Form 3: 12 month Project Monitoring Form
UK PROJECT GRANTS PROGRAMME
Programme:Older People – Managing Money Better
This form should be completed at the end of each 12 month period of your grant. Please refer to your previous report submission and your start of grant form to ensure you provide a consistent approach.
- Contact Details
Grant ref (if known) / GR0001-08661-LUZF / Organisation / Cornwall Rural Community Council
Date form completed / 17 July 2014 / Project start date / 1 July 2013
Project key contact person / Sue McDermott
Please complete the table below IF any of the information has changed since your last report.
Organisation contact details if changed / Address: 2 Princes Street Truro Cornwall TR1 2ESPhone: 01872 243559
Email:
- Outcomes Report
Please review progress over the past year towards each of the intermediate outcomes you identified at the start of the grant.
Using the table below, please provide information on the ways in which the target beneficiaries have benefitted. In the case of each outcome, please explain what progress has been made in the past year using data collected for your indicators to illustrate each point.
Please provide a rating from 0-5, for the extent to which you feel you have achieved each outcome at this stage of the grant (0=not at all, 5=fully)
Comic Relief programme outcome / Intermediate outcome for your project / Indicator / Progress to date / Outcome achieved (rate from 0-5)Older people to manage their money more effectively / Older people will have increased knowledge of income and expenditure and be able to budget more effectively /
- Level of understanding of income and expenditure
- Ability to differentiate between priority and non-priority debts
- Ability to create a budget
- Level of financial security
Although 135 individual worked with, members in households and therefore total beneficiaries was actually 212 individuals. / 4
Older people to manage their money more effectively / Older people will be able to reduce indebtedness /
- Number of debt payment arrangements made and adhered to
- Level of financial planning
- Level of disposable income (increased)
- Level of debt (reduced)
- Level of financial security
- 81% (29/36) have increased their financial capability - target (50%)
- 42% (15/36) individuals have made debt payment arrangements -target (35%) which includes repayment negotiations, token offers, debts written off, debt relief orders, collection action stopped and full and final settlement arrangements.
- 19 debt payment arrangements made
- Reduced level of debt – debt written off completely = £34 317
- Repayments rescheduled = £47 853
Older people will increase their income / Older people will increase their understanding and ability to access benefits /
- Level of understanding
- ability to access benefits
- Value of additional benefits claimed
- 100% of the 135 older people provided with a benefits check have a better understanding of benefits
- 73% (99/135) helped to access and apply for extra welfare benefits
- 28% (28/99) have either a new award or an increase in benefits.
- New award or increase in benefit or tax credit - £85 700 annualise gain
- Benefit repayment reduced or not recovered - £7 200
Older people will experience less fuel poverty / Older people will reduce the proportion of their income spent on fuel /
- Level of fuel poverty
- Number of older people changing energy supplier
- Amount saved on fuel costs
Although 62% said their houses were warm enough, only 17% of people felt their fuel bills weren’t a problem, the remainder felt that their fuel bills were a concern or worry
But only 5% felt their bills were a financial strain and causing debt.
Following energy saving surgeries and advice sessions,
91% (91/100) said they had a better understanding of ‘energy best deal’.
82% (82/100) said the information on switching energy suppliers was useful
87% (87/100) said they would (48% definitely, 39% probably) take action following the session.
90% of those taking action (78/87) said they would contact their supplier to see if they could get a better deal
66% said they would either contact other energy suppliers or look at a switching website again (57/87).
Participants who asked for additional support were aided to switch supplier and saved between £2500-3500 total. / 5
Older people will experience less fuel poverty / Older people’s homes will be more energy efficient. /
- Number of home energy efficiencies made
- Number of older people living in warmer homes
- Level of energy efficiency awareness
61% (53/87) said they would look into getting free or discounted insulation
61% (61/100) said the energy efficiency information was useful and 46% (40/87) said they would get more advice on energy efficiency
Older people will feel more confident in accessing IT and online financial services / Older people will feel more confident using and accessing IT /
- Number of older people going online for the first time
- Level of understanding of IT
- Level of confidence with using IT
- 96% (99/103) have increased confidence using IT, with
37% (38/103) feeling a bit more confident using the internet.
- 86% (89/103) said they were using the internet more regularly
Older people will feel more confident in accessing IT and online financial services / Older people will feel more confident using online services and comparison sites /
- Number of older people staying on line with support
- Ability to use internet to reduce utility costs
- Value of savings as a result of shopping online, paying/switching suppliers
- Only 3% (3/103) participants said they would not continue to use the internet
- 72% (64/89) said they would continue to use the internet weekly,
- 25% (22/89) said they would use it quite regularly/monthly,
- 62% (55/89) people who were using the internet more regularly said they wanted to use the internet more to save money shopping online, using supermarkets and comparison websites.
- 19% (17/89) wanted to bank online.
