Consultancy for Advice Services

Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council is looking to engage a suitable organisation to provide consultancy services in relation to its Advice Services. The delivery of debt and welfare advice to residents of the borough is currently contracted via a consortium of 3rd sector organisations. At present the service is delivered by Shelter from the central library in Blackburn, plus outreach in Darwen Town Hall as and when required. In addition, through the Women's Centre location in Blackburn town centre, they provide this service as part of a much wider organisation and service delivery. Engagement is done through a range of channels including face to face, telephone and on-line. Basic volumes are supplied quarterly - visits to the office 15k, telephone calls 13k out of which there are 3720 Debt/Welfare cases (i.e. ongoing case work) and 1,669 housing cases, reporting is done via spreadsheet. The current contract is for £150k per annum, an additional £35k is also paid pa for support of Universal Credit, however this is not part of the contract. The Council currently has access to top line statistics split into service area with some democratic data and satisfaction levels. No previous work has been undertaken in relation to demand in this area and there is no official anti-poverty or advice strategy. Prior to the retendering of a new specification, the council is seeking a partner to undertake a review of the current provision that also incorporates council wide engagement to assist with the future design. We will be looking to identify where there is an overlap of issues and customers between the council and the advice provider, and review what model and depth of service should be delivered over the next five years.