Local advice strategy toolkit: How to work with community leaders, partners and
stakeholders to produce a local Information and Advice strategy (IAS).
Introduction
This toolkit is primarily aimed at local advice organisations who wish to achieve a more coherent
strategic framework for advice services in the area – principally though developing and
promoting an area wide advice strategy with your local authority. It aims to provide some tools
for working with your authority to produce a strategy in the context of modern public service
delivery, and the advice and commissioning landscape.
What is an Information and Advice Strategy and who is it for?
An information and advice strategy (IAS) is a co-ordinated joined up plan for the development
and delivery of information and advice across a defined local government area. Ideally it should
be a co-produced initiative between local advice sectors and their principal local authority,
engaging community leaders, partners and stakeholders, and underpinned by a comprehensive
analysis of local needs.
Why should your Council be doing this?
Alongside the delivery of essential services, securing the provision of advice and information is
a primary function of any Council. Information and advice also has a key role to play in the
strategic shift that many Councils are going through to gear services towards early intervention
and prevention and in supporting self direction and enablement. Councils have also been
required to respond either as delivery partners or stakeholders to a number of national policy
changes; welfare reform and the Care Act 2014 are two key examples of policy changes in
which information and advice provided locally play a key role.
Why have a strategy?
Partly this is about maximising scarce resources; Councils face ever greater challenges and
pressures on their resources, funding for non-statutory services – especially those provided by
the voluntary sector - is being threatened as never before. It is also about being more effective
and so that clients get a better service and services are designed around local needs. This
assists in achieving more effective commissioning based on place / person-based needs rather
than organisational needs.
Holistic view
Providing information and advice
should involve taking a holistic
view of the lives of individuals in
order to deliver content that
responds to a spectrum of need,
and cuts across traditional
boundaries. This requires a coordinated approach to make best
use of all the capabilities of the
local advice sector, encompassing
many different organisations
which may be some delivering
similar work in different
geographical areas, or
specialising in particular types of
information and advice, and in
reaching particular client groups.
No wrong door
Advice providers should work in
partnership. The aspiration is that there
should be ‘no wrong door’ for advice
service clients; this means streamlining
referral methods and pathways between
a wider network of voluntary and
statutory agencies, underpinned by
robust local partnerships/collaborations.
A ‘no wrong door approach’ to the
delivery of advice seeks to ensure that
where people are in contact with public
and voluntary sector agencies, their
advice needs are identified by those
engaging with them, and they are
referred on to appropriate support.
Joined up approach
It is likely that aspects of any
information and advice strategy
will overlap with related
strategies and plans. However
this should be seen as
opportunity to make sense of all
the work that is going on in
relation to information and
advice, for example across the
health and care sectors,
housing, and welfare and
achieve coherence for the
public, and make best use of
available resources (including
development capacity).
GETTING STARTED
Your local authority may already have an information and advice strategy that you may wish to
influence or help deliver, or it may be developing one or consulting – for example in light of the
Care Act or other statutory changes, or you may be starting from scratch in your area and taking
the opportunity to lead the process. At whatever point your area is at, this toolkit is designed to
support you through the process, provide some useful tools and content, and to encourage
approaching it as an exercise in co-production.
What does a strategy look like - start with a vision
Sum up your vision in a clear and succinct way, perhaps staring with a simple set of aims and
principles such as: Our vision is to achieve a well integrated provision of local information and advice
services in [Anytown] area.
 Together with our partners we want [Anytown] to be a place where people are
empowered to access a broad range of advice on welfare, financial, housing and care
issues, with information available to all, and advice services capable of responding to
local needs in a changing context.
 Commissioners and providers will work together to build an evidence base
 We aim to increase general awareness of advice and information and also improve
access for ‘unengaged’ and socially excluded groups
Guiding principles for action will include:
 Ensuring the strategy is inclusive, client centred processes and outcomes
 Prioritising prevention and early, effective intervention
 Encouraging Cooperation between agencies and sectors in pursuing common strategic
goal and consistency in service provision
 Maximising available resources, delivery channels, community outreach and use of online
technologies
There are various models and no one size will fit all; various examples of strategies put into place
can be seen here [virtual library]. There are however common features; we suggest breaking the
task down into broad sections.





