Financial Shield’s pilot in Lambeth and Southwark: where are we now?

Damon Gibbons, Executive Director, at the Centre for Responsible Credit writes:

I am pleased to report that the pilot for Financial Shield is beginning to demonstrate the value of creditor, health and advice agency partnership working together to improve both the engagement of low-income working age residents in poor health, and to address their financial and non-clinical health support needs.

The full evaluation will be available in the Autumn; however, much has been achieved in the first 12 months of the pilot. Evaluation activities undertaken so far indicates that a combination of proactive text messaging from local GP practices; placing posters and leaflets in waiting rooms; providing a dedicated website to facilitate appointment requests and encouraging direct referrals from social prescribing teams is proving successful in reaching and engaging working age residents with both long-term health conditions and financial problems.

To date over 530 residents have been on-boarded. Two-thirds of them described their health as poor; 89% reported that they had cut back on food, heating, or other essentials in the prior month and only 5% felt that they had received sufficient support to help manage their health condition in the 12 months prior to using the service.

At the outset of support, 43% reported their anxiety or depression to be an extreme or serious problem and maintaining contact with many of these residents over what can be a protracted period to sort out benefits, has proved difficult. Nevertheless, the project is now demonstrating a positive difference amongst approximately two-thirds of residents using the service. By maximising their take-up of benefits and discretionary support, the project has, on average, increased these resident’s incomes by just under £2,000 per annum. Qualitative interviews with these residents indicate that they now feel more confident about managing both their finances and their health conditions as a result.

In addition, one in five using the service have also benefited from a local ‘breathing space’ which places rent and Council Tax collection on hold for 60 days whilst support is being provided. Where debts are owed to both a participating housing association and local authority, a joint approach to arrears collection is agreed with both parties. In interviews, residents have reported that access to this local ‘breathing space’ has reduced their stress and anxiety.

Finally, we have just been granted a 6 months extension to the pilot until the end of December 2022 by Impact on Urban Health who are funding it. This will provide much needed extra support to help those using Back on Track meet the new challenges of rising living costs. Again, checking benefits entitlements including recently announced Government support on household energy bills can alleviate the difficult decisions some must face between heating and eating.

The full evaluation will also explore the longer-term impacts of the service on improvements to both residents’ health outcomes and to repayment levels of Council Tax. We will publish and share all the findings of the evaluation in the Autumn.