ForestTimebank
Phase 1 - Evaluation
Version 8 – March 2011
Contents
1.INTRODUCTION
2.BACKGROUND
3.FOREST TIMEBANK GOALS
4.HOW THE FOREST TIMEBANK WORKS
5.TIMEBANK PROJECT TIMESCALES
6.DEVELOPMENT PHASES
7.EVALUATION AIMS - PHASE 1
8.PHASE 1 - BENEFICIARIES & MEMBERSHIP
9.RESEARCH TIMBANKING SCHEMES AND MODELS
10.SETTING UP and OPERATING THE TIMEBANK
11.SUMMARY
1.INTRODUCTION
This report provides an analysis of Phase 1 of Bracknell Forest’s Timebank. It identifies key activities and learning points and makes recommendations to support the future development of the timebank in future phases of the project.
2.BACKGROUND
Bracknell Forest Council committed to establishing a Timebank to explore its enabling and empowering role under the Putting People First programme.
Timebanking is being explored as a means of rebuilding the ‘core economy’ which consists of the social relationships and connections between people which have become weakened in many modern communities. It is a way of creating the social infrastructure between people to connect them in tangible ways to other members of the community and help support the more vulnerable, disenfranchised people in the community.
The idea behind Timebanking is to trade time. People offer what they can do in exchange for what they need on an hour for hour basis. Anyone can participate at any age or ability. It is an excellent way of engaging the members of the community who are traditionally ‘hard to reach’. It is not seen as a charity. It delivers social, financial and psychological benefits. It is an innovative solution that has the potential to unlock untapped resources within the community thereby increasing quality of life, enhancing the prevention agenda and achieving significant outcomes for the individual at minimal cost to the authorities.
Timebanking addresses the prevention agenda because the methodology is particularly useful for people who are ‘time rich and cash poor’. Many of the people who need support from social care resources fall into this category. Timebanking provides a medium of exchange to unlock the resources these people already hold. These are people who tend to be excluded or on the fringes of the traditional cash economy. The ‘Timebanker’ records time credits and debits and connects ‘wants’ with ‘needs’ to allow that exchange to happen without money.
Timebanking has the potential to play a significant role nationally in reshaping the way services are provided. In Bracknell, an integral part of the evaluation of this project is to identify key themes and issues which can be of significance for other authorities in the region. We would aim to identify critical success factors locally and identify barriers to success which can then be examined by other local authorities to help them determine how best to design a Timebanking project in their area.
3.FOREST TIMEBANK GOALS
The Timebank in BracknellForest is called the Forest Timebank. It is a pilot project started in May 2010 to last until May 2011.
The Forest Timebank is run by the Princess Royal Trust Carers Service (PRT), hosted by Bracknell Forest Council and funded by Improvement Efficiency South East (IESE).
During this phase of the project a Timebank Development Officer was employed by the PRT and located within Bracknell Forest Council in Bracknell town centrewith dual reporting lines to the PRT and Bracknell Forest Council.The Timebank Development Officer is responsible for setting up and running the scheme.
The Timebank is intended to benefit everybody in the community however, to start the project
up it was decided to benefit a small core group of people comprising:
People in need of additional support meeting care assessment criteria
People who do not meet care assessment criteria:
- On the basis of finance - they are eligible for support and can pay for it themselves (self-funders)
- On the basis of need - they are not eligible for support because they are not at the required level of need (substantial or critical) but could benefit from Timebanking to prevent their escalation from low and moderate thresholds to substantial or critical.
Carers
Anyone belonging to the support network of the people above
The Timebankwas designed to allow people to connect with other people through reciprocal exchanges of support.
It creates a peer support network with the potential to deliver additional personal, social, financial and psychological benefits.
In BracknellForest it was set up as a person-to-person model involving a ‘broker’ (a paid worker, 25 hours per week) who facilitates and records exchanges between individuals and develops the membership of the Timebank. Membership is free of charge.
4.HOW THE FOREST TIMEBANK WORKS
In essence, there are 4 simple steps:
- People join the Timebank where everyone's contribution is welcomed.
- Everyone is a giver and a receiver, people register in confidence:
- the skills and support they can offer, and then;
- the things they need
- When they want a task done, participants contact a broker who arranges for an appropriate participant to carry out an assignment
- Everyone’s skills are valued equally:
- A participant banks a 1-hour credit when they offer support to someone else.
- They spend a 1-hour credit when they get support from others
- People are able to give their credits away to friends or families or donate them back to the Timebank
5.TIMEBANK PROJECT TIMESCALES
The contract between Bracknell Forest Council and PRT to develop the Timebank began on 10 May 2010 and is to expire on 9 May 2011. Continuation is based on the identification of new funding streams.
6.DEVELOPMENT PHASES
Three phases were agreed;deadlines have changedas a result of timescales being very tight and a lot of time being taken up by research and setting up the Timebank.
