Hi, my name is Marta Sainz de Baranda and I work for Accem, a Spanish NGO dealing with migration and asylum. I work for the International Division, dealing with differente projects and doing research on different subjects.
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Continuation of my diary:
Wend 23ed June
We spent the whole day at the CAB headquarters. Paul drove us throughout the building, presenting the different divisions and their managers. Then we sat down in a meeting room where different CAB staff explained us the work they do. There were with us two persons: One representative from the Kyrgyz Republic Ombudsman Office and one representative from the United Russia Party.
The first presentation on CA Policy work and campaigning was made by Lizzie Iron (Head of Benefits Policy). In her unit, they examine advise issues and try to change the welfare policy. She explained us example of success in their policy work. She emphasized how CAB was renowned among the former government. CAB has a lot of information provided by clients situations, statistics, evidences, and all this makes them powerful. Now the CAB has to rebuild relations with the new government. It is still early to know if CAB will gain the same recognition that accomplished with the previous government.
Lizzie told us how the day before (June 21) the government made public the annual budget, and announced major cuts, being seriously affected the welfare budget. The new government wants to promote private enterprise and make people work, reducing benefits.
She also explained us the system CAB uses to get reports and EBEF from the different member organizations. They prepare reports with evidences and make complaints before the affected Ministry. Some times CAB builds partnership with other organizations to influence the government. That system was quite good as a way to get tools to change policies.
At 11:15 Frederick Hannay (Quality of Advice Audit Manager) talked about membership and Quality Assurance. The quality assurance standards consist of the sections: core advice services and social policy, quality of advice and organisational standards. He said that every member organization has to accomplish with minimum standards so they undergo periodic and quality of advice assessments. There are 3 bands in the QAA scoring system: Pass (80% or more), Pass subject to corrective action (50% to 80%. If the results are between 50% to 64% a second audit is made. If between 64% to 80% the member concerned has to follow an action plan) and Fail (below 50%). The assess team select cases records using 7 quality criteria. Last year 19 CABs got more than 80%, 29 got a score of 50% to 64%, 51 got between 65% to 80% and only 2 failed.
I found really interesting the quality system CAB uses, since it is a great way to demand quality to partner organizations in order to be considered as a credible and serious institution. All volunteers and paid staff are trained to fulfil their roles.
At 12:00 Jacqueline Carr, the Executive Officer of the Brent CAB informed us about their bureau. Since 7 years ago, a great influx of immigrants, mostly from Poland and other eastern European countries, made the CAB to think about how to deal with different problems (debts, housing, etc) from a more culturally sensitive point of view. Brent CAB started then a project together with a CAB in Warsaw (Poland) on debt management. On 2009 they made a 3 days training with staff from different CABs in Poland, showing them strategies and cultural aspects concerning debts. Brent CAB continued providing support later on and the project finished with a Conference trying to engage decision makers. One of the achievements was that the Polish banker union accepted to form a partnership with Polish CABs.
Laura Van de Hoeven (Executive Support Officer) from Citizens Advice International spoke to us later on about their aim to get member organizations who do the kind of job CABs do. On 2000 they got funding from the EU to fund CABs in different countries.
We had the opportunity of sharing our lunch time with John Gladwin, the CAB chair.
After lunch we listened to Barbara Boddy (Information Officer) who showed us the CAB websites (Citizens Advice and the Public-Facing websites) and how they work.
Selina Mills (Press Officer) gave us some clues regarding relation with the media. Also she explained us their Public Relation Strategies,they try to be reactive, proactive and to humanize situations.
Finally, Gill Newman (Web Manager) explained us the use of intranet, and the Citizens Advice Corporate Website.
Paul took us for dinner to China Town, and he showed us many places along the way….It was really nice to see the theatres, Covent Garden, people from everywhere, picturesque streets, etc.
Thursday 24th June
On Thursday morning we all went to a meeting to the UK Border Agency at Croydon. The person we met explained us the procedure that every asylum seeker follows to opt to welfare benefits. Asylum seekers have to fill a form if they need accommodation or/and subsistence wage or cash support. UK Border Agency after 2 or 3 weeks gives an answer concerning the asylum support. If it is positive, the asylum seeker will be send to the region chosen by the authorities and he/she will pass a medical test. If the answer is negative, the person can appeal, and if finally the person is not granted international protection she/he will have 21 days to leave the country, being possible to opt for a “voluntary” return. Depending on the circumstances, the person will have some support during these days, mainly if there are minors, medical problems, etc.
In the past few nationalities couldn’t be returned to their countries of origin due to not safe conditions for return, but nowadays there is not country considered unsafe by the UK Border Agency, included Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan!!!
Questioned about non accompanied minors, authorities get in charge of the child until he/she is 18 years old. No matter how many years the minor has been in charge of the authorities, once the person has reached the age of majority will be sent back to his/her country of origin whenever possible. No humanitarian circumstances are taken into account, no matter former minor has lived in Uk most of his/her life….That harshness of criteria shocked me….
