What We Do

2022

COMBATTING POVERTY, UNEMPLOYMENT AND DIGITAL EXCLUSION

INSIDE!

WHAT WE DO

✔ Financial Guidance ✔ Job Readiness ✔ Self-Serve: Information Services ✔ Professional Services ✔ Partnerships

EXPERT ADVICE ON: ✔SPENDING ✔SAVING ✔BORROWING ✔INCOME

Introducing…

Training & Employment This brochure includes details of all Clean Slate’s programmes and services to help us forge new partnerships:

1. Financial Guidance (including digital skills) a. Money Health-Check b. '3 Bs' workshops 2. Self-Serve: Information Services a. Interactive digital tools b. Quids in! magazine c. Guides d. Digital information service ontent sharing e. C 3. Professional Services taff training a. S b. Service creation c. Recruitment services 4. Partnerships icensing services a. L eveloping Quids In! Centres b. D ational network tackling c. N poverty 5. Job Readiness (inc. digital skills) a. Assessment/ Support b. ' 7 Signs' Workshops c. Elements nterprise d. E

“We want people to be able to provide for themselves and their family”

Quids in!

Social enterprise helps low-income households boost their finances through money skills, finding work and getting online

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ounded in 2006, Clean Slate is a community interest company helping people on low incomes to become better off. We help people explore ways to manage their money better, find work or better-paid work, and to get online. Quids in! is our money information service with a quarterly magazine, a range of guides, an email newsletter and a self-help website with interactive resources. From 20202022, we supported more than 2,000 people directly, reached over 160,000 households with Quids in! materials, and joined forces with 25 community organisations to help more than 1,000 more people needing emergency help to become financially resilient.

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We want to see a world where people can provide for themselves and their family, where society addresses everyone’s needs and where it does not cost more to be poor. It should provide fair opportunity for all, so anyone willing and able can access employment and escape financial hardship We will do all we can so people can improve their financial wellbeing.

Everyone needs to be able to manage their money well, find decent work and access every facility to help them do so, including online services

• Address 24 James Street West, Bath, BA1 2BT Tel 0845 646 0469 • Managing Director Jeff Mitchell Email jeff.mitchell@cleanslateltd.co.uk • Editor Sarah Reid Email sarah.reid@cleanslateltd.co.uk • Head of Business Development Lisa Woodman Email lisa.woodman@cleanslateltd.co.uk • Head of Programme Emma Kernahan Email emma.kernahan@cleanslateltd.co.uk • Design Joe Burt Website wildsparkdesign.com © This magazine may not be reproduced in part or full without prior written permission The publisher (Clean Slate Training & Employment CIC) makes every effort to ensure content is correct at the time of going to print. We have no political allegiances, and opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the publisher or editor. Any relationship with advertisers or sponsors is always on the understanding that we retain our editorial independence.

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Our goal is to rise to the challenge of rocketing costs to help no less than one per cent of people in poverty in the UK by 2027 to measurably improve their financial situation

WE RUN THREE WEBSITES THAT COVER ALL ASPECTS OF OUR WORK: •

cleanslateltd.co.uk: Details of our work for people interested in taking part in money skills support, finding work or better-paid work and getting online, primarily support and training for benefit claimants, social tenants, jobseekers and the people who care for them

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quidsinmagazine.com: Information from Quids in! magazine, including interactive tools to help people help themselves to reduce their spending, increase their income, minimise their debt and maximise their savings

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quidsinpro.com: Sector-facing website supporting the work of the Quids in! Professional Network, which shares news digests, policy analysis and good practice relevant to advice workers, housing officers and policy formers. It also shares service details to prospective customers and our partners from the sector

Our purpose

Quids in! guides are designed to help people understand and manage their money better. They are published by Clean Slate, a CIC (Community Interest Company) and a social enterprise.

Clean Slate is a social enterprise that helps people on low incomes become better off through money guidance, employment support and digital skills. Staff recruited from the communities we work in offer advice alongside structured training.

