Housing advice in the midst of a housing crisis... Contracted with the Legal Aid Agency to provide Specialist Housing and Debt services Welcome to the executive summary of GHR’s

Housing advice in the midst of a housing crisisMeasuring the social impact of Greenwich HousingRights’ legal advice and associated services

independent housing advice

Social Impact Report for the period 1 January 2014 – 31 March 2015 Executive Summary

Report Author: Chris Minnoch | ManagerGreenwich Housing Rights | 36 Wellington Street | Woolwich | London SE18 6PF www.grhr.co.uk

Contracted with the Legal Aid Agency to provide Specialist Housing and Debt services

Welcome to the executive summary of GHR’s 2014-15Social Impact Report. In this summary we set outthe key findings of our Social Impact Report for the15 months to 31 March 2015. This was anotherperiod of considerable change for GHR, during whichwe pressed ahead with our ambitious plans todevelop our services in the face of considerablechallenges. From policy and legislative reform to thecontinuing impact of funding cuts, 2014/15 was adifficult period for GHR and the communities weserve. However, despite these challenges, wemaintained our high standards and fulfilled anumber of key objectives, such as:

● Increasing access to our telephone, drop-in andemail advice services – providing advice on 2252occasions

● Improving the support on offer to otherorganisations – we ran 7 training sessions andprovided consultancy advice on 52 occasions tolocal community groups and public services

● Introducing new systems to assess theeffectiveness of our services – we now trackchanges in our clients’ health and wellbeing andtheir ability to act on our advice and access otherservices

● Maintaining our role as the co-ordinator ofGreenwich Community Advice Network – acollaboration of 19 local not-for-profitorganisations providing legal advice or advocacyservices

● Ensuring 100% cover for our county court dutyrepresentation schemes – 2243 clients wereassisted at Woolwich and Bromley County Courts,with a 90% success rate in possession hearingsand an 82% success rate in eviction hearings

● Continuing to provide highly specialised adviceand assistance in complex cases and litigation –133 clients assisted, with a 91% success rate and91 incidents of homelessness prevented

● Assisting clients to reduce their debts or otherwiseimprove their financial situation - £80,000recovered for clients through, for example,backdated Housing Benefit

● Enhancing our working environment to supportour staff team – we introduced a new set of HRpolicies, upgraded our IT and began theaccreditation process for the London HealthyWorkplace Charter

● Developing partnerships and initiatives to improveour sustainability – we received the Queen’sAward for Voluntary Services, London LegalSupport Trust’s Centre of Excellence Quality Markand started to develop a social enterprise togenerate new income streams

This summary report provides more detail about ourachievements but also sets out our plans for thecoming years. The funding and policy environmentin which we operate will present us with considerablechallenges so we are keenly aware of the need tosteadily improve our services and enhance ourbusiness model. We know that our focus onconsistent improvement allows us to continue tomake a positive impact on the lives of our clients.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank thestaff team, my fellow trustees and our wonderfulvolunteers for their hard work throughout 2014/15and for their ongoing commitment to GHR’s ethos,mission, values and objectives.

GHR Social Impact Report 2014-15 – Executive Summary

Housing advice in the midst of a housing crisis

Forward

Rosie Grewal, Chair of GHR’s Management Committee

1GHR Social Impact Report 2014-15 – Executive Summary


GHR’s Vision, Mission, Values, Organisational Objectives and Activities*

* Reviewed and updated by staff and trustees February 2015

Vision

Everyone has the right to a secure, suitable and affordable home.

Mission

To work across local communities to tackle housing and related issues.

Values

● Independence● Equality & Diversity

● Community Based ● Professional & Quality Assured

● Collaboration & Team Working

Organisational Objectives and Activities

Objective 1 To reduce homelessness and improve housing conditions by providing legaladvice and representation services.

