Accessible advice services are essential in our communities because financial hardship rarely begins or ends with an empty cupboard. In Eastbourne, advice helps people understand their options, access support and work to secure long term solutions to financial hardship.
Some funders and stakeholders see us as just a food bank. We are a food bank, but food is only part of the story. Fundamentally, this is about money, dignity and long-term change. We want to see an Eastbourne where people can afford the food they need to survive, and where fewer people need to come to a foodbank at all. That is why advice is at the core of what we do.
Advice sows seeds of stability, confidence and hope that can change the course of someone’s life.
Advice can change society: it creates change for the individual, change for the town as it puts money back into the local economy, and change nationally as it contributes to the wider economy and reduces pressure on statutory services. If people have knowledge and resources, they can do things for themselves.
Eastbourne Food Bank provides advice across five community locations, works with more than 200 referral agencies, and hosts 13 co-located services. Each year, our team sees around 900 cases, supporting people with welfare benefits, debt and related issues that often sit behind the immediate need for food.
Our team of advisers offer face-to-face advice, in the person’s community, with consistency of person and location. It is so important to have a face-to-face setting, particularly as many people we support have different communication needs or have struggled to access other advice services. Meeting people in a familiar place helps us build trust and unravel complex situations.
We have one full-time welfare benefits adviser, two part-time welfare benefits advisers, one paid debt adviser, one volunteer debt adviser and two volunteer medical benefits advisers assisting with PIP applications.
The probation service is our top referring agency for food bank support, alongside homelessness services, mental health services, schools and statutory services such as the NHS and social care.
Some of our referral agencies also provide advice but often refer to us when there is specific advice needed, such as debt advice, or a lack of capacity in their own service.
Eastbourne Food Bank has brought a number of services together to work in partnership. This creates more flexibility for services and individuals, avoids duplication and silo working, improves communication and is more cost effective. Through these partnerships, we can also gather evidence of need; for example, we are currently working with the local Integrated Community Team to gather evidence about the link between ill health and poverty.
It is vital that clients receive accurate advice early on. The sooner we can give advice, the sooner clients can be supported out of needing emergency food, the sooner dignity can begin to be restored and the sooner those resources are freed up to support the next person.
We can catch situations before they deteriorate, before further charges or penalties are added, and we can identify issues that the client was unaware of. We make a confident estimate that less than 20% of people who come to us know they have an advice need. Some people come to us knowing that something has gone wrong with their benefits, but many people don’t realise until our advisers talk to them, or they might realise but have given up hope of challenging things. Meeting people where they are, in the community, means we can identify advice needs they may not have recognised themselves and work with them to change their situation.
Whilst helping individuals on a case-by-case basis, the evidence our casework provides also helps us campaign for widespread change and amplify the voice of people experiencing financial crisis. For example, we have been supported by Trussell to deliver a Community Power project with the aim of building a society where people don’t need foodbanks. The work enables people to have their voice heard and have an impact on what is affecting them locally. We have a good relationship with our local MP who is very supportive, it has enabled people who use the food bank to meet him and have their experiences heard and seen.
We support many clients who need the food bank and advice after their circumstances have changed and they are overwhelmed. Many of the people who use the food bank are experiencing loneliness; they often say that we are the first people they have seen all week. We see a number of people whose young adult children are still living at home as they are unable to find work and accommodation. We see the impact that financial difficulty can have on the family now and could have for those young people and children in the future if that situation isn’t changed.
We would like the government to understand that getting the right sort of support in place early saves statutory services thousands of pounds and can save lives. Most people have a number of issues that are concerning them. Timely signposting and referring people to the right agency or agencies for them, and agencies having the capacity to act can prevent issues from escalating. Resolving errors with benefits early on saves individuals thousands of pounds and also protects the public purse. Supporting people face to face in their safe community place and reassuring them about the process (with the DWP, the council, their creditors) enables people to deal with challenging situations, especially when the client themselves might be vulnerable.
The funding landscape for many charities, including our own, is very challenging. We have lost several posts across the foodbank team in recent years and have recently restructured, aiming to focus on our core aims for the future and to try to ensure we can sustain the service going forward. It is a challenge to grow and develop in this financial environment.
We would like funders to understand that our client group can sometimes find it hard to engage. People experiencing financial hardship may have a number of vulnerabilities and so the advice process can take time. Funders also need to understand that running costs and overheads must still be covered and it is not only about direct activity or headline impact. Managing adviser’s caseloads and wellbeing is essential to ensuring the service is sustainable; it cannot be all data driven alone. We would like funders to understand the immense power of advice to change society.
We need the government to recognise the value of advice now and in the longer term. There needs to be an investment in advice and longer-term funding for services: advice gets people past the crisis and starts them on a different journey that has such a wide impact, not only on individuals, but also on communities and public services.
Our advisers choose to work in the advice sector because it enables them to make a difference to people at a really difficult point in their lives and to see situations change because of our intervention. We consider most people would be surprised by the complexity and variety of situations we encounter in our work.
We would value a National Advice Workforce Strategy for the advice sector.
It is a challenge to recruit new staff; we recruited on our third attempt last time we had a vacancy.
We would love to recruit an apprentice to help grow and future proof our advice team, build on the huge experience and expertise our advisers hold, and offer employment to local young people.
Our volunteers are vital in identifying people who need advice. Volunteering is often a way back into employment. Several of our volunteers at our warehouse have used the foodbank and then joined us as a volunteer. We have an arrangement with a local school to support a diverse range of pupils with volunteering and work experience opportunities.
We are a small team working in a sometimes challenging environment. Knowing we are part of a larger network that shares our values and strengthens our voice is so encouraging. Capacity can sometimes be a challenge and the wealth of resources available to us via AdviceUK really helps us and means we can draw on existing models, tools, and expertise rather than starting from scratch.
We value being part of a wider network of advice services as a member of AdviceUK, to know that others face similar challenges, and to learn about innovative projects and approaches. We value being able to participate in webinars and learning events with other agencies, and hearing sector-wide news and being able to feed into responses across the sector.
Being a member of AdviceUK helps us to secure funding bids. Clients see that we are a member of Advice UK and it gives them reassurance about the support they are going to receive.
Anonymised client testimonial (consent was gained by Eastbourne Food Bank staff).
‘I am writing to express my sincere gratitude for your support, the safe and welcoming environment you provide, and for your kindness, time, understanding, and expertise. Thank you for the invaluable help with the forms for PIP and UC50 I received. They seemed a great stumbling block without the advice. I truly appreciate having someone to listen, as well as the warmth and good humour you share. Your encouragement has helped me regain confidence in my ability to work, progress, and build a better future. You demonstrate the very best of community spirit and compassion’.