Section 1: Scope and needs
Section 2: Demonstrating impact/making the case, and aligning priorities.
Section 3: Partners and process
Section 4: Delivery framework and action plan
Section 5: Managing and monitoring progress, quality and outcomes
SECTION 1: Scoping the strategy and needs analysis
Understand community needs
At the heart of an Information and Advice Strategy there needs to be an analysis of community
needs and local demographic trends. National research demonstrates that many people who
would benefit from information and advice currently do not access it, but you need robust local
research to establish where the key needs are. See mapping needs section below.
By community needs we mean issues or problems which significantly impinge on individuals and
communities social and economic well-being. More broadly people living in poverty or
experiencing hardship are more likely to have multiple problems or advice needs; poverty has
grown among working families, private renters and the under-25s. These needs might include
 Welfare benefits, and welfare rights especially in transitioning to Univeral Credit
 Housing needs and homelessness prevention
 Finances and debt
 Fuel and Food Poverty
 Employment support
 Family problems such as domestic abuse
 Education (eg special educational needs)
 Asylum and immigration
 Social care and support
People may require particular formats or delivery mechanisms due to the following needs or
characteristics: Visual impairment
 Hearing impairment or profound deafness
 Learning disability
 Mental health needs
 Literacy difficulties
 Communication difficulties, e.g. dyslexia
 People from BME communities with different language needs
 Physical disability restricting mobility
We also know that at certain times in peoples’ lives something will happen (a “life event”) which
can trigger a need for a range of different or linked advice and information. These can occur
throughout our lives and include (among others):
 Birth of a child
 Marriage / Partnering
 Illness / disability
 Entering, moving on or leaving education
 Gaining or losing employment
 Moving home
 Relationship breakdown
 Bereavement
Scope of your information and advice strategy
By information and advice, we mean a spectrum of activity from prevention to intervention. This
ranges from accessible public information which can empower and enable people make choices
to enhance the wellbeing and capability and prevent or avoid problems, through to casework with
trained advisers to resolve problems, and where necessary through to more intensive
interventions for example with problems involving the legal system.
For the purposes of any model strategy approach the definitions we are using are:
 Information – Materials which can be passively available or actively distributed as well as
passed on through mediated support. This includes self-help (websites, other digital
communications and more conventional leaflets etc) and provision through direct contact
with trained personnel (call centres, Face to Face, community provision etc). An
information service gives clients the information they need, for them to know and do more
about their situation. It can include information about rights, policies and practices; and
about national and local services and agencies. Responsibility for taking any further
action rests with the client

Advice – Advice involves diagnosis of the client’s enquiry and the legal issues involved
giving information and explaining options, and/or providing guidance and direction on a
particular course of action which needs to be undertaken in order to realise a need,
access a service, unlock individual entitlements, or challenge a decision.

Advice with casework - An advice with casework service includes all the elements of an
advice service listed above but also involves taking action on behalf of the client to move
the case on. It could include negotiating on behalf of the client with third parties on the
telephone, by letter or face-to-face. It will involve the advice provider taking responsibility
for follow-up work.

Support – The support people receive to access advice and information so that they can
make full use of it to make their own decisions, including decisions about their finances,
care and wellbeing. Advocacy – The Advocay Charter describes this as taking action to
help people say what they want, secure their rights, represent their interests and obtain
services they need.

Advocacy - The provision of support and encouragement, or representation of
individuals’ views, needs or rights. It is fundamental that advocacy recognises the
centrality of the service user.’

Legal Help – Specialist legal support in dealing with different stages of the legal process.
In terms of funding and access this is usually provided through specialists contractors
under the limited civil and family legal aid scheme, and sometimes funded representation
in Court. Legal aid sits outside local authority responsibilities, but a local advice strategy
should incude referral protocols with local legal aid providers.
Further information and how these relate to different quality standards see
http://asauk.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Definitions-to-help-you-understand-the-advicesector.pdf
Different Commissioners often use different definitions. Whilst we recommend using the above
language in your strategy as the terms align with advice quality standards and with guidance
under the Care Act, you should be sensitive and flexible to ensure that your service offer aligns
with Commissioner expectations. Remember that in practice descriptions of different of service
levels may mean little to people needing advice. Clients often approach an agency or a
community-focused organisation with which they are already familiar and won't make clear
distinctions between what are deemed legal problems and other types of personal or social
problems.
Therefore you should take a range of providers and agencies into account in mapping the scope
of your local strategy, including
 National Advice networks and local offices - eg Citizens Advice
 Local specialist advice agencies - eg a Law Centre