Activity 1Activity 2Activity 3Activity 4

Initial Advice ServicesCourt Duty SchemeCasework and Litigation ServiceSecond-tier Support and Training Services

Objective 2 To increase access to quality advice by awareness raising, partnership workand influencing decision-makers locally and further afield.

Activity 1Activity 2Activity 3

Development of Greenwich Community Advice Network and other local partnershipsTackling social policy issues by contributing to local and national initiativesNetworking with local and national stakeholders

Objective 3 To ensure GHR’s continued success as a robust and sustainable organisationby having effective internal mechanisms for management, governance,financial planning and service delivery.

Activity 1

Activity 2

Activity 3

Activity 4

Activity 5

Activity 6

Deliver sound governance through effective business planning and risk management

Effective financial planning and management, including the development of new income streams

Optimisation of the use of ICT

Compliance with quality assurance standards

Appropriate staffing resources and appropriate training and support to develop expertise

Effective communication with internal and external stakeholders

Objective 4 To increase people’s employment and career prospects by offering workexperience and training in social welfare law and legal practice skills.

Activity 1Activity 2

Volunteering programmesWork experience placements

Specialist casework and litigationOur services focus on preventing homelessness andimproving housing conditions. We thereforeprioritise possession and eviction cases, disrepair,challenging local authority homelessness decisionsand resolving housing benefit problems.

133 cases opened in 2014/15 – 91% success rate – over £80,000 recovered for clients – 91 incidents ofhomelessness prevented

Advice servicesWe provide a range of services to ensure clients haveready access to our specialist advisers. We run drop-in services, provide telephone advice, respond toemail enquiries and deliver advice from threeoutreach locations across the borough. The servicesare open to all, regardless of the type of housingproblem, the client’s income or their geographiclocation. We also refer clients to a wide range ofadvice and support agencies to help clients accessthe services they need.

2252 clients assisted in 2014/15

We conducted a survey of 58 of the clients whoaccessed our telephone or drop-in services:

● 92% of clients felt that they had improved theirability to make realistic choices by obtaining legaladvice

● 86% of clients reported an improvement inawareness of their housing rights

● 86% of clients confirmed that their interactionwith GHR had helped to develop their skills,understanding and/or confidence to resolve theirhousing issues

● 79% reported an improvement in their awarenessof their entitlements

● 75% reported an improvement in theirunderstanding of their responsibilities asoccupiers

● Overall clients reported a reduction in their anxietylevels and an increase in their confidence levelsafter receiving our advice

2 GHR Social Impact Report 2014-15 – Executive Summary


Objective 1To reduce homelessness and improve housing conditions by providing legal advice and representation services.

Outcomes of specialist cases

“GHR were very clear, really helpful knowledge of procedure

which made me feel better.”


Connecting Greenwich

Court Duty SchemesOur specialist advisers attend Woolwich and BromleyCounty Courts on days set aside for ‘possessionlists’. Most tenants and homeowners attend courtwithout legal representation and with little or nounderstanding of their rights or of the options opento the court. Our advisers provide advice, negotiatewith the landlord or lender and advocate for clientsin court.

The Court Duty Schemes also act as a gateway toother services for our clients. In many cases, thehousing crisis is a symptom of one or moreunderlying issues, the most common of which aredebt and problems with welfare benefits. Howeverour advisers are also trained to signpost clients tosources of help with a range of different problems(e.g. immigration, family, health, employment).

2243 clients assisted in 2014/15 – 90% success rate in possession hearings and 82% success rate in eviction hearings – 257 evictions prevented

Increase in demand since 2012/13 – 56%

Second-tier Support and Training ServicesAs the only source of free specialist housing advice inthe borough, we provide an invaluable service toindividual clients. However we also believe stronglythat we should provide support to other organisationswho assist our client group. We do this by providingfree consultancy advice to front-line workers in otherorganisations to help them support their own clients.We also provide free training sessions and give talksand presentation to local groups.

33 organisations advised on 52 occasions in 2014/15

7 free training sessions delivered, covering topics suchas homelessness, housing allocations, the rights ofprivate sector tenants and the possession process.