Our money skills initiative (Quids in!) publishes a magazine, specialist guides, a website and monthly money email.

E: INFO@CLEANSLATELTD.CO.UK | T: 08456 460 469

FINANCIAL GUIDANCE (INCLUDING DIGITAL SKILLS) No banking facilities. No budgeting skills.

No internet access... We tackle the compound impact of digital financial exclusion

Money Health-Check Clean Slate’s unique Money Health-Check Service helps people to maximise their income, reduce their spending and improve how they manage money. The money guidance that follows can help people get back in control, secure their housing and ‘future-proof’ their finances. It revolves around the Quids in! Future-Proof Finance Quiz. This easy-to-follow toolkit asks questions about participants’ financial habits, attitudes and needs. It then generates an action plan with options for the next steps they might take. It includes links to online tools and resources, and signposts specialist help where people may need it. There are four levels of service on offer:

SELF-SERVE

A basic version of the Future-Proof Finance Quiz is available on our money skills website at quidsinmagazine.com. It does not include detailed information as this is best talked through with an advisor – but it can help people get started.

“The service helps people maximise their income, reduce spending, re-take control and ‘future-proof’ their finances”

E: INFO@CLEANSLATELTD.CO.UK | T: 08456 460 469

SET-UP AND GO [2-3 SESSIONS]

For people who just need a quick overview, the Clean Slate team can take participants through the Money Health-Check process face-to-face, by phone or online. As a triage we can help participants prioritise their next steps and, over one or two subsequent sessions, point them in the right direction.

Average gains: £320 (2021)

WALK THE WALK [6 WEEKS]

Most people benefit most from a Money Health-Check and ongoing guidance within five to six weeks. Weekly coaching sessions to follow up on the action plan keep the process moving.

Average gains: £950 (2021)

CRISIS SUPPORT [12 WEEKS]

People feeling their finances are out of control and impacting their wellbeing may require longer-term support. In addition to financial gains, participants report feeling increased self-esteem, belief in the future and a sense that things can change. We can help with access to hardship grants and other financial support.

Average gains: £1,850

3 Bs Money Skills Workshops Clean Slate’s ‘3 Bs’ money advice events bring people on low incomes together to help them take control of their finances. The 3 Bs service was developed

by Quids in!, our money information initiative. The 3 Bs are the secrets to financial success that we uncovered working with Universal Credit claimants and revolve around improved Budgeting skills, Banking facilities and the benefits of Being Online. We invite participants to uncover the secrets of spending less, saving more, borrowing less and bringing home more money.

The events are delivered in areas where we have Quids In Centres but also in partnership with support agencies, social landlords and local authorities across the UK. They are best delivered on a single day, ‘in the room’ with groups of 10-14 but can be done in shorter sessions and online. Learning is discussion-based, recognising that many people on low incomes have good financial habits but often don’t know what they don’t know.

We help them explore new ideas as well as digital tools, like budget planners, benefits calculators, comparison sites and online grocery shopping.

Many people who now work for Clean Slate first joined us at a ‘3 Bs’ or ‘7 Signs’ get-together.

They liked what we do and asked to join our team, firstly as Peer Workers but then trained as Support Workers. (See more on our Elements programme.) We try to avoid interviews by utilising events as mutual ‘getting to know you’ opportunities.

Quids in! | 3

SELF-SERVE: INFORMATION SERVICES We can’t make informed choices when we don’t know what we don’t know. Sometimes people just need to know which questions to ask and where to find the answers

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uids in! is our money information service. It breaks down money issues into bitesize chunks, presenting options and next steps towards financial resilience. Although it’s self-evident that people don’t know what they don’t know, when it comes to money, this is what often costs them dear. Our content reveals what others on low incomes tell us, through our services, the things they wish they’d known earlier. We look at subjects from a reader’s point of view, not how authorities envisage them, and often tackle the unintended consequences of policy change. For example, following the introduction of Universal Credit, we worked with claimants to identify the biggest pitfalls and devised the 3 Bs: Banking, Budgeting and Being Online.

