Original article from issue 6, September 2000, page 2:
Advice Centres fight £200,000 cuts
by Mark Lankshear

Back in February this year the Council reviewed spending on Social Services. They decided to change the way advice was provided and at the same time reduce spending by £200,000. Because they don’t have a duty to provide advice, the Social Services Policy Committee felt savings of 13% were justified.

‘Radical’ changes
A shake up has long been needed. ‘A Radical Strategy for Sheffield’s Advice Services’ had already been written. This recommended a coordinated network of local advice centres, working in harmony with other local services, particularly the new Primary Care Groups, and specialist, citywide advice services like the Law Centre.

Failed consultation
The hope was that although savings were being made, the extra money spent on voluntary advice centres would provide a better service. The council have run focus groups and a council officer produced a plan for consultation, but the advice centres have universally condemned it. They feel their views and concerns were ignored, that it simply doesn’t understand the workings of community led organisations and that the figures don’t add up.

Far from building a coordinated network the plan has set the council officers and the Liberal Council in direct opposition with their main partners, the Sheffield Advice Centres Group (SACG). So much so that SACG are running a co-ordinated campaign of petitions, letter writing and lobbying against the plan.

The Council’s Plan
‘A Strategy for Advice Seekers’ sets out proposals for the Council to stop providing advice itself, closing the city centre Benefits Advice Shop, the Welfare Rights Unit, to stop directly funding independent Advice Support Workers for black and ethnic minorities and removing funding for SACG’s coordinator post. By doing this and stopping funding for Tinsley and Woodhouse centres the council will save £500,000.

£300,000 of this saving is to be reinvested in local services with a number of aims. A reorganised management structure and targeted increases in local debt and benefit workers aim to develop consistent, high quality, services reflecting local needs across the city. A citywide telephone advice service and a new voluntary service next to the new Council One-Stop-Shop would provide assessment and referral, partly to replace the Benefits Advice Shop.

The council hopes to maximise the ‘volunteer potential’. This reflects a belief that the use of local volunteers is the best way to provide appropriate, accessible and culturally sensitive advice, but also refers to the ability of voluntary organisations to get funding into advice services from sources not available to local authorities.

SACG’s Worries
SACG are actively opposing the plan. As well as concerns that it will cost more than £300,000, they don’t believe it will work. They fear that the management changes and the loss of the SACG Coordinator will weaken the local centre’s ability to provide training and support for volunteers, develop equitable responsive services and seek funding.

Pitsmoor cuts
In Pitsmoor the changes in the Advice Support Workers mean that the workers at SADACCA and the Yemeni Community Association will be lost, threatening the future of the Yemeni Centre. There will be a new Yemeni worker in the Spital Hill CAB, but Urdu / Punjabi hours reduced. There is a real danger here of increasing exclusion.

During the recent New Deal consultations the community clearly called for more one to one advice and support work. Professionals and community groups all want more advice workers, more translation services and are all trying to develop new ways of working together to provide ‘joined up’ services.

The council is cutting its funding for advice services, and the consultation process has resulted in overt conflict with the main volunteer organisation. The New Deal may be able to deliver some improvements, but it, in common with many other funders, explicitly cannot replace Council funding directly.

Rights to advice?
While they may not have a statutory responsibility to provide advice, at a time when even professionals struggle to complete applications for help for the disabled, advice services are essential if the council is to deliver the help that is its obligation.