Decommissioning debt advice in Leeds
The MaPS procurement exercise is already leading to the decommissioning of debt advice services. Here we report on what is happening on the ground in Leeds.
What’s happening to debt advice in Leeds?
Following an announcement from Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) to drastically cut funding for face-to-face debt advice across the country and increase funding for digital and telephone advice, the consequences to debt advice services in Leeds, and the impact it is likely to have on clients is destined to create catastrophe across the debt advice sector.
Leeds Debt Advice Network (LDAN), consists of front-line debt advisers (no matter who funds them), support services, Local Authority, DWP, Trading Standards, TV Licencing, Citizens Advice Leeds, and creditors collecting priority debts, such as Council Tax. All of these members work together collaboratively to get the best outcomes for the clients. However, on the horizon, the members see a perfect storm coming; which in our opinion will lead to further poverty, isolation, deprivation, increase in poor mental health, suicide and sheer desperation for those who are digitally excluded, don’t want advice on the phone or who are not suitable for telephone advice.
Citizens Advice (National) administers the MaPS grant funding to participants (advice agencies). Currently, there are four advice agencies providing MaPS funded debt advice. These are Burmantofts Community Projects, St Vincent’s, Better Leeds Communities and Citizens Advice Leeds. Citizens Advice Leeds is part of the tender for future funding to provide face to face debt advice. However, the three other Independent Advice Agencies (IAA’s) are not part of the tender for future funding. This means that all three of those organisations, which are based in some of the most deprived areas of the city, will lose all of their MaPS funding for face-to-face debt advice.
At the moment, there are 32 debt advisers across the whole of West Yorkshire. Only 11 face to face advisers are planned to remain from 1st April 2022.
What is happening now?
Face to face debt advice remains open in all services (except Citizens Advice Leeds). However, some advice agencies are telling us that they are overwhelmed with demand, with one advice agency reporting that they are getting 25 referrals per day.
Debt advisers are working flat out, and beyond their contractual working hours. Multi-agency working and safeguarding has become the norm for them. Debt Advisers work collaboratively with local councillors, social services, the local authority, mental health teams, food banks, and many more local charities. They provide a wide range of support including through baby banks, school uniform banks, local one stop services, and local community welfare support. This local knowledge that the debt advisers have is invaluable, as it enables holistic advice and support to be provided to people.
MaPS funded advice agencies also work collaboratively with each other on MaPS funded contracts. These contracts are target led and when one advice agency is overwhelmed with demand, and another advice agency isn’t, clients are signposted to the other advice agency so they can get advice sooner, instead of going on a waiting list at the presenting agency. It is the client’s choice. Key staff keep in touch with each other about each organisation’s capacity, so clients are not being signposted to an agency that is overwhelmed with demand.
What is happening post January 2022?
Week Commencing 8th November, MaPS funded debt advice services attended a meeting with Citizens Advice National (the current grant holder) to discuss the exit strategy for debt advice services. Guidance was provided by Citizens Advice (National) on how to deal with the different types of enquiries that clients might present.
On 3rd December MaPS funded advice agencies were contacted by Citizens Advice (National) to confirm the arrangement for decommissioning face to face debt advice. They provided an up to date timeline and the process for organisations to follow. More of these communications are expected as part of the decommissioning process.
Winding down services and meeting MaPS targets!
From the beginning of January 2022, advisers will give advice only, because casework often lasts a couple of months, and the current funding agreement ends on 31st March 2022. None of the debt advisers want to give advice only when a client is sat in front of them and needs a Debt Relief Order, or Breathing Space, or representation at court when an eviction needs suspending. This is a real worry for them. Advisers may find themselves rejecting people in need of complex casework as they try to establish if they can get the case opened, dealt with and closed in 90 days or at the end of January 2022, in less than 60 days.
We understand MaPS expectations are that advisers must continue to meet the demand for debt advice. We know performance targets will be impacted by decommissioning, yet MaPS are keen to understand how our delivery models will be adapted in order to minimise service disruption! If any material changes are made to our approach to delivering services, that will impact on performance, then we must let Citizens Advice (National) know and they will continue to seek clarification from MaPS.
