Welfare support experts help put £4.5million in South Tyneside's pockets

The welfare support team is based within South Tyneside Homes, the management organisation responsible for South Tyneside Council’s housing stock, but offers support services to all borough residents.

This can include tenants in council properties and housing associations, as well as home-owners and people renting from a private landlord.

The service offers a range of face to face or telephone advice appointments across the borough and home visits when required.

An update on the work of the service was given to councillors at the Riverside Community Area Forum (CAF), on Tuesday, January 17.

Since April, 2022, the service has achieved estimated financial gains of nearly £4.5million for the borough’s local economy.

The financial gains include the work of the welfare support service leading to debts being written-off, new benefits being claimed that were not being claimed previously and funds being reclaimed after the Department for Work and Pensions stopped benefits.

Andrew McGill, welfare support team manager at South Tyneside Homes, credited the work of his team around financial gains over the past year.

Speaking at the CAF meeting, he said: “That’s money that’s back in residents’ pockets, it’s sustaining tenancies, it’s going back into the local economy and supporting local business and obviously paying things like council tax and keeping people’s homes warm and providing food.

“It’s also calculated incorporating the debt side of the work that we do, so when a customer’s debt is managed or written off, that’s classed as financial gain.

“I’m very proud of that [financial gain] number, as the manager of the service the team do a really good job under increasing amounts of pressure and demand for the service with, let’s face it, the same resource that we have had since before Covid.

“But the demand has easily more than doubled”.

Other support services linked to the welfare support team include Local Welfare Provision, which covers crisis support on behalf of South Tyneside Council providing emergency food, gas and electricity vouchers and household items.

The scope of the scheme was recently widened to allow it to help people with the cost of living crisis.

Since April 2022, more than 3,300 applications have been submitted to the local welfare provision service, compared to an average year (pre-Covid) of up to 1,900.

As part of the ‘social navigators’ project, a bespoke team also works with vulnerable residents who are “financially excluded” to provide support and help prevent crisis, with around 202 clients having accessed the service.

The project is understood to have achieved more than 700 ‘non-financial gains’, from sustained tenancies and engaging with services to securing free goods and helping clients into employment or training.

The presentation has been delivered across the borough’s CAFs in recent months, with several councillors praising the welfare support team.

During discussion this week, Riverside CAF members praised the team’s work and positive impact on borough residents.

Councillor Ann Best, Westoe ward member, said: “Thank you for that presentation, it’s fascinating and congratulations on all the achievements as well under very difficult circumstances”.

Councillor Andrew Guy, West Park ward member, expressed a “huge thank you and appreciation for the work [the team] does”.

Councillor Lynne Proudlock, chair of the Riverside CAF, stressed the importance of the service, noting that everyone had the potential to fall into hardship.

“We’re all only a couple of pay packets away from any kind of situation,” she said.

“Thank you very much for that report, we have residents ring us up asking for help and we can direct them to you.

“They’re the ones who can take the most away”.

More information about the welfare support service can be found on South Tyneside Council’s website: https://www.southtyneside.gov.uk/article/1467/Welfare-Support-Service

The service can also be contacted by telephone at (0191) 424 6040 or by email at [email protected]