Delivering Advice during a Time of Change Giles Elliot, Advice Manager The adult Advice Team provides advice and assistance about benefits, housing, and debt. At the time the pandemic arrived, this was how things looked: •
A core service, most of whose clients had initially come to one of our two weekly drop-in sessions
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A Universal Credit project, which acquired most of its clients via the drop-ins
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A service to people presenting as homeless at the Town Hall, which was staffed by advice supervisors and volunteers
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A service to in-patients at three wards of the residential mental health unit at North Manchester General Hospital. We had just expanded the project to cover the residential unit at Wythenshawe Hospital as well.
The Advice Team quickly adapted to the new, and ever-changing situation. By 17 March the Town Hall advice supervisors developed a contingency plan, and set up an online system for housing solutions staff to make referrals, that was in place before lockdown. By 24 March we had set up a general set of procedures, including a method for logging and responding to new queries, as well as a WhatsApp group, so that we could support each other and share information in a secure way.
Annual Review 2020-21
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