Unity will deliver a better future for advice services

In a changing environment for the voluntary advice sector, Harold Good, Independent Chair of the Advice Services Alliance, sets out the challenges ahead for the partnership of Advice NI, Citizens Advice and Law Centre (NI).

This is the first of what we hope will be a more regular update of the activities of the Advice Services Alliance (ASA), to keep you better informed as to who we are and what we seek to do on behalf of our membership.

As is now well known, the Department for Social Development (DSD) will shortly be publishing its advice and information strategy following wide-ranging consultation on an initial document. As this will herald a new era for those of us who share responsibility for advice services throughout Northern Ireland, the strategy is crucial to the long term wellbeing of the members of the Advice Services Alliance (Advice NI, Citizens Advice and the Law Centre). The strategy has already delivered an additional £2.5 million for frontline advice since it was launched in January 2006. In particular, half a million was provided at the initial launch with further funding of £1 million brought forward in 2006/2007 and 2007/2008. The latter two amounts sought matching funding from local councils.

With this new challenge, it is more important than ever that the voluntary advice sector works together effectively to develop comprehensive, well resourced and effective advice services across Northern Ireland. Therefore, the ASA is actively seeking to build on the substantial progress made by its members over the past few years. The DSD consultation document contained a number of key proposals including:

• establishing a network of primary generalist providers, to be known as area hubs, supported by local satellite services. The location of the area hubs is to be linked to the changes to local councils under the Review of Public Administration, the numbers and boundaries of which have yet to be decided by our new Assembly;
• setting up a government advice and information group to co-ordinate funding, share information and monitor the development of the strategy;
• ensuring effective advice provision meets the needs of the most disadvantaged communities by linking the strategy closely with neighbourhood renewal initiatives.

The strategy envisages the ASA playing a significant role in delivering these services. In particular, the ASA is being asked to:

• set up a specialist advisory panel to advise on quality, training and access issues;
• produce quality measures for area hubs and local satellites covering training, information technology, reporting systems, accommodation and adherence to the core values of advice work;
• work on implementing an acceptable IT-based case recording system for comprehensive monitoring of advice services;
• reach agreement with DSD on providing effective coordination and best use of training resources.

While the strategy is for five years, it will also be propelled forward by the Review of Public Administration which has a much tighter timescale. The first step will be the mapping exercise, currently being conducted by DSD and the Legal Services Commission, which seeks to match advice provision to community needs and identify an appropriate location for a pilot area hub. This exercise will embrace both community-based legal advice agencies in the voluntary sector and solicitor practices. The aim is to complete the exercise by early summer.

The Alliance will welcome the publication of the DSD strategy – in fact, it was something for which we had long campaigned. Inevitably, changes to local government and health service administration will have substantial ramifications for the funding and delivery of advice services. Therefore, the current configuration of advice agencies will change whether or not there is a DSD advice and information strategy. However, the strategy will now give the sector an opportunity to influence change rather than react to events.

Having welcomed the initiative, the Alliance remains concerned with its content. The strategy raises more questions than it provides answers. For example, 80 per cent of the population is expected to live within five miles of an area hub providing a comprehensive social welfare, advice and advocacy service, yet the strategy gives no indication of the resources that will be needed or available to implement the strategy. Also, the number of advisers envisaged in each area hub falls far short of what is required to deliver such a service. Neither does the strategy address the question of good terms, conditions and stability which allows for the retention of experienced and effective advisers.

We are also concerned that the relationship between area hubs and local satellites is not clear. With local advice provided by Citizens Advice and independent advice agencies affiliated to Advice NI, there will be a need for close liaison and cooperation, yet no blueprint for how this might work has been suggested. How organisations working with local special interest groups (for example, migrant workers) fit into the strategy is as yet unclear.

Since the strategy has thrown into sharp relief the challenges facing the advice sector over the next few years, we are now working to strengthen relationships within the Alliance. Developing a strong alliance with an agreed approach to issues and a shared agenda is not easy, especially when organisations are expected to work closely and co-operatively in what is an increasingly competitive and uncertain environment. This requires trust, clear structures and processes and a commitment from all of our ASA members to make the alliance work. However, I believe that the ASA has made significant strides in the right direction over the past few months with constructive engagement on sensitive and complex issues and recognises the need to show leadership and communicate more effectively with local citizens advice bureaux and independent advice agencies. To this end, we will be organising a seminar for advisers to examine the Department’s advice strategy. We will also be producing an action plan on how we intend to carry our work forward and we will be one of the first organisations to have a meeting with the new minister, Margaret Ritchie.

We have also been active on other fronts. In particular, there has been considerable engagement with the Legal Services Commission to push for the development of a community legal service. The Alliance recognises that an effective strategy entails a partnership with a number of bodies beyond the DSD and has been working with the Legal Services Commission sector forum towards the publication of a consultation document on the development of a community legal service. Later this year, we hope to run a conference with the Commission to progress this work further.

Independent advice is vital – it targets social need, brings economic benefits and promotes social inclusion. Recent research by the Legal Services Research Centre in England has demonstrated a strong link between civil legal problems and ill-health. The lobbying and campaigning work carried out by advice organisations helps improve public services. In Northern Ireland alone, almost half a million calls are dealt with each year by the advice sector. This highlights the importance of a comprehensive, well resourced, effective and stable network of advice services and a prize well worth fighting for. The ASA is committed to hard work to ensure that this is achieved. Watch this space!