You will remember that you set your outcomes for the lifetime of the grant in your start-up form, which you completed at the beginning of the grant. Please review these outcomes to ensure they are still relevant and if you would like to make any changes to these for the coming 12 months, please provide some detail in the box below. Significant changes may require a more detailed breakdown and sign-off from your Programme Officer.
Please detail any proposed changes to your project outcomes in this box - No changes to outcomesWhat has worked well?
Our project was designed to work with 300 older people and focus on improving their lives in 4 ways; to increase their incomes, reduce fuel poverty, increase confidence using IT and to also help them manage their money more effectively.
We have exceeded our target – although we have recorded working with 304 individuals, the CAB recorded the number of other people living in the same household (an additional 77 individuals) and at least half of the people attending energy workshops and a fifth of those attending the IT sessions said they would share what they had learned with others. Therefore the total number of true beneficiariesis in excess of 400 individuals.
Increasing income for older people
To date the project has been able to generate an annualised benefit income gain of £85700– this was shared among 25 individual households, and are on-going (as long as benefit conditions met) not one-off payment gains. There was also an additional, non-benefits income secured of £2340, and so total increase was approx. £88040.
Helping older people to manage their money more effectively
The project has written off debts of £34317, reduced benefit overpayments by £7200 and made payment arrangements on £47,853.
It has therefore reduced indebtedness of older people by £89370.
This means that in its first year, the project has generated more than the total project cost for 3 years.
Reducing fuel poverty older people experience
More than a third (38%, 38/100) of older people we worked with said their homes weren’t warm enough in Winter, either because the heating system or insulation was insufficient, or because they turned the heating down or off to save money.
Additionally, only 17% (17/100) of the older people felt their fuel bills weren’t a problem, and so even for those who considered their homes warm enough in winter,about ¾ felt that their fuel bills were a concern or worry.
Following the energy saving surgeries and advice sessions, 87% (87/100) said they would take action following the session, either by contacting their supplier to see if they could get a better deal, contactinganother energy supplier or looking at a switching website again.
Cont/d
We delivered at 12 one-to-one energy sessions, completing energy best deal checks and supporting/assisting people to change energy suppliers. Energy savings have been estimated to be between £2500 and £3500. Some people had all the comparison information but wanted to wait to avoid penalty fees and switch supplier until their current tariff came to an end.
Of those taking action after the energy surgeries, 61% (53/87) said they would look into getting free or discounted insulation
and 46% (40/87) said they would get more advice on energy efficiency.
Increasing the confidence of older people using IT
We set up small community IT workshops across rural Cornwall, from the very west – Pendeen (near Lands End) to the very East (Stoke Climsland) and worked with over 100 older people. We exceeded our targets – we hoped that 75% would have increased confidence using IT, but 96% (99/103) of attendees recorded increased confidence.
We hoped that 35% would stay online, but 86% (89/103) of attendees said they were using the internet more regularly, and would keep using the internet. We hoped 35% would use the internet to reduce costs and increase savings, but 62% were interested in shopping on line and using comparison websites. We did not think about targets for reducing isolation or increasing social contact but 51% of those staying online wanted to use the internet to Skype, email or use Facebook.
However the gains for our target group have been more than just financial, there have also been lifestyle changes.
What has not been achieved or was difficult to achieve? Why was this?
We achieved nearly all of our targets, but sometimes there were challenges.
More difficult to achieve has been the financial capability sessions, so far publicity has not generated as much interest and there seems to be a reticence to exploring budgeting and finances in a group setting. Originally we had envisaged running the IT, energy and financial surgeries as separate entities and trialled this but it has become apparent that the IT sessions are not onlya popular and effective ‘hook’ to get people in through the doors, but also provide a framework to deliver the fuel and finance sessions within.
For example exploring how to save money on fuel bills was much more engaging when we encouraged participants to input their own details (annual fuel usage, current tariff, post code) on a comparison website, and to then shop around for the best energy deals.
Likewise with financial capability, exploring shopping and saving online has peaked interest of individuals and budgeting has been more easily broached using the ‘learn my way’ workshop as a tool that participants can go back to at home.
However, as explained in the 6 month report, the envisaged 2 x 2hr session IT surgeries are not sufficient; the older people we are trying to reach and work with need at least 5-6 sessions, preferably weekly, to begin feeling confident using IT and retaining the skills and knowledge they have gained. We therefore had to change how we work. We now deliver longer courses – of six sessions, and have larger groups usually six to ten participants.
Also the ratio of one worker to four participants (originally envisaged) in the surgeries was insufficient. Due to fairly low levels of confidence, and fear of ‘doing something wrong’, the older participants we are working with, need an amount of reassurance and support that requires a ratio of at least one worker to two/three participants. We have been fortunate to be able to have help from a Citizens Online colleague andsome volunteers, and two apprentices within our organisation. Without this additional support, we could not have given the support needed to these larger groups, or got the results we did.
The CAB Cornwall workers exceeded their targets – although a substantial portion of their hours are also taken up by travel. Demand for this service is higher than they are able to meet and at times this has led to long waiting times which isn’t ideal.