Phase 1 – May 2010 – December 2010 Setting up and running the pilot person-to-person scheme with a specific number of identified beneficiaries (see below).
- May – Project research
- Jun – Process development
- Jul and Aug – recruitment campaigning
- Sep to Dec – Vetting and checking, running the pilot scheme and testing the framework
Phase 2 – December 2010 – Mar 2011 - Growing the scheme into a broader community support network to specific identified groups in a person-to-agency model.
- Dec – Jan – Evaluation of pilot scheme and corrective action
- Jan – identifying new beneficiaries
- Jan – Mar 2011 – Running the phase 2 model
Phase 3 – April – May 2011 –Exploring options for transitioning the operation of the timebank system to a third party.
- Apr – May 2011 - Evaluating the Phase 2 model and preparing for transition arrangements
This evaluation report will be looking at the evaluation of phase 1.
7.EVALUATION AIMS - PHASE 1
In Phase 1, the Timebank sought to:
Research Timebanking Schemes and Models
Consider the Environmental context in which the Timebank operates
Set up Timebanking systems
Operate the Timebank
Review and report on the Timebank in order to:
- Test systems, assumptions, segmentation and benefit analysis within the pilot members
- Improve the Timebank
- Prepare for further growth and development of the Timebank in later phases
8.PHASE 1 - BENEFICIARIES & MEMBERSHIP
For phase 1, the Timebank concentrated on identifying people that might be interested in taking part. The Timebank Development Officer (TDO) had access to the Council’s Adult Social Care and Health database and was able to identify potential founder members based on the following categories:
People in need of additional support
- People supported by the Personalisation Team
- Peoplewho attended a local day centre
- People supported by the Older People and Long-term Conditions Team
- People supported by the Community Mental Health Team
- Carers
- non-operational staff in Adult Social Care and Health who are in a caring role
Carers identified by:
- PRT
- Emergency Respite Service
- Intermediate Support Care Workers
- People who are being supported by Adult Social Care teams
9.RESEARCH TIMBANKING SCHEMES AND MODELS
What we learned in Bracknell Forest
Starting the scheme from the beginning, a lot of time was spentundertaking research into:
Timebanking in general
Alternative schemes and models
Legislation and guidance
Legal issues including data protection, Criminal Records Bureau checking, and insurances
The Forest Timebank affiliated to the national timebanking charity, Timebanking UK (TBUK) and was able to link up with other timebanks in the SE Timebanking Network.
The Timebank Development Officer:
- researched other Timebanks working in a social care setting and visited the Kings Cross Timebank to get inspiration and guidance on how to run the Forest Timebank and how to engage people with the idea.
- signed up to relevant email and postal circulations (for example Local Government Improvement Network and Community Development Foundation) to ensure that the TImebank kept up todate with any changes in legislation or policy, particularly in relation to the emerging Big Society concept.
- explored other exchange schemes and engaged with the local LETS scheme to make sure that the Forest Timebank was not duplicating support and worked with them to make sure that people understood the difference between the schemes but also that people had a choice in deciding what scheme they wanted to belong to.
During home visits, the Timebank Development Officer asked individuals for their views and thoughts about the scheme to improve communications, engage with people and develop the local Timebank offer.
The findingsinformed policies, procedures and documentation such as:
Joining process and forms
Making members feel safe through reference requests and checking
Explaining the scheme to members through a members handbook
Explaining Timebanking to a wider audience through our internet pages
Promoting the scheme through leaflets
Explaining the benefits of membership to Council teams and organisations through specific guides
What we need to consider for the future
We need to :
Keep up to date on emerging guidance for Timebanks as their appeal grows alongside the Big Society concept
Ensure that the Forest Timebankspaper policies and procedures on paper match practice to ensure the scheme is run effectively and efficiently
That the forms are not over-burdensome to members
What we plan to do
Constantly engage with members to ensure that the scheme is developedbased on their needs
As members of the South East Timebanking Network, ensure attendance at team meetings hosted by them and any training courses that they hold to tap into learning
Share learning with others to help ensure that the development costs of setting up Timebanks are reduced
Liaise with other local authorities to help them set up their own Timebank and reduce their set up costs
As Timebanking becomes more known, take part in any Timebanking evaluations undertaken by Timebanking UK
10.SETTING UP and OPERATING THE TIMEBANK
What we learned in Bracknell Forest
Timebank Model
The “person to person” Timebank model involves a ‘broker’ who facilitates and records exchanges between individuals and develops the membership of the Timebank. The Timebank Development Officer / Broker is a paid employee and works 25 hours per week.
Recruitment
After researching and choosing the model andto facilitate the recruitment process the Timebank Development Officer downloaded generic forms from the Timebanking UK website and then developed the documentation to suit needs and audiences. For example, we mirrored data fields from the Adult Social Care database as these identified issues that were important to our potential members and which would make exchanges easier, such as: living arrangements and access.
