Agenda item

The Board received a presentation from Mr. H. Patel of the Halton Citizens’ Advice Bureau (CAB) regarding the CAB’s work and contribution to Halton’s priorities.

It was noted that the CAB was a recipient of a major grant from Halton; for 2006/07 the CAB received £179,755. Mr. Patel confirmed that for every £1 of Halton Borough Council grant, the CAB “raised” the equivalent of £3 from other sources.

Mr. Patel covered a variety of issues including:

·               the CAB’s aims;

·               staffing, including volunteers;

·               number and type of enquiries;

·               the advice service provided; and

·               the impact of the CAB and what had been achieved.

In addition, Mr. Patel outlined future plans to improve the service and showed the Board a short film.

The Board considered a number of issues including the following:

·               geography in respect of where clients came from – it was reported that, as part of the service level agreement, the CAB had started to track which wards clients came from. As Sure Start was no longer geography based, midwives were taking out leaflets to all new mothers with the CAB’s ex-directory telephone number on it in order that contact could be made directly. Advisors were trained to ask if clients had young children and, if they did, they were passed straight to the Sure Start team. Mr. Patel confirmed that he would speak to the Sure Start managers to find out which children’s centre was near to Weston Point in order that geography and transport issues could be raised with that manager. Mr. Patel confirmed that he would provide a ward breakdown for a future meeting;

·               the possibility of being mobile around the Borough, for example by using the Benefits bus – it was reported that a strength of the CAB was its confidentiality away from the Benefits Team. However, there was internet access available on the bus which meant that clients could be referred by staff via the on-line referral system. Mr. Patel confirmed that experience had shown that, for outreach work to be successful, offices needed to be in a venue consistently for some time for people to know they were there and access them accordingly;

·               how success was measured – it was stated that this was not currently measured. It was considered that giving correct advice was a measure of success but this may be something that the client was not happy with if the advice was not what they wished to hear. However, the CAB was audited every year in respect of the quality of its advice and, every three years, head office sent people in to see if quality advice was being given. It was noted that Mr. Patel hoped to increase his voluntary team of advisors which would help dramatically with the workload without adding substantial extra costs;

·               relationship between the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and the Benefits Team – Mr. Patel confirmed that these worked closely together. The Benefits Team was considered to be specialists in that area whereas the CAB gave general advice. A protocol was currently being worked up and in addition, the CAB was contacted when the Benefits staff were being trained, in order that the CAB could utilise this training subject to capacity. Currently, both services were being promoted together as there was a lot of demand for this advice.

Mr. Patel confirmed that the three-year funding provided by the Council meant that £0.25m worth of commercial contracts had been secured. This would not have been achievable without the Council funding, which provided a stable infrastructure.

The Chairman thanked Mr. Patel for the work he was doing and for providing an informative presentation.

RESOLVED: That

(1)       the presentation be noted; and

(2)       the booklet outlining a brief summary of benefits available, which helps Councils know when to refer clients to the Citizens Advice Bureau, be circulated to Members of the Board for information.