Delegates provided feedback about the quality oftraining received:

● Helping delegates to meet learning objectives: 92%● Quality of the training materials provided: 94%● Suitability of the learning environment: 90%

“I would just like to say a huge thank you for helping out with my godfather's

case at Bromley court on 25/09/14. I would not have been able to handle the judge’s legal questions relating to the deeds/title and don't think we

would have got the same results(adjournment pending the landlord'sdecision for downward staircasing /equity release) had it not been for

your advice and assistance. So once again, many thanks!”

“Just to say thanks for you and yourteam’s help yesterday, as you probably

know [the client] has been provided with temporary accommodation.

We have spoken with her this morning and she is very pleased, she

had nothing but praise for hercaseworker.”

We work in partnership with a large number of otherorganisations and public-sector teams. This enablesus to provide a more effective response to the needsof our client group. It also provides us withopportunities to shape local policy and practice andto improve access to services for our clients.

A key element of our partnership work is our role asco-ordinators of Greenwich Community AdviceNetwork (GCAN). GCAN was formed in 2013 andnow has 19 member agencies.

In 2014 we surveyed members to improve ourunderstand of the benefits of membership and helpto shape the strategic direction of the Network. Weasked members to explain what had changed sincethey joined GCAN (please see below).

Apart from our work with GCAN members, we alsowork alongside the Law Centres Network, Legal AidPractitioners Group, Housing Law PractitionersGroup, RBG Homelessness Forum, AdviceUK andAdvice Services Alliance. We also workcollaboratively with front-line and policy teams within RBG and other local authorities.



Objective 2To increase access to quality advice by awareness raising, partnership work and influencing decision-makers locally and further afield.

What changed as a result of being a member of GCAN?

‘Developing the network has helped to improve access to advice - so we see the wider picture and are more aware of what is out there. This in time helps us to help people to get

to the right place.’

Meridian Money Advice

We regularly review and update our 5 year StrategicPlan to ensure that we have effective systems inplace and the resources to deliver quality services.Our most important resource is our staff team of 15managers, solicitors, advisers and administrativeassistants.

During 2014/15 we:

● Published our first set of independently auditedsocial accounts.

● Held a joint strategy meeting with staff andtrustees to consider our Business Plan, socialimpact measurement process and the challengeswe face.

● Introduced a wide range of new personnel policiesby developing a new Employee Handbook.

● Upgraded our IT and moved our emailexchange into the Cloud

● Received a grant and quality mark as partof the London Legal Support Trust’sCentre of Excellence audit process. Theaudit focusses in particular on ourfinancial stability and businessplanning processes.

● Conducted a thorough riskassessment.

● Continued to work with partnersto develop a social enterprise todeliver commercial legal adviceand consultancy services.



● Began to work with four professionals from thecommercial sector through the Pilotlightengagement process.

● Updated our website and started to develop asecure area to share information online withvolunteers.

● Managed funding, monitoring and reporting onbehalf of our partner agencies for the ASTFproject.

● Started the process of accreditation for theLondon Healthy Workplace Charter.

Objective 3To ensure GHR’s continued success as a robust and sustainable organisation by having effective internal mechanisms for management, governance, financial planning and service delivery.

Paid work experience placements gave localresidents the chance to develop their skills asadministrators during a 6-month employmentcontract. Four of the administrative assistantssecured longer-term or permanent contracts withanother employer during their placements with GHR.Six other administrative assistants completed theirplacements and improved their employability.

9 student work experience placements from 5 local secondary schools and colleges14 local residents gained paid work experiencethrough the Council’s ILM and GOLD schemes

Work placements give students invaluable insightinto the world of work and how the law relates to

everyday situations. One of our students wrote to usat the end of her placement to say:

We receive considerable support from ourvolunteers. Around 20 trained volunteers assist usto provide our Woolwich County Court-based DutyAdvice Scheme. Volunteers contributed around 950hours to the scheme in 2014/15. Volunteers alsocontributed around 1050 hours to our office-basedadvice services during the year. We value thiscontribution at approximately £60,200 as this iswhat it would cost GHR to provide the services inthe absence of the volunteers.