Youth and older people's services and organisations
Council services delivering advice and information or commissioned services
local voluntary and community organisations
Benefits
Welfare
Work
Care &
Support
Age UK
Social services
Anytown Carers
Befriending services
Jobcentreplus
Connexions
Council benefits office
Citizens Advice
Debt &
Money Advice Service
Money
Stepchange
Credit Union
Anytown Legal Advice Centre
Council Housing Options service
Registered Social Landlords
Shelter
Housing
Mapping needs: The basic tools
Rural/Urban definition maps
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/maps-of-rural-areas-in-england
Demographics: The Census data is a good starting point for identifying local demographic trends,
local population densities, variables and household types.
Go to - http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guidemethod/census/2011/index.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Deprivation: Tools such as Indicies of Multiple Deprivation can assist in mapping local deprivation
which usually closely correlates to advice needs, go to
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of-deprivation-2015
Health needs and inequalities: Local authorities and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have
a joint duty to prepare Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNA) covering the current and
future health and social care needs of the local community, using tools from the NHS knowledge
hub, and this will be a good source on advice needs of the older population in particular.
http://www.hscic.gov.uk/article/1847/JSNA-core-data-set
Data on benefit claims
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-benefit-small-area-statistics-august-2014
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-in-out-of-work-benefit-households-statistics-31may-2013
The Family Resources Survey
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/437481/familyresources-survey-2013-14.pdf
Other data resources: There are a number of other large-scale surveys that can assist in
establishing your baseline needs analysis; whilst not all of these enable extraction of localised
data, they all provide regional level data. See https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/get-data/key-data
Observatories: In some areas, all datasets have been placed into a single “observatory.” For
example http://www.hertslis.org/
A sample mapping exercise:
Some agencies already have sophisticated mapping tools; for example Citizens Advice are able
to produce interactive area based maps and dashboards, and can assist locally with this also.
[link]
Advice agencies should also be able to access their management information systems for data to
better understand the needs and profiles of clients. Even with the most rudimentary tools it
should be possible to: Identify the number of people using advice services in your area from the number of
inquiries, contacts and problems recorded
 Include basic demographic data on client base – eg age range, gender, BME percentage
etc.
 Breakdown the main client problem types by percentage of the whole – ie benefits, debt,
housing, employment issues etc
 Using client postcodes, identify whereabouts in the [anytown] area these problems tend to
cluster
You may also be able to map client postcode data against ward level deprivation indicies.
There are various ways of generating maps from collected datasets, and we suggest you look at
one of the following options: GIS Maps technologies contain a range of tools products that enable datasets to be
transferred into maps https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/support/understanding-gis/
 Use Google Maps: There are a number of software applications available online which
can map data onto google maps from excel
 https://batchgeo.com/features/map-excel-data/
 https://www.maptive.com/map-excel-data/
 http://www.easymapmaker.com/
 http://www.geolounge.com/make-map-excel-data-using-google-fusion-tables/
 http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-ways-to-make-a-google-map-using-googlespreadsheet-data/
 http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Google-Map-With-Excel-Data-and-FusionTables
 https://mapline.com/
Getting to the less well served
A crucial outcome from this exercise is to identify residents in your area who are less well served
by the current configuration of advice services, for example: People with mental health issues, including mental health in-patients
 People living in rural areas
 Children and teenagers
 People with Learning difficulties/disabilities
 People without English as a first language and from different cultural backgrounds
 People who are isolated geographically or as a result of illness, disability or cultural
barriers
Section 2: Demonstrating impact and aligning priorities
Impact and value
It is essential that agencies are able to demonstrate their impact in order to be able to continue
winning support from public funders. This also means being clear about priorities, and assessing
the overlaps between priority strategies and programmes and where advice fits in. You should be
looking to make out a business case which is convincing for commissioners.
Making out a business case: To increase the chances of a local authority adopting a
comprehensive IAS and putting funding behind it is advisable to make out a “business case”
around the value and benefits of advice to the local community. It is impossible to monetise
everything that advice services do, especially where outcomes data is limited or not robust. A
good starting point though would be to:-
A. Make clear about how good information and advice will contribute to
your locality's strategic goals
B. Explain about how information and advice could help the local
authority and partner agencies to "manage demand" and make more
effective use of limited resources.
C. Be clear about how the strategy will link to, and contribute to, other
strategies such as Transformation Programmes, prevention strategy
and channel diversification
D. Where possible try and attach a financial value on a handful of key
areas where it is feasible to evidence the value that local advice
agencies can deliver through the outcomes of advice provision and
generating “social value.” These might relate to:a. Financial outcomes that accrue directly to individuals with
income spent locally, benefitting local communities.
b. Preventing housing evictions and statutory homelessness
c. Reducing the demand for mental health and GP services,
improved client mental wellbeing and family relationships
d. Keeping people in employment or helping them back to work
E. Illustrate with reference to a Case Study of the problem solving
benefits of advice.
F. Include processes through which learning and evidence the delivery
and outcomes of advice can be used to inform how services could be
improved locally
Use research resources on the impact of advice
There is ample research concerning the impacts of advice, with an extensive
literature on the primary benefits of provision indicating that the direct, financial, benefit
outcomes from advice are effective in mitigating the worst effects of poverty, for example by
raising disposable incomes through benefit take up or by helping people to restructure their
debt repayments. Studies also indicate a wide range of beneficial secondary, impacts,
including, for example, improved diets and mental health.
Research on the impact of advice
Joseph Rowntree Trust (2014) Advice, Support and Poverty Evidence Review
Citizens Advice (2012) ‘An overview of possible links between advice and health’.
Citizens Advice (2015)‐‘ Everything was falling apart – Citizens Advice helped me get back on track:
The value of the Citizens Advice service: our impact in 2014/15’.
The business case for social welfare advice services An evidence review – lay summary
Low Commission (2015)‐ ‘Getting it Right in Social Welfare Law’.