- Project Outputs
Using your project start up or subsequent reporting form, please indicate the outputs completed since the start of the last year. In each case, report back against the intermediate outcomes identified at the start of the project. You are expected to report against the output indicators that you included in your project start up form.
Intermediate outcome for your project (from start-up form) / Project output (from start-up form) / Progress to date / Actual No. of beneficiariesOlder people will have increased knowledge of income and expenditure and be able to budget more effectively / Financial capability sessions
Outreach advice sessions / 92 people take part in financial capability sessions – target was 70. First 15 were separately run financial capability sessions but later thought best if included as part of IT workshops, so 77 as part of those sessions from January onwards.
36 people attend individual session – target 40 / 128
Older people will be able to reduce indebtedness / Financial capability sessions
Outreach advice sessions / As above / As above
Older people will increase their understanding and ability to access benefits / Benefits assessment and outreach advice sessions / 99 people have individual advice session – target 40 / 99
Older people will reduce the proportion of their income spent on fuel / Energy saving surgeries
Outreach advice sessions / 100people take part in energy saving surgeries - target 70. First 39 were separately run energy saving sessions but later thought could be included IT workshops on using comparison websites, so additional 61 attending IT sessions from January onwards.
12 people attend individual sessions – target was 40 / 51
Older people’s homes will be more energy efficient. / Energy saving surgeries
Outreach advice sessions / As above / As above
Older people will feel more confident using and accessing IT / Community IT surgeries / 103 people take part in community IT surgeries – target 40. First 26 participants just pure IT sessions, remainder 77 as part of IT/Fuel and finance workshops and so 77 recorded above. / 26
Older people will feel more confident using online services and comparison sites / Community IT surgeries / As above
To what extent did you deliver your planned services/activities in the last year?
We delivered our planned services and activities fully; we have on many levels exceeded targets. Where our planned activities were not able to be delivered in the ways envisaged – we adapted our ways of working to still meet our targets.
Was there anything that affected the delivery of your services/activities?
Rural internet connection and bandwidth availability
Most of the venues we worked in had an internet connection– but we wanted to also work in smaller, rurally isolated communities where there often weren’t community buildings with internet connection and so for this the project relied on using a mobile broadband source (Mi-fi or WiiB) which could at times be limiting due to quality of signal reception, and also the number (maximum eight) of laptops it could comfortably serve – resulting in either slower internet slowing down e.g. difficulty downloading video clips/on line searches.
Sometimes although the venues had an internet connection, the bandwidth was insufficient and therefore we learned not to rely solely on existing internet connections and to bring along and use our additional mobile broadband sources.
We also encouraged people to bring their own IT equipment, and whilst this definitely increased individual confidence, it could at times slow the group down - as not everyone had the same things on their screens, and it often required extra tutor time and support.
The rural, isolated nature of some of the venues (Bodmin moor (St Breward), meant long travelling times and high travel costs for tutors. Therefore, in terms of cost efficiencies we would usually run both morning and afternoon workshops in the same venue, and this necessitated ensuring we had recruited enough participants for both sessions. It often also entails a long day for tutors – people often stay on after the sessions end, to chat and ask advice, and also arrive early for sessions to do the same.
In addition to support with using the IT, we also identified some need for technical advice and support, such as advice on purchasing laptops, iPad, tablets, applying free software to laptops, clearing mailboxes, downloading free anti-virus software, security and privacy settings. Checking computers up to date Windows software. One of our own IT apprentices has proved invaluable. For example, at a Mental health Self-help group in Truro one of the participants had a laptop that had a virus and she had been up until recently Skype-ing her son in Spain. She missed this communication and it helped her with her illness so we took the laptop into our office and cleaned it up and put anti-virus software on for her and she is now able to Skype again. Similarly an older writer and artist had downloaded a considerable amount of material and also had written a substantial amount but not saved any of the material externally, so that when his laptops became infected with viruses, he was unable to access this material on his lap top and was quite distraught. Our apprentice was able to save his material for him before the laptop was cleared of the viruses which gave him some peace of mind.
Our colleagues at CAB Cornwall tell us that this has also been a learning experience for them. They have found that what could have been an advice issue dealt with over the phone, with a younger client, much more often needs to be dealt with face to face, and that also advice needs to be given at a slower pace, with frequent checking for understanding. The CAB advice focusses on debt and welfare benefits issues, and they have also noted the strong links between long-term health conditions, disability and low incomes, and also debt and mental health issues, particularly stress and depression. Also, multiple issues cannot be dealt with in one or two visits, clients become tired more quickly and feel overwhelmed.
Using the table below, please provide details of the split of beneficiaries from the grant so far. Please note that the numbers entered should represent individual beneficiaries i.e. should NOT be the same person counted twice where they have benefitted from more than one service or activity. In the final column please indicate how many of the total beneficiaries are ‘new’ in this year i.e. they did not use the service last year.