Tackling Welfare Reform in the Round is a series of roundtable discussions which aim to find collaborative solutions to mitigate the impacts of welfare reform.

The roundtable events in Edinburgh are jointly hosted by SCVO, EVOC and Inclusion Scotland.  The first event took place in December 2015 and was well attended by representatives from across the Third Sector and the City of Edinburgh Council. During the event, Calum Ogden from Citizens Advice Edinburgh presented on the impact that welfare reform has had on advice services. There was also a presentation about partnership working by Gillian Ritchie from the City of Edinburgh Council. Gillian presented examples of successful partnership working including the partnership between the Department for Work and Pensions and the City of Edinburgh Council to create a Delivery Partnership Agreement.

For the first discussion, participants were placed into groups to answer the following questions:

• Why is welfare reform a problem?
• What do we want to tackle?
• What would make welfare reform easier to deal with?

Five central themes emerged from the responses in first discussion and were used as themes to be discussed in the second discussion

1. Cultural Change
2. (Online) Directory and Referral Service
3. Preventative Work and Capacity Building
4. Localisation and Personalisation
5. Information and Communication

Participants were invited to select a theme and create and action plan using the following questions as a guide

• What good work is already happening?
• What more can we do?
• Who else should be involved?

There were many great ideas circulated and groups were eager to put their plans outlined during the discussion into action.

For further information about the topics discussed, please see the event notes.

A second Tackling Welfare Reform in the Round event has been scheduled at 1pm on the 24^th March 2016. To register for the event, please go to www.welfareroundtable.eventbrite.co.uk

Recently our Financial Inclusion team has seen some staff changes.

Simon Hay has been with the project from its very first days in March 2014 and has helped build our way of working.  He has worked with numerous of our partners and will be sorely missed.  We are very sorry to see Simon leave the project but are delighted that he is moving on to a new opportunity. 
Simon says:

“Working as part of The Recovery Essentials Project has been very special for me, we have helped people in difficult circumstances access benefits and resources that they may not have otherwise been able to. I feel proud to have been involved in a service whose purpose has been to support and empower some of the most vulnerable people in Edinburgh to ensure that they receive all they are entitled to during these extremely trying times.

It has been a wonderful learning opportunity and an overwhelmingly positive experience.  I will sorely miss my colleagues – a lovely group of people who work extremely hard and who have been responsible for making the Project the success it is. 

I hope that Recovery Essentials is able to continue for as long as possible, the number of clients accessing the service and their response to our support is a testament to the great work being done. All the best for the future and thank you for having me! “

Since our last newsletter we have welcomed three new team members, including Elena Ugarte, who has been doing fantastic work at the Serenity Café and Big Issue. Elena gained her Social Work degree in Spain and has completed an NVQ III in Health and Social Care in the UK. Over her ten years of experience working in the Third Sector, Elena has worked with various client groups to provide advice regarding welfare, housing options, debt and care plans.

Elena says:

“Since April 2014, I have been required to learn about the welfare benefit and reforms which affect EU nationals in particular. Throughout my experience working in the UK, my Spanish has proven to be very useful for case work, not only with Spanish speaking clients, but also with those from Romanian, Italian, Portuguese, and even Moroccan backgrounds.

I applied to work with EVOC as I strongly believe in their approach in supporting clients. Not only do we advise clients and assist them in multiple financial issues, we also aim to enable them to sustain it. We empower clients to get the independence and stability they need in their lives.”