APPENDIX A

Development Plan for

Isle of Wight CAB year 2002/2003

(1)       Overview of the last 2 years

a.        During each year of the Service Level Agreement we have seen over 12000 clients and dealt with 20,000 plus enquiries. This equates to £9.50 per client or £5.70 per enquiry based on your grant of £114,000 average per annum for the same period.

b         Our lottery funded Welfare Benefit & Employment Unit has raised over £500,000 since April 2000, and since the project commenced in May 1996 over £1,600,000 for our clients and it is anticipated that this amount will continue to grow.

c.         For each year of the Service Level Agreement our 2 Debt Units have dealt with over £18 million of debt.

Each year we have prevented over 250 families from potential repossession of their homes. This has resulted in a potential saving of council expenditure of £590,000 per annum.

Formula:250 families x 4 (average family) = 1000

1000 x £15 Bed and Breakfast charge, x 7 days x 17 weeks average stay in Bed and Breakfast accommodation = £1,785,000, less repayment of Housing Benefit entitlement. £1,190,000, = Potential expenditure of £595,000 per annum. 

The Council’s Housing reports indicate that for expenditure on homelessness in the last financial year, only 4% was in consequence of debt problems.

d.        Since the last SLA commenced we became one of the first bureaux in the country that has attained the joint National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux/Legal Service Commission audit standard for general help with casework.

This allows us to display the Legal Services Commission logo on all our stationery and shows that we are operating to the same high standards that are expected from the legal profession.

           Additional Income

Over the last 2½ years we have raised the following additional income above that provided by the local authority:

           1.        Community Fund £366,000

           2.        £42,000 from the following organisations: NACAB, S.E.E.D.A.(South East England Development Association), Isle of Wight Primary Care Trust, South Wight Housing Association, Medina Housing Association, Isle of Wight Housing Association, Town and Parish Councils, and Individual Clients.

(2)       Future Service Delivery

1.        Outreach Debt Service: The original grant from the Community Fund expires at the end of November this year. However, we were informed in April that the Community Fund has agreed to provide a continuation grant of £135,000 to allow us to run this debt service for an additional 3 years.

This grant not only allows us to deal quickly with Island debt problems but also secures 2 full time jobs for a further 3 years.

2.        Mental Health Outreach Worker: The Community Fund has just announced that they have agreed a 3 year grant of £102,000. This project will provide advice and assistance specifically targeted at those members of our community facing Mental Health problems.

The funding allows us to employ I full time and part time worker. The project will start later this year.

3.        Welfare/Employment: The specialist unit funded for the last 6½ years by the Community Fund will cease work with effect from 31^st October 2002.

While the unit has raised over £1.6 million for the Island community since its creation, we have been unable to secure a new source of funding to allow this unit to survive.

We will of course still provide advice and assistance in both these areas of our work, but will refer on those clients who require specialist representation.

(3)       Future Funding Requirements

Management Committee members will be aware from the Treasurer’s briefings at Management Committee meetings that for the last two years our core budget has been in deficit.

While in part this is carried by depreciation of the computer equipment, it does also indicate just how tight the core budge is in light of the demand now being made on the Bureau.

It is also possible that the lottery will stop funding future projects, and this will also have a direct detrimental effect on the core budget since lottery budgets have indirectly helped defray core expenditure.

While we may be successful in obtaining Legal Service Commission contracts, these are not as generous as the funds provided by the Lottery Board.

We are currently funded by the Local Authority and the amount due w.e.f 1/4/02 is £117,430 plus inflation payment. The Service Level Agreement is due for renewal during the coming financial year.

I believe that we should ask the council for the following additional funding to be included in the new SLA:

           1.        Pension provision for all core paid staff.

There are various schemes available and our preference would be to lock into the Local Authority pension scheme (This is the practice followed by mainland Bureaux)

I believe that the employers payment under this scheme is approximately 13½ % of the annual salary payment, therefore based on current salary bill = £12,500 p.a.

           2.        An increase in the running costs 

The following additional expenditure has occurred over the last 2 years:

                       a.        Annual maintenance contract for computer systems: £1000

                       b.        Annual cost of 24hr advice line. The bureau pays £1600 p.a. This ensures that our clients only pay local call telephone rates.

                       c.         Increase cost of purchasing NACAB information system and Professional Indemnity insurance cost increase approx. £500 p.a.

                       d.        Increase cost of telephones (most of our clients leave mobile telephone nos. to be contacted on therefore the costs are rising).

With the loss of the Lottery funding the bureau will have to meet the true cost of the stationery supplies. lf we use the last annual accounts before the lottery funding commenced (94/95) the annual expenditure on Printing/Stationary/Post was £4748.85. The current expenditures is £1839.08. A potential additional expenditure of just under £3000 p.a. will therefore occur.

Members may recall that at the start of the current SLA the local authority did not include a payment of £5000 pa that had been subject to an agreement with NACAB.

The total sum therefore that I believe is necessary for the Bureau to receive from the local authority under the new SLA is:

                                  Pension Contribution                         £12,500

                                   Maintenance to Computer System     £1,000

                                   Cost of 24hr Advice Line                     £1,600

                                   Increase cost of NACAB

                                               lnsurance/lnformation              £500

                                   Increase overheads following

                                               Lottery funding reduction        £3000

                                   Total increase requested                    £18600

lt is also worth noting that while we have received an annual inflation increase, the annual salary increase has been higher, causing a further financial drain on resources.

Members should also be aware that the £4000 p.a. provided by the Rural Development Programme is also due to expire wef 31/11/2002. This money is used to support the network of Outreach Clinics that we hold across the Island.

I am looking at alternative sources of replacement funding at the present time.