Memorandum submitted by Salford Welfare
Rights Service
SUMMARY OF
VIEWS HELD
ON MAIN
ISSUES
1. Salford Welfare Rights and Debt Advice
Service employs two Welfare Rights Link Workers providing an advice
service to the Urdu/Punjabi and Arabic speaking communities within
the City of Salford. This response is based on their experiences
working with those communities. Black and ethnic minority populations
within Salford are now estimated to constitute approximately 5%
of the population according to the 2001 census figures.
2. The main problems of these communities
can be summarised as a lack of awareness of the services available
and how those services or organisations work or are structured
giving rise to considerable under claiming and (in some instances)
resistance to claiming.
3. This is particularly pertinent to the
provision of services by the DWP and is compounded by language
and cultural differences which have not been adequately addressed
by the DWP.
4. The key elements to changing the above
scenario are:
a. face to face contact with someone
who is fluent in their language.
b. telephone advice in the appropriate
language.
c. advice sessions which are nearby and
comfortable.
d. the ability to visit people in their
own home.
MAIN ISSUES
Standards of Service Towards Claimants from Black
and Minority Ethnic Communities, and Systems for Monitoring
5. The DWP does not have effective systems
for providing information to potential claimants within these
communities to enable them to identify themselves as such. Such
information as is provided is not well targeted and is often a
straight translation of the main English language publicity materials
that takes no account of cultural differences that may undermine
the claim process.
6. The above situation is further undermined
when claimants attempt to access particular parts of the benefit
system that require a quick response eg we have anecdotal evidence
of problems with claims for Crisis Loans where interpreters were
not immediately available and so the client was asked to bring
a family member or a friend taking no account of the potential
for cultural resistance to such an approach, and, in direct contradiction
of the approach of The Appeals Service, where despite the best
efforts of all concerned, their remains an active resistance from
Chairs to allow interpretation by family members of friends for
fear that a biased presentation of evidence may occur.
7. There is a perception that claims from
members of black and minority ethnic communities are treated less
fairly than those from elsewhere eg claims refused at a faster
rate; more frequent requests for supporting medical evidence and
more stringent application of the verification framework. As numbers
of claimants are lower; services such as ours are relatively new
and there is little regional data against which to compare (as
far as we are aware) it is difficult to comment beyond our view
that this perception exists.
8. In itself, the fact that such a perception
is held but difficult to quantify is illustrative of the problems
that exist for monitoring standards of service. We are unaware
of systems used by the DWP to monitor take-up, barriers to claiming;
relative success of claims across client groups and so on and
feel that such information should be more readily available. Services
such as ourselves could play a role in the design of such systems
and evidence gathering as to their success.
The Ethnic Make-Up of Customers and Staff, and
Systems for Monitoring
9. We do not have any specific information
on this area, however, we have considerable anecdotal experience
of the practical problems encountered by claimants and potential
claimants in accessing services which reflect badly on the ethnic
make-up of DWP staff. In particular, there is the everyday problem
of simply being able to gain assistance in your own language with
a claim form or further correspondence that is written in another
language. At present the DWP simply cannot cope and has neither
the staff with language skills or sufficient local knowledge of
how to quickly access such skills to the benefit of claimants
and potential claimants.
The Information Needs of Minority Ethnic Claimants
10. The DWP has made some advances in terms
of information produced, however, in isolation, these are relatively
ineffective. Some examples of this are:
a. Whilst the DWP web site contains links
to pages in other languages these are flawed in that the initial
link from the home page is in English and so not obviously identifiable
as a reference to the availability of help in other languages.
b. If one is able to identify the link and
then goes to the relevant page then it becomes immediately apparent
that there is a relative lack of depth to the information when
compared to that provided in English and no obvious link to support
for further information eg to assist with claims or related issues.
c. The majority of the effort to produce
leaflets and booklets in other languages appears to have been
expended upon translation leaving a product that is unattractive
and as ineffective as a take-up tool as an equally bland English
language version would be. The DWP starts from the assumption
that as long as it provides the bare minimum then this will be
acceptable and justifiable because of resource implications. The
inevitable message this sends out is that business from black
and minority ethnic communities remains a low priority.
d. There is little local sign-posting either
on a national basis or within local regions eg if one walks into
most DWP offices then information available about how the office
works; where you queue and so on is available only in those offices
where there are perceived to be significant ethnic population.
e. As the DWP is not good at targeting information
it is inevitable that misconceptions about the service continue
to spread. This has a consequent effect upon the level of feedback
received. The small range of information available in any format
in other languages means that whilst it might (with some perseverance)
be possible for a black or minority ethnic claimant to find out
about particular benefits, there is no real communication about
the culture of the DWP and this inevitably means that rumours
and half truths posses a currency they otherwise would not eg
there is a belief that giving negative feedback could influence
receipt of benefits.
Cultural Issues Affecting Delivery
11. The population targeted by the work
of our Link Workers is relatively small but diverse. However,
there are a number of cultural factors which the DWP do not factor
in when addressing the cultural issues affecting delivery.
a. Whereas some cultural groups leave the
advice seeking to the men, the opposite is often true and the
DWP are insufficiently flexible to take account of this eg where
a translator does work in a particular office they are often alone
and male or female, leaving the customer no choice and often reluctant
to pursue an issue.
b. There is a dislike of travelling eg using
public transport involving changing buses and so on. This is particularly
an issue for those on low incomes/no access to a car. The lack
of information in other languages on these services worsens the
problem and there is also the general issue of feeling vulnerable
because of ethnicity when standing at isolated bus stops or railway
stations.
c. Translation and interpretation are insufficient.
Provision of information needs to be supplemented by direct links
with the relevant community so that information can be targeted
more accurately rather than just "out there" for people
to hopefully come across. At present the DWP addresses such issues
by grouping ethnic minorities in the same way it deals with groupings
like people of working age; retirement and so on. There is no
recognition or apparent understanding of the real diversity of
needs within the phrase "ethnic minority".
Systems for Obtaining Feedback from Black and
Minority Ethnic Customers
12. Please see 10 e) above. As the DWP has
made poor inroads into black and minority ethnic customers it
is inevitable that feedback from such will be minimal and possibly
unrepresentative.
13. There is extremely limited information
in every available format about how to feedback experience of
the service for people whose first language is not English.
How Complaints of Unfair Treatment are Dealt With
14. We have no specific information to comment
upon this point.
Employment of People from Black and Minority Ethnic
Communities by the DWP
15. We have no specific information to comment
upon this point.
Mr Mike Hughes
8 May 2003
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