Advice Services Alliance (2015)‐ ‘The Role of Advice Services in Health Outcomes: Evidence Review
and Mapping Study’.
Citizens Advice (2015)‐ ‘A very general practice: How much time do GPs spend on issues other than
health?’
London Health Inequalities Network (2013) ‘Welfare Benefits Advice through General Practices: A
Business case’.
London Financial Inclusion Centre (2011). Evans, G., & McAteer, M. Does Debt Advice Pay? A
Business Case for Social Landlords.
Institute for Policy Research. (2014). Proving the value of advice: a study of the impact of Citizens
Advice Bureau services.
Local Economy Solutions and MEL Research. (2010). The impacts of debt and benefits advice in
Sandwell on individuals, their families and the wider economy: A summary.
Legal Services Research Centre. Pleasance, P., Balmer, N., Patel, A., & Denvir, C. (2010). Report of
the 2006 -2009 English and Welsh Civil and Social Justice Survey.
Legal Services Research Centre. Pleasance, P., Buck, A., Balmer, N. J., & Williams, K. (2007). A
Helping Hand: The Impact of Debt Advice on People's Lives.
Money Advice Service (2010). The effectiveness of debt advice in the UK.
Focus on the positive; present advice as “win-win” for your Council and for
Commissioners
With Councils finding their resources are over-stretched following public spending cuts, it is
important to present the case for supporting advice as a win-win. The positive case is that
individuals benefit from timely information and advice, resulting in early (including
preventative) and streamlined (i.e. least amount of signposting as possible) access to
services, greater self direction and maximum independence; ultimately services enabling
delivered with lower overhead cost.
This contrasts to a multiplicity of complex and uncoordinated sources of information and
advice which can leads to duplication of effort, content, significant variation in quality, and
gaps in provision. At this negative end of the scale, individuals experience endless
signposting, lose out on services, miss opportunities, experience increasing isolation,
increasing need for services and require more costly interventions; ultimately this means
services are delivered at a higher cost.
Relate the strategy both to fulfilling obligations as well as meeting needs
An information and advice strategy is a great opportunity to draw together different strands of
activity in fulfilling statutory obligations for local services, responding to the local impact of
national policy changes and initiatives, linking up national and local schemes, and developing
new approaches to meeting local needs.
You may want to illustrate how advice can support local authority duties, obligations or assist
their role in supporting the delivery of national policy programmes or dealing with their impact,
by including a chart like this either in the appendicies or the main body of the strategy.
Strategy/statutory duty or
policy
Requirements
Care Act 2014, Section 2
Duty on local authorities to
“establish and maintain a
service for providing people
with information and advice
relating to care and support
for adults and support for
carers.”
https://www.gov.uk/government/
uploads/system/uploads/attach
ment_data/file/315993/CareAct-Guidance.pdf
Universal Credit Support
https://www.gov.uk/government/
publications/universal-creditlocal-support-servicesframework
A scheme to support the
roll out of UC and transition
for claimants; this involves
local authority led local
delivery partnerships
developing support
provision for claimants
moving onto Universal
Credit, including money
management and
assistance will making and
managing claims online.
Information
and advice
needs
Social care
options and
financial
planning,
Home help
Attendance
Allowance
and Carers
Benefits,
Accessing
direct
payments.
Local
Delivery
Partners
AgeUK,
Local carers
and
befriending
services,
Vulnerable
claimants
transitioning
between
legacy and
new benefit
schemes
under
welfare
reform
JobCentre
Plus,
Welfare
rights
agencies,
Localised welfare schemes
Housing
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ho
melessness-data-notes-anddefinitions
Money Advice
https://www.moneyadviceservic
e.org.uk/en
Troubled Families
https://www.gov.uk/government/
policies/support-for-families
Public Health
http://www.local.gov.uk/publichealth
Better Care Fund
Local welfare assistance
schemes replaced
community care grants and
crisis loans in 2013 with
responsibility to assist
residents facing crisis
devolved to local authorities
who were given discretion
to design a scheme
suitable for their area.
Assistance for Council Tax
(ie relief etc) is also a
discretionary local govt
responsibility.
Local Authorities have a
statutory duty to provide
advice and assistance to
certain categories of
homeless applicant, or
certain households
threatened with
homelessness, and should
have a strategy for
preventing homelessness
in their district; this includes
advice and information
about homelessness and
the prevention of
homelessness are available
to anyone in their area.
The Money Advice Service
was set up under the
Financial Services Act as
an independent body with
responsibility for improving
people’s money
management and for
funding and improving the
quality, consistency and
availability of debt advice.
Information
on local
policy and
schemes and
their eligibility
criteria.
JobCentre
Plus,
Council
Revenue
Dept
C
Housing
Options,
Shelter,
RSLs
Debt Advice
Debt
remedies
Money
Guidance
Financial
Capability
CAB
A national programme
intended to change
repeated generational
patterns of poor parenting,
abuse, violence, drug use,
anti-social behaviour and
crime in the most troubled
families in the UK, with the
government investing some
£4,000 per family over 3
years, and each family
having an assigned family
worker
Local authorities now have
a statutory duty to improve
the health of their
populations, address
inequalities and to promote
the health and wellbeing
Social
services,
and family
key worker
teams,
The BCF is a local single
Social
VCS
partners on
Health and
Wellbeing
Boards,
Local GPs,
http://www.local.gov.uk/healthwellbeing-and-adult-social-care//journal_content/56/10180/4096799
/ARTICLE
pooled budget to
incentivise the NHS and
local government to work
more closely together
around people, placing their
wellbeing as the focus of
health and care services,
and shifting resources into
social care and community
services for the benefit of
the people, communities
and health and care
systems
services,
Develop your guiding principles and needs analysis to frame a set of “commissioning
intentions”
If you are able to engage your local authority at a sufficiently strategic level in developing the
strategy it should be possible to influence the framework in which commissioning takes place.
The first step is to invite commissioning bodies to describe in broad terms how the they will use
their commissioning budgets to deliver the Local Information and Advice Strategy's overall vision.
An agreed statement might be:"Commissioners will commission a range of information and advice services that are:
 Preventative
 Specialist
 Support Income Maximisation
 Provides various entry points, venues and support to access information and advice
 Reaches out to isolated people and vulnerable client groups"
 Support wellbeing and independence in the community
 Co-produced with a broad range of strategic partners from the statutory, independent and
voluntary sectors, and user groups
The commissioning intentions should also, as far as possible, be aligned with you local
authority's business plan as well as your local Health and Wellbeing Strategy and the Joint
Strategic Needs Assessment
Section 3: Partners and process
Partnership – a core principle
At the core of any local advice strategy there is a partnership built by local advice organisations.
Many areas will have benefited from partnerships supported by Advice Services Transition Fund
and have arrangements that can be built on.