Later that morning we went straight to Westminster, to meet Lord Roberts at the House of Lords. We met him for about one hour, we presented ourselves and he asked few questions and led the conversation, not giving much chance to ask the questions we prepared. Anyway he was willing to collaborate and a proposal translating to different languages the leaflets on basic information on access to social services was launched….Once the meeting was finished he acted as a guide and showed us the premises of the House of Lords, being able to attend a debate on recent developments in Latin America.
Once we left Westminster, we went for lunch and Paul still had the patience of showing us more of London cultural heritage.
That afternoon we said goodbye to everyone…the trip arrived to an end.
Thanks to Bassetlaw CAB (Stephen Saddington and his team) for their warmest reception and to Paul Baird and his colleagues at the CAB headquarters.
Marta’s Diary
Visiting 17th June to 22nd June 2010.
Thursday 17th June
On Thursday afternoon I arrived to Retford Train Station where Martha (staff at the reception of Bassetlaw CAB) picked me up. Once in Bassetlaw I was introduced to the staff by his Director: Stephen Saddington. He explained to me the organization, and the kind of work CABs do. He is in charge of 2 bureaus in Bassetlaw, this one in Worksop and another one in Retford. They are independent bureaus, even they get money from the national network of Citizens Advise Service to conduct some of the work, as well as funding from different sources; private donors, and local, regional and national administration. The staff is formed of volunteers conducting general advice, and then paid staff workers (17) more specialized conducting administrative and financial work and advise (mainly in welfare benefits and debt issues). They also conduct video interviews with people in need of advise through videos installed in different district councils of Nottingamshire. That seems a very good system to reach people who cannot travel to the BAC bureaus to get assistance. The area of advise they cover is very extense, They are open to the public 2 or 3 days a week. The clients are mainly local people but they assist foreingners as well, mostly Polish. They advise an average of 40 foreigners per year and 3 to 5 thousand British nationals.
Stephen explains to me that since 4 important companies had settled in Bassetlaw 4 years ago, there were an influx of migrants comming mainly from Poland and Eastern Europe. But since last year, an due to economic crisis, the unemployment rate has rised. I asked Stephen on access to different services by immigrants. He informs me about the East Midlands Strategic Migration Partnership http://www.emcouncils.gov.uk/Strategic-Migration-Partnership, a partnership that provides a regional advisory, development and consultation function for member organisations from the statutory, voluntary, community and private sectors – for the co-ordination and provision of advice, support and services for migrants. I would have the opportunity of joining one of their meetings on next Monday.
Friday 18th June
On Friday morning Stephen took me to a meeting with A1 Housing. A1 Housing was an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) that since 2004 took over the day to day management of the Council’s housing stock of houses after 85% of Bassetlaw District Council tenants voted in favour of that measure. As a result of this vote Bassetlaw District Council created A1 Housing Bassetlaw Limited and in October 2004 A1 Housing was registered as a private limited company and officially took control of the stock. A1 Housing manages nearly 7,000 properties owned by Bassetlaw District Council across the area, all of which are available at attractive rents so people with low incomes (as immigrants for instance) can afford to rent a house or flat. The people wishing to opt for a house must fulfil certain requirements, and they must complete a Housing application form. The application will be assessed. The allocation of properties will be determined by 5 bands according to housing need. The tenants must sign a Tenancy Agreement that establish their responsibilities as tenants of A1 Housing. Some of the tenants will have the possibility in the future to buy the A1 house they rent. NO tienen limitación si cumplen los requisitos para tener derecho a una vivienda. Asked about the possibility for immigrants to accede to an A1 house, they told me that if they complay all the criteria they can opt to a A1 house as well…but they must be legal residents.
After the visit to A1 hosing, we went back to the Bassetlaw CAB where I had the opportunity to assist to 3 interviews through the open door service, where volunteers give advice and make a first assessment of the cases. The first interview concerned a woman with financial debts. In the second interview the client was a woman physicaly handicaped with no job and she wanted to know about her benefit Rights. The third interview was made to a client with Polish nacionality. She had her 8 year child with her who acted as a translator. She wanted to get the released document from her former employer, who did not carry out his delays of payment. The adviser acted as mediator between the woman and her employer. It was clear that not only the ignorance about the labour rights but also the communication problems and language barriers make integration more difficult. CABs in general have a system where the advisers report to a support manager who assesses the advice, answers doubts and discuss with the advisor the steps to follow with every client. Every advisor fills a Welfare Check Form that allows him/her to collect enough information to access the client likely entitlement to benefits. Advisers open a file computerized where they fill the clients personal data, describe the case, actions to take and the advise provided, so next time the client goes back to the Bassetlaw CAB any advisor has information on the client. By the way, he advisers and the supervisor were very helpful and nice to me answering all my questions and permitting me to observe their work!
