It’s been a tough year for everyone in our sector. The impact of Covid-19 has made our work even more important; the ability to access free, financial support has become a lifeline for many. Fortunately our services were able to adapt quickly. We have won new contracts with DWP and housing associations, and expanded our teams across the UK. Through our online and phone Money Health-Check we have been able to reach out to those who need us the most. We were also involved in a national campaign with Mastercard to help people access free money guidance. Finally, the launch of our Food magazine – a guide to helping people on limited budgets put food on the table – is something we’re particularly proud of.
Here’s a look back at what we’ve managed to achieve.
January
At the start of 2020 our team came up with the idea of launching a special magazine dedicated to tackling the issues surrounding food poverty. This became our editorial theme as the year went on. We featured community stories in our monthly Reader’s Club including The Long Table in Stroud, Ixworth food pantry in South Kensington and Eat or Heat food bank in East London. All of this led up to the launch of the magazine in November.
February
In February we opened our first Quids in! centre in London. This video shows the type of work we deliver in our centres.
March
In March we launched our Money Health-Check service, using the Quids in! Future Proof Finance Quiz, which is conducted by phone. We guide people through the online toolkit, which identifies steps people on low incomes might take to improve their finances. People can self-refer or advisors can refer them via our homepage and the ‘Make A Referral’ link.
April
Quids in! formally joined our sister project Clean Slate. The merger meant that Clean Slate’s employment support and training programmes became consolidated with the Quids in! money skills initiative. All our centres have been rebranded as Quids in!
May
In May we were asked to develop a programme to support Stonewater Housing tenants across the country who were veering towards financial crisis on account of Coronavirus. Our Money Health-Check service was the starting point for many of these referrals.
We also entered into a partnership with We Are Digital to deliver a similar programme to L&Q Housing tenants. Support workers run through an income and expenditure review and support budget planning. In 2021, the service will become a key offer from Clean Slate to partners and their customers. Read more.
June
In partnership with Good Things Foundation we began running online training sessions for front line workers so they can deliver money guidance to their clients. The sessions involve guiding people through our Money Health-Check including our online Quiz. We now have eight online centres across England offering this training.
July
We joined a coalition of organisations, led by Mastercard, offering digital and financial support and guidance to those in need. The #NobodyInTheDark campaign is supported by Good Things Foundation, The Joseph Rowntree Foundation and The APLE Collective. Watch when we lit up tower blocks across London and Bristol to get our message out to those people in need of support.
August
We launched a range of free online resources to help people stay on top of their finances during lockdown. The tools include a spending diary and budget planner, which are fun and easy to use. As well as providing useful advice and tips, they have proved a success with clients who struggle to keep on top of spending. Both form part of our Money Health-Check, alongside our Quiz.
September
We have helped people claim extra assistance due to the Coronavirus. In Bath we issued food parcels and fuel vouchers, usually between £20 and £40 in value. We have helped people claim grants and employment support, get their debts and bills paused, apply for school meals support and switch energy supplier or bank account. Our quarterly report to funders revealed that our work enabled clients to save £319 pp on average, between July – September.
October
In October, we launched the first of a number of small partnerships in Bath & North East Somerset (B&NES) to prevent homelessness among people in high risk groups. Bath Mind was the first referral partner to join forces. We worked with their new customers delivering our money triage process to identify ways they could boost their financial wellbeing.
Our work with the B&NES Homelessness Partnership is now focused on helping people dealing with relationship or family breakdown and substance misuse, as well as mental ill-health, before they run the risk of homelessness. We are aiming to replicate this model in other areas where we work. Read more.
November
In response to the food poverty crisis, Quids in! launched a special edition Food magazine. Featuring the success of campaigners such as footballer Marcus Rashford, our guide focuses on how readers can manage meals on a limited budget and access support.
We also published our seventh Northern Ireland edition of Quids in! The 16-page magazine went out to 85,000 tenants of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.
December
The lockdown prompted us to offer a ‘Claimants in Crisis’ service to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), which led to our first contract in Wales in December. A new Wales-based team, including Welsh speakers, will work with one hundred claimants referred by DWP reporting severe financial hardship. The team will offer practical support by phone and online, monthly shopping vouchers and referrals to specialist services around debt, housing or domestic abuse, if necessary. A remotely-delivered, one-to-one budgeting programme will be available to claimants in North Wales via DWP from January.
Meanwhile, a similar contract from DWP in West London will see sixty claimants benefit from a budget review and ongoing support for eight weeks. People will be referred by Jobcentre Plus work coaches from January 2021. Read more.