Our volunteers make a considerable contribution topreventing homelessness by assisting with our officeand court-based services. This contribution wasrecognised in the June 2014 Queen’s BirthdayHonours list when we received the Queen’s Awardfor Voluntary Service, the MBE for volunteeringgroups.

During November and December 2014 we recruited12 new volunteer advisers. Each new volunteeradviser is required to complete an intensive trainingprocess. We will soon be recruiting our next intakeof volunteer advisers from London MetropolitanUniversity, University of Greenwich and theUniversity of Law.



Objective 4To increase people’s employment and career prospects by offering work experience and training in social welfare law and legal practice skills.

“I would like to say a huge thank you to you all for the amazing experience

you have me while I was working therefor those two weeks. I learned so much

and I am eternally grateful for theopportunity and the things I was able todo like the drop in sessions and going tocourt. I really enjoyed my time and will

definitely be coming back to visit. I am now thinking of working in the civillaw because of the experience, it’s a lotmore work than I originally thought was

behind each and every process of anysituation clients have”



2015+ Our plans for the future

The government plans to introduce a range oflegislation that will impact on our client group.Advanced plans are in place to close a host of courtsand tribunals, including Woolwich County Court.Legislation is being drawn up to increase the right tobuy, end life-long social tenancies, introduce anincome cap for social housing tenants, and make itmandatory for landlords to obtain evidence of

immigration status. Welfare reform continues, withUniversal Credit being rolled out locally in early 2016,and further changes to Housing Benefit and therights of European Nationals. All of these issues willaffect our client group and influence the way wedeliver our services. Along with responding to theseexternal issues, we also have ambitious plans tocontinue to enhance our services.

Legal advice services

● Increase capacity to provide casework support● Respond to the proposal to close Woolwich

County Court● Re-establish Greenwich Migrant Hub with our

partner agencies● Continue to integrate our services with those on

offer from PCLC● Consider expanding services into Bromley, Bexley

and Lewisham● Review how we deliver our initial advice services● Secure dedicated funding for 2nd-tier advice● Review how we utilise volunteers

● Develop new and strengthen existing referralpathways

● Develop the capacity for all advisers to delivercasework services

● Introduce a system for working with consultantsolicitors

● Benchmark duty advice services against nationaldata

● Ensure staff are trained to deal with UniversalCredit, changes to the rights of EEA nationalsand other important policy and legaldevelopments

Partnerships

● Implement a range of shared systems with PCLCto reduce overheads

● Develop a comprehensive response to clientdemand in partnership with PCLC

● Continue to work with RBG on a range ofpartnership initiatives

● Consult with GCAN members to develop ourforward plan

● Develop a Community Hub – shared premiseswith complementary advice and support services

Finance and sustainability

● Continue to embed impact measurementprocesses

● Develop our social enterprise to delivercommercial services

● Continue to refine our processes for linking adviceoutcomes to health and wellbeing outcomes

● Secure premises suitable for sharing withpartner agencies and delivering shared services

● Secure funding to sustain the GCAN co-ordination role

● Develop a better understanding of ourenvironmental and economic impact

Policy work

● Conduct research into referral and networkingprocesses in the voluntary advice sector

● Develop a local advice strategy in conjunctionwith RBG and our advice partners

● Provide an effective response to governmentplans to close WCC and other courts

● Explore potential for joint policy work withGCAN members



Client Profile Gender

Female

Male

Age Range

0-16

17-24

25-34

35-49

50-64

65+

Ethnicity

White

Black

Asian

Mixed

Other



Housing Status

Employment Status

2014/15 was another strong year in relation tofundraising and income generation. As a result ofcareful financial planning and prudent use of ourresources we have added to our unrestrictedreserves. We would like to thank the Royal Borough



Financial Summary

of Greenwich, the Big Lottery Fund and the LondonLegal Support Trust for their continuing support. Wewould also like to thank those who made donationsto the charity and our volunteers for their unstintingsupport with fundraising.

