Resilience services
Definition: Services, programmes and activities that support building financial resilience for individuals and local communities.
By strengthening financial resilience among individuals, we empower citizens to better manage financial shocks and mitigate the occurrence, recurrence and escalation of crises.
This is by an outcome based approach, where one or more of the below outcomes are met from the service being provided:
Reduced experience of material deprivation (the inability to afford essentials)
By tackling underlying conditions that prevent households affording essentials you can build protection to avoid future hardship.
Access to appropriate and quality advice services
This is a lever for income gains, arrears resolution and improved social wellbeing. Advice should lead to improved understanding of rights/entitlements for individuals, so they can act on the advice and progress or resolve the issue. This could be a service that deals with debt, welfare, housing or other wider advice
Increased savings
This is advice to provide better management of their finances to help build a buffer and prevent crisis from small financial shocks.
Reduction in priority debt
This is supporting residents to reduce or manage these debts and be more resilient.
Reduced need for emergency food parcels/crisis applications
By building the financial resilience of individuals households are less likely to experience financial crises that lead to emergency food need.
Examples of activities that could lead to achievement of the outcomes:
Budget maximisation
Supporting applicants to better manage their income to maximise its effect. This could include advice and support with issues such as debt, housing, energy. It could also include instruction on how best to manage on their income level through things like education on cooking/shopping on a budget, what is priority debt and what is negotiable or disposable expenses.
Income maximisation
Increasing accessible income could be through benefit checks and application support, employment and training advice, access to alternate support grants, community childcare or CV building services.
Income smoothing
This could be supporting saving behaviours or encouraging appropriate insurance take-up or enabling access to affordable credit.
Financial capability
Supporting future planning services and financial education (such as what is priority debt and what is negotiable or disposable expenses, how to save, benefits of managing your finances).
This list is not exhaustive.