Developing the partnership
Invite partner organisations, and other stakeholders who have contributed to and/or endorse the
strategy, to agree and adopt guiding principles as the basis for a quality assured framework for
the delivery and evaluation of advice and assisted information services. Partners may already be
working in a collaborative framework, for example if they are part of an Advice Services
Transition Fund Partnership. Other frameworks for developing a local advice partnership might
be through working with your local CVS.
Planning board
An Advice Planning Board - or management group- should be established to oversee the
implementation of the Strategy on behalf of the Council and its VCS partners; if you already have
an Advice Forum operating it should be possible to build on that. There should be a minimum of
quarterly meetings. A good model might be to operate a separate board and Forum as the Forum
will can be used to engage a wider set of stakeholders. The Board should also set up expert
working groups to deliver on key tasks.
Build in Quality Assurance
AQS - The Advice Quality Standard (AQS) is the quality mark for organisations that provide
advice to the public on social welfare issues. Organisations that hold the standard have
demonstrated that they are easily accessible, effectively managed, and employ staff with the
skills and knowledge to meet the needs of their clients. Consider making this a requirement in the
Partnership; the diagram below illustrates the importance of quality.
Good outcomes
delivered cost
effectively
Low
+ Well informed clients
+ Early and streamlined access to services
+ Self direction of support
+ Maximum choice and control
+ Maximum independence
+ Services delivered with lower overhead cost
- Confused clients
- Customers losing out on services
- Increasing isolation and poverty
- Increasing need for services
- More costly interventions
- Services delivered at a higher cost
Bad outcomes
delivered at
high cost
Quality of information and advice
High
Digital and channel strategies
Your local authority is likely to be implementing a Digital Strategy; it may be changing its initial
access arrangements, and/or discussing the potential for shared access with other partners, such
as health partners. identified a range of ways of delivering more joined up advice services (for
advice service users and for advice agencies) through the use of web based and electronic
information, communication and systems and there will be considerable in depth experience that
could be tapped.
Digital exclusion threatens to become an insidious form of social segregation unless it is
recognised as a continuing reality, and alternative forms of communication and service
delivery need to remain as genuine alternatives. This could be part of your offer to your local
authority, but you should also consider your own channel strategy and whether some of your
services could be better delivered online or remotely to clients able to engage in this way.
Signposting
You should ensure that there is signposting to local and national sources of information and
advice which should be visible across a number of different settings including
 Posters and leaflets (and in some cases electronic screens) promoting information and
advice services in community settings such as libraries, GP surgeries, Adult Learning
Centres, District Council reception areas, and tailored in some way to different audiences.
 Use local and regional media for advertising signposts to information and advice, (often
this route is used more by fee paying debt advice companies or national charities than by
local organisations).
 Most Information and Advice providers have their own website and use this to signpost to
publicise their own provision and to wider sources of support. E.g. local Citizens Advice
websites signpost to the national Adviceguide website which provides information on a
range of issues.
 Registered social landlords and housing options websites generally have good
signposting to other sources of Information and Advice
Referral Protocols
Seamless referral processes are key to building effective partnerships that deliver for clients; you
should build this in to your local advice strategy
 A key objective should be to ensure that the co-ordination of referrals between advice and
information providers and across professional / organisational boundaries is improved.
 Helplines and larger agencies are likely to operate gateway (triage) assessment and
appointment processes; referral protocols may already be built into these, which can be
linked in to wider referral arrangements across the advice partnership.
 Referral is about the advice workers taking at least partial responsibility for contacting
other organisations when, for whatever reason, they are no longer able to assist a client;
a referral might usually involves the adviser making contact with another organisation to
arrange an appointment and make any other necessary arrangements to ensure that the
case continues smoothly.
 Establishing referral networks can enable advice organisations to concentrate on their
own areas of expertise and refer to other agencies where necessary, thereby maximising
the combined capacity of the network.
 To ensure that a referral network functions effectively and efficiently, it is essential that
the operation of the network is carefully managed and coordinated and its policies and
procedures are reviewed regularly. Referral works best where there is an agreed protocol
between referral network members and some means of servicing the network (such as
the paid time of an employee of a participating organisation).
Working closely with health services
There are considerable gains to be had from strengthening engagement between health care
services and voluntary sector advice agencies and organisations, including clinical
commissioning groups, public health functions in local authorities, Mental Health Trusts,
Healthwatch, local GP consortia or federations, hospitals, and social care functions both
within local authorities and the wider care and support community. Structures and processes
within the health services are continuously evolving, so you will need to keep up to date with
what is happening in your area.
Many good examples good are referred to in the Low Commission/Advice Services Alliance
report.
http://www.lowcommission.org.uk/dyn/1435582011755/ASA-report_Web.pdf
Following that report the ASA commissioned the following resource toolkit to support you
engagement with healthcare commissioners
Commissioning Toolkit: A resource for local advice organisations
http://adviceservicestransition.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Commissioning-Toolkitfor-ASTF-Sept-2015.pdf
You should pay particular attention to helping to the local authority deliver its obligations under
the Care Act. The Act states that the local authorities need to ensure that information is provided
so that the public can:
 Access services that help prevent their care needs from becoming more serious
 Access good information to help them make informed choices about their care and
support
 Have a range of good care providers to choose from
 Know how to access independent financial advice
 Know how to raise concerns over the safety or wellbeing being of someone with care
needs
You can view the statutory guidance here
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/315993/Care-ActGuidance.pdf
The Think Local Act Personal (TLAP) partnership has further resources which can assist in
developing your Information, Advice and brokerage offer under the Care Act, including looking at
 How people access care and support services and how information is used
 What councils need to consider when developing their information strategies
 Explaining the jargon that people who use services and their carers may encounter
.
TLAP have launched three resources to address these issues