These are recurring themes around which Quids in! develops content and Clean Slate builds its support. Information services are designed to promote self-help and we are developing analysis tools to see that they do. Our products reach more than 160,000 low-income households per year.

INTERACTIVE DIGITAL TOOLS

A growing range of interactive tools is available at quidsinmagazine.com and they’re designed to be accessible for those who are less confident about being online or managing their money and the non-financial specialist advisers working with them. Developed as an online ‘companion’ to Quids In!’s’ easy-to-follow financial advice published in print form, the website is an independently managed, self-serve portal dedicated to the specific needs of people on low incomes, primarily social tenants, benefit claimants and all groups facing financial hardship. Tools include the Quids in! Future-Proof Finance

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Quiz (Money Health-Checker), Quids in! Budget Planner, and our Benefits Calculator. The goal is to maximise reach and monitor the progress of people helping themselves, so we will invest in integrating technology and developing processes to measure impact. Alongside public-facing, self-help tools, we will offer more comprehensive and sophisticated facilities and license them to partner organisations. We’ll also put in place staff/ volunteer training to maximise the impact of these tools.

WEBCHAT SERVICE

Our Virtual Support Hub team operate a webchat service for anyone visiting the Clean Slate or Quids in! websites. Our goal is to make this independent service available to partners’ customers who may be struggling to cover their rent or council tax via payment portals, for example, or offer help to any organisation whose customers worry about using digital tools or covering rising costs.

“We break down issues to bitesize chunks, presenting options”

QUIDS IN! MAGAZINE

Quids in! is our flagship publication and is a light and accessible quarterly publication. It echoes other magazines our target audience might read, rather than looking like it’s from a formal advice agency or government. With practical advice on benefits, budgeting, debt, employment and going digital, it’s a unique voice offering a non-judgmental take on money issues. Everyone can improve their financial situation (or at least know they’ve done all they can) and we share the voices of people with inspiring stories of money success. Financial writing can be heavy, but Quids in! makes it engaging.

Readers value that we’re independent and we tell it like it is.

Quids in! is bought by landlords, authorities and support agencies and distributed free. After reading the magazine, 55 per cent of readers said they became ‘more mindful’ of their money.

Thirty-five per cent said they would think twice about taking a high-interest loan.

Almost two thirds (63 per cent) said they find Quids in! useful ‘all the time’ or ‘often’.

DIGITAL SERVICE: QUIDS IN READERS CLUB

Like others such as Martin Lewis’ moneysavingexpert.com, the daily papers like MoneyMail, and money bloggers like SkintDad, the Quids In Readers Club (QIRC) emails engage subscribers through online articles, signposting and deals. Uniquely, though, ours target benefit claimants, social tenants and lowincome earners. Instead of 0% interest credit cards and ISAs, we talk about using benefit checkers and navigating Universal Credit. This means we don’t enjoy the commercial kickbacks that bloggers build their business on, instead we licence content to landlords, authorities and support agencies who distribute it to their tenants, residents or clients. As a digital tool, we can monitor engagement to ensure we meet readers’ needs. In a poll, 97.1 per cent said they found the content useful, with 31.4 per cent reporting it was ‘extremely useful’. In 2018, QIRC won the Mayor of London’s Civic Innovation Challenge for promoting financial inclusion and digital skills. In 2020 we partnered with digital inclusion charity Good Things Foundation, supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Mastercard and Lloyds Bank, to launch Nobody in the Dark, a service and campaign to address digital financial inclusion and make sure everyone has access to the digital tools to grow and manage a limited budget.

GDPR We worked with the ICO and risk managers to overcome concerns about GDPR and conducted a Legitimate Interest Assessment for customers licencing and sending Quids In Readers Club emails to tenants, residents and service users.