640,206

624,048

16,158

164,420

134,846

588,011

554,557

33,454

148,261

126,529

Total incoming resources

Total resources expended

Net income/(expenditure) for the year

Total funds carried forward

Unrestricted reserves

31.3.15 31.3.14

£ £

Summary of Audited Accounts for the year end 31.03.15

224,656

234,998

169,221

10,000

224,656

248,696

100,041

5,000

Royal Borough of Greenwich

Legal Aid Agency (formerly LSC)

Big Lottery Fund (ASTF)

London Legal Support Trust

31.3.15 31.3.14

£ £

Principle funding sources



Trustees, Staff Team and Volunteers

Rosie Grewal Chair

Mike Phillips Vice-Chair

Efe Avan-Nomayo Treasurer

Bibi Badejo

Babatunde Ibitoye

Siraj Choudhury

Sola Okuyelu

Naomi Smith

Dexter Bonner

Olamide Ogunrinade

Management Committee (as at 31.03.15)

Chris Minnoch Manager

Chris Wilson Deputy Manager

Ola Alalade Supervising Solicitor

Vanessa Morgridge Casework Supervisor

Tracey Trotman Advice Team Leader

Vivien Almond Office Manager

Dermot Mckibbin Housing Adviser

Francis Ikah Admin. Assistant

Patricia Gravell Housing Adviser

Caroline Herbert Housing Adviser

Tracey Wilkinson-Hoy DAS Co-ord.

Terry Arnold Bus. Dev. Manager

Charlie Kenny Duty Advocate

Ian Webb Duty Advocate

Jo Knorpel Duty Advocate

Kathleen Fleury Admin. Assistant

Staff Team (as at 31.03.15)

We would like to show our appreciation to ourwonderful volunteers, who contribute to our advice

services and provide invaluable administrativesupport.



Volunteers

Vyaj Lovejoy

Eric Sisay

Efe Avan-Nomayo

Olamide Ogunrinade

David Araya

Hilda Darkwah

Stephen Clissold

Harriet Thomas (Evelyn 190 Centre)

Tony Katz

Paul Gosal

Liana Mighali

Toyin Onanuga

John Livingstone

Patrick Braithwaite

Sola Okuyelu

Rosie Grewal (Aran Solicitors)

Ndidi Ogbonnia

Claudine Letsae

Dustin Speirs

Rocky Zaman

Rohini Teather

Ariane Adam

Elizabeth Gardiner (Powell & Co. Solicitors)

David Solomon

Andrew Pickin

Barnard Wood

Daniel Laking

George Dew

Laura Edwards

Matt Henderson

Rachel Owusu Agyei

Rose Lagram-Taylor


Drop in Advice Services

Telephone Advice Services

Monday 2-4pm(36 Wellington Street)Tuesday 5-7pm(Town Hall, Woolwich)Wednesday 10am-12pm(36 Wellington Street)

020 8854 8848Tuesday 2-5pmThursday 2-5pmFriday 10am-1pm

By Telephone: 020 8854 8848 (answerphone)

By Fax: 020 8317 2316By email: [email protected]

Or write to:Viv Almond (Office Manager)Greenwich Housing Rights36 Wellington StreetWoolwich, London SE18 6PF

Contact Us

Outreach ServicesAt Middle Park Community Centre and Greenwich West Community and Arts Centre. Appointment only –contact Greenwich CAB to book an appointment: 020 8853 9499

independent housing advice

Housing advice in the midst of a housing crisis... Contracted with the Legal Aid Agency to provide Specialist Housing and Debt services Welcome to the executive summary of GHR’s

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