 Advice and information needs in adult social care – an interactive map of typical journeys
into social care. The map is supported by a report explaining what we know about the
problems experienced in getting the right information and advice at each stage.
 Principles for the provision of information and advice – sets out the main issues that
councils need to consider when developing a comprehensive and coherent local carer
and support information and advice strategy.
 Social care jargon buster – a plain English guide to the most commonly used social care
words and phrases and what they mean. It is an online resource available at
See
http://www.thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk/Browse/Informationandadvice/Information-andAdvice-Strategy-Toolkit/
www.thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk/Browse/Informationandadvice/CareandSuppor
tJargonBuster/
The Adult Social Services Department usually provides a Directory of Services including
comprehensive listing of services available for adults living in the area, this is a hugely important
information resource.
Working closely with court services
Your strategy should also be working with your court service locally, including local stakeholders
(judges, lawyers, Cafcass and court staff), and Litigant in Person support organisations. You
should start by building relationships with your nearest court centres which you can find here
https://courttribunalfinder.service.gov.uk/search/
There are a number of ways that advice services work with the court system, including through
victim and witness services, working referral arrangement with court enforcement officers
enforcing court sanctioned debts, and with CAFCASS on family and children's issues.
Although legal aid has been cut, there are other resources available for supporting litigants in
person. For more information about the litigants in person strategy see
http://www.lipsupportstrategy.org.uk/
Legal Aid
Whilst legal aid has been cut significantly for many social welfare and family law matters, there is
still legal aid available in some cases and there are a number of specialist contracted legal aid
providers who should form part of your advice network. Legal aid is available for
 Family cases involving domestic violence or public law
 Housing and debt cases involving threatened eviction or repossession, or serious housing
disrepair issues
 Second tier social security appeals
 Asylum matters
 Special Educational Needs
 Discrimination
 Judicial Review
You can search for legal aid or family mediators here
http://find-legal-advice.justice.gov.uk/
Working with the criminal justice system
Whilst this toolkit is not designed for organisations working in criminal justice, you should be
aware of local developments and partnering possibilities, for example with Community
Rehabiltation Companies which commission probation, resettlement and rehabilitation services
from a diversity of providers. Ex offenders are a key group with high social welfare advice needs.
The 21 CRCs are responsible for:
 delivering a resettlement service for all offenders released from custody engaging with
many of the offenders they will manage before release
 managing low risk offenders in the community
 designing new services to rehabilitate offenders and help them turn their lives around
 delivering specific interventions and services for offenders managed by either CRCs or
the National Probation Service, including community payback and most accredited
programmes
 managing senior attendance centres
For information on your area see
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-rehabilitation-company-england-andwales-area-map
Some aspects of the criminal justice system have been increasingly devolved, for example to
County and City wide Police and Crime Commissioners who have significant budgets not just
over policing matters but also to promote community safety, support for victims, and local
voluntary sector engagement in the criminal justice system.
See https://www.police.uk/ for further details.
Equality proofing - the equality duty.
The Equality Act 2010 brought together all previous legislation in England Scotland and Wales,
replacing separate duties relating to race, disability and gender equality. The Equality Duty came
into force on 5 April 2011 and applies to all local authorities and public bodies. In relation to an
information and advice strategy this means considering how provision might affect people who
share a relevant protected characteristic and people who do not share it; it requires having due
regard to
 the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other
conduct prohibited by the Act;
 advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected
characteristic and those who do not; and
 fostering good relations between those who share a relevant protected
characteristic and those who do no
You should use the equality duty and guidance with reference to the needs of particular groups in
your area such as refugees, migrant workers, or Gypsy and Traveller communities.
Further guidance is available from the EHRC.
http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/private-and-public-sector-guidance/public-sector-providers/publicsector-equality-duty
Urban versus Rural
An Information and Advice Strategy for an urban population will by necessity look different to a
strategy for a rural area. The higher unit cost of rural service provision is widely recognised
among rural councils, however this is not fully reflected in government funding allocations
according to many rural authorities. This ‘rural premium’ impacts directly upon voluntary sector
finances and upon poor rural households, who contend with the higher costs associated with
being poor (the ‘poverty premium’), along with fewer public services and higher council tax levies
typical in rural England.
Respondents to the Rural Advice Services survey, carried out in 2014, identified a number of
barriers to accessing advice services for people living in rural areas:
 Transport – scarcity and cost;
 Lack of IT connectivity, access and skills;
 Lack of reliable information and outlets in smaller/most rural areas
 Lack of social hubs and services;
 The complexities of multiple local government, health and voluntary sector agencies;
 Individuals’ fears about confidentiality;
 Incomplete coverage of the village agent scheme.
However there are many resources and assets in rural areas that represent potential
opportunities to improve access to information. Village halls, parish councils, church halls,
schools, Village Agents, GP surgeries and Police and Crime Support Officers can all play a
significant role by hosting internet access points and becoming ‘Info Hubs’, for signposting and
making direct referrals.
Completing your partnership
It may be impossible to engage the full range of statutory, public, private and voluntary sector
bodies in your advice partnership, but the more partners you can get around the table, the more
reach your partnership has.
Section 4: Develop your Action Plan for Delivery
Delivery of advice and information services will be through a variety of mechanisms and may
include:
 Local Authority staff and / or infrastructure
 Partner organisations
 Commissioned providers
 Community groups working with the Authority.
The delivery framework should aim at co-ordinating services and reducing any gaps or
duplication in provision.
There must be frameworks and protocols in place which will enable consistency in approach so
that we can be confident the customer will receive what is needed and is never ‘in the wrong
place’.
Improving access
The first key to improving access is making sure people know where and how to get advice; it is
important to have a mixed approach to utilising web-based publicity, leaflets and printed material,
communication through social media, so that publicity is seen by people from all groups, from all
backgrounds, and of all ages.