The process is compliant: No data is shared; The service is 100 per cent to the benefit of the community (and not for profit); It is a core service for organisations supporting customers.

QUIDS IN! GUIDES

Our range of guides supplement the content published in Quids in! magazine and Quids In Readers Club emails.

The products focus on providing accessible, easy-to-follow information specifically for people on low incomes, including social tenants, benefit claimants and low-paid earners.

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“97% report finding content useful – 31% say it is ‘extremely useful’” E: INFO@CLEANSLATELTD.CO.UK | T: 08456 460 469

SYNDICATION (CONTENT SHARING)

Some funded Quids in! products, like our Loan Sharks magazines, are made available for free at quidsinmagazine.com and through partners, on request. Others, like Quids in! magazine or our Universal Credit Guide, are published to be sold in bulk to partners such as social landlords, local authorities and support agencies. We have produced bespoke publications commissioned by customers. We also operate licensing and syndication models for digital content published by Quids in! and circulated or hosted online by partners. To ensure the development, quality and sustainability of our information services, fees apply.

To protect the interests of our paying customers, we strongly assert our copyright and invoke protections when necessary.

Claimants’ Guide to Universal Credit New Tenants’ Guide Budget Planner Say ‘No’ to Payday Loans Bedroom Tax – How It Works Opening Doors Loan Sharks Guide: Available in Welsh, English and Bengali ‘Wellbeing at Work’ Guide Food Guide – Managing Meals On A Low Budget Quids in! Energy Special – Keeping On Top Of Bills

See: quidsinpro.com/quids-in-guides

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PROFESSIONAL SERVICES With 16 million people in poverty, we will need a network of partners. We don’t need to reinvent the safety net but we can join forces to create a springboard out of hardship

STAFF TRAINING With 15 years’ experience in delivering financial capability, employability and digital access activity to people on low incomes, we have plenty to share about what we’ve learned about best practice.

These insights are matched by our publishing activity, which started with an accessible publication and grew to a range of digital materials and interactive tools.

Our experienced tutors have delivered pioneering training programmes for people on a budget, while the publishing team has built our Quids In Professional network to a membership of around 3,000 advisers, housing officers and policy makers. Now we are launching a range of training and information-sharing events, including ‘in the room’ workshops, interactive seminars to explore good practice, and webinars bringing speakers together on themes affecting our collective work on financial wellbeing, employability and digital inclusion. The list of subjects is growing, and we will collaborate with partners on bespoke events, but our 2022 offer includes:

1. ENGAGEMENT AND IMPACT

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2. DELIVERING RESILIENCE •

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Engaging people who feel overwhelmed: Understanding cognitive overload, responding to personal priorities (person-led), avoiding judgement Understanding accessibility: Exploring the barriers people face; physical access, time, transport, broadband/data, language/literacy, culture (including ‘people like us don’t do that kind of thing’) Breaking down barriers: Challenging ‘us and them’ thinking, valuing lived experience and harnessing it to improve solutions Guidance, not direction: Money guidance in the non-regulated space, promoting problem-solving skills, presenting options and facilitating informed choices, and fixing the ‘crisis response’ revolving door

An introduction to financial capability (for non-financial advisers): The basics on reducing spending, increasing income, reducing debt and increasing savings – for beginners What’s going on?: Context-setting introduction to financial hardship and the challenges faced by people in the UK trapped in poverty Integrating financial capability into non-financial services: Recognising touch-points, life events and their financial implications, spaces to have conversations, giving frontline staff the confidence and tools to talk about money with their service users

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Digital financial inclusion (1): Unpicking the compound impact on people who lack digital confidence and financial skills, (ref. UC, Healthy Start), integrating digital knowhow into money-management programmes Digital financial inclusion (2): Understanding the digital tools available to help people manage their money, ways to maximise digital inclusion (in partnership with the Good Things Foundation) Employability: Is work the only way out of financial hardship? If so, how do we extend conversations on financial wellbeing?