As the Timebank concept was new to Bracknell Forest it was decided that the recruitment plan was to work with different social care teams to train them to act as “trusted sources” and explain the scheme directly to people they supported. Teams subsequently requested a way of referring people to the scheme and an automatic email form was set up to make this easier.
Despite the usual and expected reluctance to fill out forms, members have found it easy to join the Timebank. The Timebank Development Officer supports them at home visits when requested to complete or to explain the paperwork.
In home visits, people were given the choice of completing the form themselves or having it read to them. This not only helps the individual but also gave the opportunity to build relationships with each member to understand what their interests in are, which then helps in the later matching process.
Membership
The TDO has been actively recruiting since December and we currently have a total of 22 active members and then we have 13 pending members. The pending members are made up of a number of people awaiting interview, references or completed forms. One of our members has died, but we have maintained details for monitoring purposes.
In comparison locally, the LETS scheme, which has been running for over 20 years, has 62 active members. Likewise, other Timebanks in the SE network report similarly moderate figures so the Forest Timebank is confident that it is on track and traditionally, understands that such schemes grow organically: the Gloucester Fair Shares scheme has 900 members in total built up over 10 years but this number comprises of six community Timebanks across the county.
Administration
Phase 1 allowed all of the Timebank systems, processes and forms to be developed and tested with a small group of people before actively recruiting in the wider local population. Throughout phase 1 adjustments had to be made to the joining, skills, reference request and equal opportunity monitoring forms following use in real situations.
Legal issues
A number of different legal issues important to making sure the scheme worked safely and within the law were identified. The TDO therefore, worked with the Council human resources and legal teams to make sure we developed position statements on key issues around:
Food hygiene
Data protection
CRB
Insurance
Car insurance
Benefits
Expenses claims
One policy that took a lot of time was clarifying the need to undertake a CRB check at the start of the project. The TDO received advice from Timebanking UK who had been working with the Home Office which advised that it could not condone blanket CRB checking unless specific criteria applicable to activities defined as "regulated" or "controlled" or included in the "list of professions, offices, employments, work and occupations that are known as the exceptions to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974" were met.
The current position of the Forest Timebank is that it does not undertake a regulated or controlled activity and none of the exchange activities come under the Exceptions Order.
Communication
To get the Timebank operational, a number of practical arrangements had to be set up:
email accounts and setting up a mobile telephone for communication with the Broker
membership of Timebanking UK allows the Forest Timebank to access online time recording
Social media
One of the outcomes of the scheme was to explore the use of social media and we set up a web site and also a Twitter account to promote and support the Timebank.
By regularly posting tweets, we have generated some interest in Bracknell and we currently have 87 followers including voluntary and community organisations, the local media and a community radio station. We follow 76 groups from which we receive useful information.
To set up the Forest Timebank website, the TDO attended a NAVCA (National Association of Voluntary and Community Action) seminar on new media communications where a hosting service was identified called Wordpress. This was free, simple to use and set up and the templates were very user friendly. With the limited resources available for promotion, having a website is a good shop window for the scheme.
Promotion
There were no Timebanks in the area before the Bracknell Forest Timebank and understanding of the scheme was limited.
The TDO has also met with the local LETS group who have been supportive of our work. Although both schemes use exchange mechanisms, each scheme is designed to achieve different outcomes for different people. Timebank Members who become confident arranging exchanges without support may benefit from joining LETS to engage with more people in the community.
The TDO was able to use the Council’s communications team to write and distribute press releases. Our first release led to a huge leap in web hits and 5 new members.
Exchanges
As at the end of March 2011, 26 exchanges had taken place and there are a further 8 in the planning stage. We have had a total number of 49 hours which have been exchanged.
A Skills Share event was held in April to create a ‘market place’ to promote members’ skills and support offers in an informal environment and to breakdown any fears and barriers. The TDO worked with a local sheltered housing scheme who earned credits for venue loan. They want to earn credits by promoting the Timebank with other sheltered housing schemes and organisations to expand their residents’ access to other people, activities and experiences.
In order to help people start to make exchanges a members’ handbook was designed with the input of a small group of members who earned credits for proofing and is now clear to understand and answers the questions that individuals raised during the application process.
Phase 1 Feedback
Although formal feedback has not yet been undertaken, the Timebank Development Officer has noted member comments at interview stage and obtained feedback at the recent skills share event.
Everyone who responded to our first recruitment campaign thought the idea was a good one, but many felt unprepared to join up immediately. The recruitment campaign was changed to work through “trusted sources” because many people lacked confidence. The decision to join can still be about 3 to 4 months after first contact with the prospective member as a lot of personal contact is needed to explain and reassure people before they join.