Flexible access – make sure people are able to access information and advice services
through a multi-channel approach. Some people are able to self-serve using the internet,
so it is therefore essential to have good web-based resources such as directories and
information pages or weblinks, but others need different types of access for different
reasons (eg telephone or other remote access for those unable to travel due to illness,
disability, frailty or caring responsibilities or lack of transport. Face-to-face interviews are
also essential for dealing with more complex advice needs and supporting vulnerable
people through the advice process.

Easy access points – make sure people have alternative entry routes to information and
advice services, if required. Having high profile, alternative, entry points can provide
effective added value to established information and advice services. They reduce the
danger of people falling through the net when thinking about seeking advice and ensure
that people who are unaware of the usual access routes to advice have an alternative
entry point. They can also help people move quickly towards the information and advice
provider best suited to their needs.

Outreach - as well as promoting information and advice services in community settings
such as libraries, GP surgeries, Adult Learning Centres, Children's Centres etc, options
should be developed for delivering outreach services in these settings.
Develop a collaborative funding model for advice provision in the area
This will involve mapping the current funding of advice services in [Anytown area] and look at
ways of improving funding – through optimising funding streams, collaborative funding, and
maximising the impact of funding. This funding model should link in with a wider strategies the
voluntary and community sector in the area and should address the priority advice needs. It is
essential that you involve funders closely in the development of your strategy and action plan,
Action Plan
An action plan might be structured around a set of milestones (about 20)
1
Awareness
2
Accuracy
3
4
5
6
7
Develop a campaign to raise awareness about the information and
advice available, including working with partners to identify
opportunities to market information and advice
Ensure leaflets, directories and online information about the range
and type of advice and support available and how to access it are
updated as necessary
Assessment Assess that there is a good mix of “face-to-face” advice services, at
different levels, and in different geographical
areas, to meet the needs of local citizens
Quality
Increase the number of local information and advice providers that
have a quality mark for their advice services
Analysis
Establish a process for conducting a regular review of advice needs
in [Anytown area] this review would be undertaken for the Advice
Planning borad or Management Group; the review should take
place annually
Through collaboration, assistance to be provided to agencies that are
Assistance
identified as needing support; for example training could be provided
on a variety of issues including: developing policies; advice recording;
confidentiality; equal opportunities etc.
Telephony
Undertake a feasibility study of developing of a central access point
for telephone advice in anytown area
Or alternatively you could structure it around a set of deliverable action points and timelines
Action
Establish planning board
and/or Forum
Activity
Agree who will form core working
Group(s), and which agencies to
encourage to join the board / forum
3
Formulate, test and revise
strategy
Publish Strategy
4
Appoint a FT Co-ordinator
Use planning board to review and revise
strategy and take through formal process
On publication Council will be requested to
formally adopt and endorse the strategy (by
formal process - eg a vote and event in the
Council Chamber) and use it to inform
future funding decisions
Recruitment and Interview process
5
Undertake/refresh needs
analysis and mapping
6
Launch a website with
directory of local agencies
1
2
First piece of work for co-ordinator might be
to refresh the underlying analytics and
mapping to inform decisions
Engage wider forum of agencies with this
work, and develop the website to support
the work being undertaken by the co-
Timeline
7
Establish effective referral
process
8
Launch Telephone helpline
9
Develop options for shared
services or co-location
where appropriate
10 Year 1 Review
ordinator
Undertake detailed work with organisations
to design service pathways which work
seamlessly for clients and provide
holistic solutions to their problems.
If partners agree on a shared telephony
contact point approach, organise a tender
for this
Ongoing work to look at how to increase
capacity, increase referrals and deliver
efficiencies
Managing the strategy
It is critical that the impact of this strategy is considered within a wider context. In order to ensure
this, the following steps will be taken:

Cabinet, relevant Committees and the Planning Board will receive an update on
implementation of the strategy every 4 months from the time of adoption

The Health and Wellbeing Board will receive 6-monthly reports on performance, including
delivery against outcomes and the findings of specific contract reviews.

A Review process will be put in place after year one of implementation

All Council services delivering advice and information and partner organisations or
commissioned services delivering advice and information on behalf of or contracted by,
the Council will adhere to this strategy.
Section 5: Measuring success - monitoring progress and evaluating outcomes and impact
Monitoring and evaluation should be conducted throughout the stages of the strategy to
review that that the process and resulting service delivery is effective. Monitoring and
evaluation also needs to be conducted on specific developments. Systematic
monitoring and evaluation is needed to assess whether the strategy is working.
Monitoring
Use a range of methods to measure progress towards making our strategy a reality for people in
[anytown]. These can be broadly summarised under three main headings as follows:

Monitoring and Managing Quality – Develop and regularly review and revise key
performance measures to ensure they are focussed and targeted towards delivering the
outcomes we have set. This will inform both advice and information services delivered by
the Council and by commissioned services.

Facilitate a Sector Voice –Through participation the Board, advice and information
provider organisations to facilitate a ‘do and review’ approach to delivering the strategy.

Service User Voice – Establish a mechanism to actively and regularly seek feedback from
customers and service users through case studies, on-going sector review, mystery
shopping and direct reporting.
Focus on outcomes
Advice agencies often tend to focus their evaluation and monitoring on outputs such as number
of clients seen or the amount of benefits realised, rather than on customer outcomes. And here
outcomes are monitored the focus tend to be on immediate or short term outcomes such as
whether people feel less stressed at the end of a telephone call.
Improved measuring of outcomes would be able help services to measure the difference they are
making to customers, the challenge in this respect is multi-faceted:
 Services lacking the capacity to monitor longer term outcomes – particularly where
resource for this is not included within funding/contact arrangements/

Longer term and softer outcomes are difficult to capture and value.

Monitoring and evaluation is often linked to the particular agenda of the organisation that
is commissioning or funding the service.

Voluntary sector organisations may be having to simultaneously monitor outcomes in
multiple ways to meet the agendas of different funders, not recognising benefits that
accrue for other organisations.
Set evaluation objectives
The evaluation’s objectives should seek to answer specific questions in relation to advice
provision in the area and the effectiveness of the strategy eg
 How do users rate the services they use?
 How well do advice services integrate with other related services provided locally and
nationally, for example, GP Surgeries, DWP, Revenues & Benefits and the Council
Contact Centre?
 Is the strategy addressing local triggers that lead to service users seeking assistance?
 Do the advice services lead to cost savings in other services, for example health, social
care and homelessness?
 What are the strengths and weaknesses of different models of service provision?
Evaluation mosaic
The evaluation process needs a set of benchmarks that work over the whole network and for
which data can be obtained, such as:

Distances travelled to reach face-to-face advice services
Whether total footfall and trends in advice over time can demonstrate improving capacity
Client Satisfaction surveys
These could be one way of measuring progress, and may be particularly useful if carried out in
particular advice setting such as GP surgery outreaches, but primarily they are useful in getting
feedback from service user observations with prompts such as
 How well did the advice worker make you feel at ease
 What was your problem type ((debt etc) and had you previously tried to get help with this
or with a related issue
 How well did the advice worker give their advice?
Appendix: Checklist on stages of Development
Stage 1: Needs Analysis
Review national policy and statistical data
Review local policy, priorities and analysis work already done
Begin stakeholder consultation
Explore needs regarding awareness, content, format, location and management
Determine I&A content management needs
Determine awareness raising needs
Determine needs around delivery mechanisms
Stage 2: Mapping Existing Services
Identify and engage stakeholders
Stakeholder engagement activity
Map internal I&A services
Map contracted I&A services
Map partner I&A services
Map external 'trusted sources' of I&A - local and national
Evaluate I&A services: gaps, duplications, cost, quality
Stage 3: Gap Analysis
Analyse current delivery against identified needs
Make rationalisation decisions to eradicate duplications
Define requirements and priorities
Stakeholder engagement activity
Stage 4: Design Delivery Model
Identify resources
Consider development of existing I&A mechanisms and new mechanisms
Research other models already in place elsewhere
Assess options against requirements, priorities and resources
Stakeholder engagement activity
Further develop I&A Strategy and Implementation Plan
Commission delivery - either internal or external
Stage 5: Service Set up
Agree governance arrangements
Stakeholder engagement
Agree quality policy
Agree performance measures and reporting arrangements
Develop systems and processes to collect, manage and deliver I&A
Confirm information sharing and delivery arrangements with partners
Staff awareness and training
External awareness and training
Shape marketing and awareness raising activities, including hard to reach and non-traditional
groups
Stage 6: Marketing and Implementation
Market I&A services
Begin management mechanism
Begin delivery of I&A services
Begin quality policy
Pro-actively manage external suppliers of information content
Pro-actively manage external suppliers of I&A services
Collect data on supply and demand for I&A services
Stage 7: Continuous Improvement
Monitor use and reach of services
Capture and evaluate outcomes and experience of users of I&A services
Target consultation at groups with low usage of I&A services
Analyse monitoring and evaluation results against performance measures
Report findings
Plan ongoing delivery and development of I&A services based on evaluation of outcomes and
priorities