Behaviour change: Exploring behavioural economics and ‘nudge’ techniques to influence habits, attitudes and behaviours; understanding counter-intuitive choices, and effective strategies for triggering change Money and basic needs [housing/ food/ mental health]: Financial capability is not about wealth creation, it’s often about protecting tenancies, overcoming food insecurity and alleviating mental health pressures Overcoming debt: Understanding debt advice and the role of non-regulated financial guidance Navigating welfare: Exploring claimants’ rights, responsibilities and entitlement, and the tools available Money Health-Check: Introducing Clean Slate’s action-planning toolkit helping people on low incomes to improve their wellbeing and unlock hundreds of pounds; Licensing and public access options

hops, “Events include works good information-sharing on s” practice, and webinar

E: INFO@CLEANSLATELTD.CO.UK | T: 08456 460 469

RECRUITMENT Clean Slate is piloting a programme to recruit jobseekers with lived experience of hardship as service users or carers, to fill vacancies in the health, care, advice and support sectors. Building on our Elements programme, candidates attend: ‘7 Signs’ engagement events; 12-weeks (x half-day) paid work placement; professional standards training (including confidentiality, boundaries, safeguarding); accredited level 2 Information Advice & Guidance course.

PARTNERSHIPS LICENSING SERVICES

Clean Slate is looking for appropriate partners to licence programmes like our Money Health-Check and financial guidance service. Support including staff training, data management, impact assessment, quality assurance and continuous development processes is backed up by access to innovative tools developed for non-financial advisers to support people facing hardship. We aim to build a network of providers delivering high-quality and impactful financial guidance to tackle poverty and increase financial resilience when futures are uncertain. Ultimately, we aim to establish Quids In Centres run in partnership across the UK.

DEVELOPING QUIDS IN CENTRES

As of March 2022, we have three Quids In Centres, each run by Clean Slate. These are not physical buildings but teams dedicated to engaging under-served communities to help them maximise their financial resilience, find work or better paid work and get online. They operate from accessible and well-accessed community locations, and are supported with locally and nationally delivered phone and digital services. Working this way enables us to ‘bolt on’ financial guidance to other services these communities need.

Supporting principles of informing people of their options, engaging and innovating responses to policy impacting on people in poverty, and involving the people affected in the delivery of the service, Quids In Centres provide paid work experience and the opportunity to train to become professional support workers through our Elements programme. Building on licensed services delivered locally by partners across the UK, we aim to establish Quids In Centres that are managed and run by trusted organisations outside Clean Slate.

NETWORK TACKLING POVERTY

Clean Slate runs the Quids In Professional Network. Its monthly e-newsletter, offering sector updates, policy insights and details of partnership opportunities, reaches around 3,000 members, including advisers, housing officers and policy makers. Promoting good practice through events and special reports, we support subscribers’ professional development.

We help amplify the voice of nonfinancial advisers who support people in financial hardship to influence policy.

Leading with evidence gathered through methodical impact measurement processes, we can showcase what works.

We can aim to minimise the unintended consequences of poorly informed decisions and reduce the systemic barriers faced by people striving to escape poverty.

Join here: qimag.uk/pro

“A network of providers will deliver impactful guidance to increase financial resilience”

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JOB READINESS

(INCLUDING DIGITAL SKILLS) The surest way out of poverty, for those who can, is through work. Helping people see how much they have to offer is a key part of our role

BESPOKE SUPPORT

Clean Slate’s job readiness assessment tool provides a service akin to our Money Health-Check. It is an accessible, self-help resource for Quids in! readers to help them improve their employment prospects.

The tool generates an action plan of recommended steps for jobseekers, whether they are unemployed or want better, more secure terms and conditions.