Where casework was identified as being required for a client, the debt advisers were told to refer these cases for telephone advice from the telephone Contact Centres. However, they were also told they can’t refer clients for to a Contact Centre if they are not suitable! If any of the clients do get referred for telephone advice and they are not suitable, then they will be sent back to the referring agency.
We are also told that the Contact Centre appointments are getting booked up fast, there are many out-of-scope appointments being booked, and many no-shows. When it was queried with Citizens Advice as to where we can send clients if the Contact Centre is not appropriate, they said they would continue to work in partnership with participants. However, as MaPS is the grant funder, we should take the issue up with MaPS!
From 1st March 2022, advisers were told they must provide ‘information only’ to clients, which is mainly providing leaflets, self -help packs, and signposting to digital and phone services. They were told to continue referring to the Contact Centre, where it is already clear that there are serious problems.
By 31st March 2022, all MaPS funded case are to be closed down. Advisers were told to ensure that there are no outstanding issues and to signpost client to telephone and digital advice, if there are no other debt advice services available which may be being funded by non-MaPs sources.
As well as all of the above, during January to March 2022, advisers have been told that they must maintain quality of advice and comply with the Debt Advice Peer Assessment (DAPA). DAPA will continue until the end of March 2022. In addition to advisers being told to close down their cases, the requirement to send long winded 40-page confirmation of advice letters containing lots of unnecessary information remains. The pressure on the debt advisers to comply with such a rigid regime, and comply with the exit strategy and worry about their future, is incredible.
The DAPA Scheme has contributed massively to the poor wellbeing of advisers, and so pressure still remains on them to comply with bureaucracy of DAPA, close cases, take on advice only cases, then take on information only cases, but make sure they are all closed down by 31st March 2022!
On 31st March 2022, all MaPS funded advice services in Leeds in its current form will cease. We are not sure what debt advice in Leeds will look like after this. There is only a 3-month lead-in time for the newly funded MaPS debt advice services and these are not expected to commence until 1st July 2022. This lead-in time will not be sufficient for any new service to be in place on the ground, especially when TUPE obligations may arise, or other recruitment is necessary.
Recently MaPS announced that there will be a delay to announcing the outcome of the tendering process by a couple of weeks. However, this will not change the date for when the current funded contract will end. It is our understanding from Citizens Advice (National) that have asked MaPS for a 12-month extension to the current contract, which would allow them to collaborate on a smoother transition between services. In the meantime, until the new contract holder is announced, Citizens Advice (National) cannot presume that participants in their proposed future supply chain will be in a position to take on referrals from other offices. So, what happens to the clients?
The LDAN is deeply concerned for the vulnerable clients who will desperately need services post January 2022, yet this client group seems to be excluded from a casework service. Is this an unintended consequence of the decommissioning process?
What can we do about this looming catastrophe?
We will work together with partners in the LDAN and Citizens Advice (National) and the local authority as best we can to safeguard the clients until the funding problems are appropriately resolved.
The best resolution, however, would be for MaPS to suspend this procurement exercise and extend existing contracts for 18 months. That would allow a full and proper consultation concerning future advice provision to take place with all stakeholders involved.
At the Zoom meeting with MaPS on 17th November 2021 it became clear that MaPS didn’t really know what was going on in Leeds, and they didn’t ask for any further details. Where MaPS to consult properly, including with people working in frontline services in the right areas, then a much better landscape of debt advice provision would result.
However, if MaPS do not pause, then catastrophe will certainly happen, as Citizens Advice Leeds will not have the capacity to take on all the clients that need face to face advice. With one agency alone getting 25 referrals a day, that is 125 referrals a week. Yet MaPS say there is less need for face-to-face provision
In addition to the above, IAA’s have started talking to their staff about TUPE. Adviser (and other affected staff) morale is naturally very low because there is so much uncertainty over their jobs. Most will have TUPE rights with Citizens Advice Leeds if they are successful with their tender, and assumptions are being made that they are highly likely to be. Staff don’t want to transfer to another organisation and then be put on 3 months redundancy notice because there aren’t enough jobs on offer. How do we try and keep their morale high during all this upheaval? The answer is we can’t, because everything is out of our control, and this is all down to MaPS!
The LDAN will continue to support the WADA in the campaign to #SaveDebtAdvice