Joining up benefit and debt advice provision in Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire Council is committed to continuously strengthening its support for residents, as demand for financial help is rising with the cost of living.

In June 2022, the council launched a review to define and deliver a solution in the mid to long term to address Buckinghamshire’s evolving financial insecurity and wellbeing support landscape.

The discovery phase found the support landscape lacked cohesion and was made up of multiple siloed services within the council, often signposting to the voluntary and community sector for generalist advice and specialist debt and money advice.

Support was also focused on short term interventions to mitigate crisis, with limited focus on long term sustainable solutions that promote financial stability and reduce ongoing dependence for support.

In addition, the review established that:

• it was difficult to get good data beyond the first contact
• there was a lack of awareness of what each stakeholder could help with
• the existing model was fragmented and primarily based on signposting
• significant effort was spent trying to create and maintain a process for eligibility checks, signposting and referral routes with multiple versions across the council
• skilled and experienced resources across the council weren’t always being used effectively, due to a lack of knowledge or understanding of where to signpost people to.

The council identified an opportunity to take a more holistic approach across the full range of advice and support functions.  As part of this, the council commissioned a Debt and Money Advice Service, providing:

• general advice
• debt advice
• welfare benefits advice and access
• money management and budgeting service
• preventative services that stop residents from getting into debt in the first place
• agreed routes for signposting to mental health services and/or specialist mental health organisations.

In August 2024, the new contract went live with Citizens Advice Buckinghamshire (CAB).

The intended outcomes included:

• Providing data and insights on residents supported through the service so that informed decisions could be made about future provision.
• Clear and consistent referral pathways.
• When the council refers a case directly to CAB, they would use the council’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. This ensures the referral is picked up within the stated time set out in the service level agreement (SLA) and the council has a quick and accurate view of the full level of service being provided to the resident.

This service aims to provide specialist financial advice to help people in crisis resolve immediate issues and develop sustainable solutions that prevent future crises and build resilience.

Within year one, the new referral service has enabled residents to achieve substantial financial outcomes, including:

• £175,000 debt written off
• £12,967 repayments rescheduled
• £320,259 of income gain
• £9,692 of reimbursements
• £62,000 of other financial gains.

Resident feedback further demonstrates the positive impact of the service on their overall wellbeing, with 85.5 per cent of those surveyed feeling less stressed, depressed or anxious as a result of the advice provided. Debt advice prevented 23 instances of homelessness, and 75 per cent (586) of referrals stayed engaged to participate in meaningful advice.

The new referrals approach has also been successful in facilitating a more cohesive support offer between the council and partners, helping the council to understand what drives demand and to deliver advice and financial aid where it is needed most.

Of the 779 residents referred by Buckinghamshire Council, 43 per cent had no prior contact with Citizens Advice Bucks in the previous 12 years, showing the council successfully identified people in financial need who had not previously sought help. Residents from the most deprived wards increased as an overall resident share, an area previously difficult for CAB to engage with. From the 779 referrals, 6,532 ‘issues’ were identified. Each referral had approximately 10 ‘issues’ and averaged 16 contacts to provide support.

The new system enables the council to identify recurring problems which are at the root of financial difficulties for many residents. For example, DWP calculation errors and residents not reporting changes have been identified as the lead drivers of benefit issues, having a knock-on effect and causing other income-related issues.

A strong partnership between the council and CAB is essential to ensuring advice provision is effective and part of a holistic, joined-up approach to supporting residents. For example, more complete client histories and information relating to support has allowed less duplication and confusion for the resident when moving issues forward.

The approach has also been successful in strengthening the focus on prevention and resilience, not just short-term relief. CAB now processes fewer food vouchers and places more effort into addressing the underlying causes driving the food need.

• Engagement takes time, and some residents accept help after multiple referrals. Leave the door open for when residents are ready and able to engage with advice.
• Collaboration between partners to capture complete resident histories improves efficiency and outcomes. Investment in integrated referral systems further improves transparency and speed.
• Focus on long term solutions and prevention, not just crisis mitigation.

To note: Buckinghamshire Council funds Citizens Advice through an internal budget, this is not funded by the Household Support Fund or other external grant funding.

For more information, contact Katie Galvin – Strategic Lead for Financial Insecurity at [email protected].