It draws on Clean Slate’s ‘7 Signs’ methodology, not just helping participants follow conventional steps of producing a CV and preparing for interviews, but getting to grips with how much they already have to offer.

Although useful to all jobseekers, it was developed for those facing barriers to work, like a history of housing issues, mental ill-health or as refugees.

It signposts specialist advice and support, but also manages participants’ expectations about the workplace and how recruitment works. The process, whether guided by a support worker or followed by the participant helping themselves, supports them to grow in confidence, set motivational goals and overcome the barriers they face. It nudges people towards a positive attitude that builds on their passions.

“The process helps people grow in confidence, set motivational goals and overcome the barriers they face.”

7 SIGNS WORKSHOPS 7 Signs is our programme helping jobseekers explore a different way to find work. It was designed for people facing bigger barriers or gaps in their work history. However, people of all backgrounds have found it helps motivate them, boost their confidence and set inspiring goals. The programme takes place across two full days or four half days. There are no teachers and facilitators encourage discussion between the real experts: jobseekers themselves.

Attendees explore how much they have to offer and consider what sort of work they might be best suited for. People hone in on their ideal job and ways to overcome any obstacles.

ELEMENTS

training (usually in Information, Advice and Guidance). Clean Slate offers paid Peer Worker roles, adding successful participants to our Support Workers team.

We are working with host employers to provide paid work experience, with Clean Slate providing support and training, to address their own recruitment needs.

ENTERPRISE Alongside support, training and information services, Clean Slate creates employment opportunities for jobseekers facing barriers to work. Services users, recruited from local communities, take roles as Peer Workers within our service, for example, but our first work-creation enterprise was Clean Slate Distribution.

People seeking flexible hours, active and outdoor activities, and being part of a team in the short-term can register as delivery agents. Supervised by team leaders, they undertake ad hoc work delivering leaflets door-to-door or distributing marketing materials. Bristol City Council and housing association Curo Group are among our regular customers.

Paid work shows jobseekers that they are employable, putting the theory of what we teach them into practice. This leaves them with more to present to employers as well as renewed self-belief.

Responding to the recruitment crisis across the care and support sectors, we are offering paid work experience to people with lived experience. They know what it is like to need support, to struggle to make ends meet, and they speak the right language (sometimes literally). ELEMENTS (Experts with Lived Experience supported by Mentorship) helps jobseekers take those first steps towards a career in the sector.

We run the 12-week programme Your friends from our Quids In Centres Be the difference! and neighbours Join us and help Your friends in the West of England, need you and neighbours others like you Gloucestershire and East need you London, including at least half a day’s paid work at the real living wage with support and professional ELEMENTS standards training from ELEMENTS Clean Slate, plus accredited You know what they need. Put that to work in a role that’s fulfilling for them, for you, and for us.

We’re hiring people like you.

No interview required

You know what they need. Put that to work in a role that’s fulfilling for them, for you, and for us.

We’re hiring people like you.

No interview required

Clean Slate is hiring and we’re looking for experts who know what it takes to keep on top.

Been there, done that? We need you. No interview required

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We believe you have the ‘ELEMENTS’ .

Find out what they are at: cleanslateltd.co.uk/elements Or call: 01225 302200

We believe you have the ‘ELEMENTS’ .

Find out what they are at: cleanslateltd.co.uk/elements Or call: 01225 302200

VALUING LIFE EXPERIENCE: ✔MORE MONEY ✔INTO WORK ✔GETTING ONLINE

We believe you have the ‘ELEMENTS’ .

Find out what they are at: VALUING LIFE EXPERIENCE: ✔MORE MONEY ✔INTO WORK ✔GETTING cleanslateltd.co.uk/elements ONLINE Or call: 01225 302200

VALUING LIFE EXPERIENCE: ✔MORE MONEY ✔INTO WORK ✔GETTING ONLINE

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E: INFO@CLEANSLATELTD.CO.UK | T: 08456 460 469