the services available and where these were located. She explained that the new contract sought to address this and to provide advice services in a culturally sensitive way. The Assistant Chief Executive, CAM explained that the organisation worked with a diverse range of partners and funders and that there would be a stringent customer service element incorporated into the new contract with residents consulted on their experiences.

The Chief Executive, CAM acknowledged challenges in providing a high-volume, personal service. He explained that CAM made initial contact by telephone following a referral and would discuss the service user’s preferred method of communication once contact was made.

The Strategic Lead (Homelessness) informed the committee that data from the City-wide Advice Service contract fed into the Making Manchester Fairer programme and data from the contract would be assessed by the Commissioning team to monitor the outcomes and impact on reducing inequality and poverty. There would also be links between the new contract and VCSE organisations and other specialist advice, such as the Greater Manchester Immigration Advice Service, were integrated into the wider service.

In response to a query regarding support provided for non-English speakers or those digitally excluded, the Charity Manager, Cheetham Hill Advice Centre stated that the organisation encouraged the use of face-to-face services in these circumstances and would encourage those making a referral to provide advance notice of any additional needs, such as a translator. The Strategic Lead (Homelessness) stated that the Extra Help and Support programme would provide funding to community organisations to provide assistance with tasks such as form-filling and letter writing.

In concluding the item, the Chair thanked the representatives of Citizens Advice Manchester, Shelter and Cheetham Hill Advice Centre for their attendance and commended their work across the city, which the committee echoed.

Decision:

1. To note the report.
2. To request a further update on the City-wide Advice Service contract in 12 months’, including work to address barriers to accessing services;
3. To request further information on the indicative monitoring and evaluation methods for the contract;
4. To request detail on the delivery plan of the contract for the next 6 months; and
5. To request that the report be shared with all members of the Council.