It was really interesting the way they computerize their work so any adviser has access to the client records and he/she is able to continue with the client case. Also it was excellent the system they use to assess the quality of the service and also the requirement for the staff to conduct advocacy work. Every adviser has to fill a minimum of EBEF (Electronic Bureau Evidence Form) so they have to detect any gap or misinterpretation of law when dealing with cases and propose the correct intervention.
Advisers volunteers follow a training during 6 months (one day per week) to be able to provide advice.
During the evening my king guide Karen (training supervisor) took me to the beautiful Sherwood forest, the legendary home of the outlaw Robin Hood, today part of a National Nature Reserve. We saw a huge oak tree thought to be around 800 years old!
Sat 19th June
Visiting Sheffield & Peak Park: the wonderful guides Steve Heaps (staff of Bassetlaw CAB, debts specialist) and his wife Jackie drove me to Sheffield (city with an international reputation for steel production, including crucible and stainless steel) where we visited different monuments and wonderful museums. Later on, during a lovely afternoon, we went to visit the Peak Park, with a magnificent landscape, coming back to Worksop for a very picturesque places, as the Chatsworth palace or Chesterfield with its Crooked Spire Church. The Spire was ‘twisted’ when green timber was used during its construction. Then 32 tons of lead tiles were placed on top and, as the timber dried out, the weight of the lead twisted the spire.
Sun 20th June
On Sunday, another great guide, Stephen, took me to the medieval town of Lincoln, where we visited its wonderful cathedral, the castle – used as a prision sometime and keeper of one of only four surviving originals of the Magna Carta, origin of the constitutional law in UK – , and the museum “The Collection” where we looked at the history of the area, from prehistory to the present days. Later on we went to Netwark, to see the village and the Queen’s Sconce, a large Civil War earthwork which was built by the Royalist defenders of Newark between 1644 and 1645.
Mon 21st June
On Monday, Stephen and me joined a meeting of the Employment and Skills Task Group of the East Midlands Strategic Migration Partnership. The EMSMP meets quarterly at the East Midlands Councils offices in Melton Mowbray. a committee of the East Midlands Council, in Melton Mowbray who provides a regional advisory, development and consultation function for member organisations for the co-ordination and provision of advice, support and services for migrants. They discussed about the Migration Impacts Funds, that has been frozen, the new requirement for family reunification consisting in knowing the English language for spouses, and finally each member organization talked about their projects and news concerning migrants in their respective organizations. It is very interesting to see this kind of partnership promoted by the national and regional authorities. The Border Agency funds this project. The member organizations have the opportunity to express their progress and give their proposals, to arise problems, to describe their projects concerning migrants, etc.
At lunch time I met Clare, one of the Business Consultant Manager of CAB in the region. She is the person who will go to ACCEM next week as part of the exchange programme within the Flowchart Project.
That afternoon Clara and me went to meet Louise at the Bassetlaw District Council Benefits section. She explain us the system they applied to provide benefits to people demanding them. They provide 2 types of benefits: housing benefits and Council Tax benefits. Several criteria apply and concerning foreign nationals they applied different test depending on their origin: EU nationals entering EU before 2004, EU national entering the EU after 2004, other countries. There are not many immigrants demanding benefits, being the majority from Poland. They use a phone line to translate people’s demands when they don’t speak English. For Polish, 12 months of continuous employment is required before to opt for benefits.
Later, even it was not scheduled we went to an Employment Agency who deal with many Polish. In that office there is a Polish worker who deals mainly with Polish citizens looking for a job. She told us that many of the applicants will finally work for a Food Company in Worksop. They don’t need to speak English since is a manual job.
Tues 22nd June
On Tuesday morning I went to visit the Nottinghamshire College to meet a group of people attending the ECOL (English Course for Other Languages) and their teacher. There were people from Russia, Italy, Kurdistan, Ukraine, Romania, Brazil and Spain. Their background and the ways to get resident situation were different; refugees, EU citizens, or people married to British nationals. Some of them had no family members, and some of them had their spouses, or parents or children with them. The reasons for coming to the UK where different as well; political reasons, to get married, to find a better job. etc. The majority of students had high profile of education (university degree). Most of them cannot work in what they want to due to language barriers or difficulties in validating their qualifications. Every person wishing to attend the ECOL at the College need to be legal in the country and the fee will depend on their legal status (a person non EU national and not married to a British national will pay a lot more than an EU national. Some of them are here on a temporal basis, but others plan to live in UK for years, trying to integrate the best as possible. Some of them said that making friends is not easy, mostly because of language or cultural barriers (even they are attending the highest level of the College, but in general they consider life in the area easy and they are happy,
In the afternoon I went by train to London. There I met other participants in the project: Emma, Mihaela, Daniella, Laurent and our mentor from the CAB headquarters: Paul Baird. We all went a nearby restaurant and we had a very nice meal.