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17 Beatrice Terrace Shiney Row DH4 4QW

Annual Report 2012 – 2013 page 1

Shiney Advice and Resource ProjectAnnual Report

2012 -2013

FORWARD FROM THE CHAIR – LISA WATSON FoodBank donations from Kepier School.


ContentsAdvice ServiceAdvice StatisticsSummary of ShARP’s activitiesFunding achievements and performanceYear in photos

Page3

4-5

6-8

9-10

11


As this is my first Chair report for ShARP, I would like to use it to say a huge thank you to all of our past and present staff, volunteers and board members who without we would not be celebrating our 31st year. This year has been particularly important to celebrate the work of our staff and volunteers. We have developed the centre with not only our advice service, but also our community café Shiney Diner and our charity shop Shiney Things.

As always, we use the additional activities in the centre as a way for us to be able to support the main aims of the project, the local community and the on-going costs needed to run the centre. We are fortunate to be supported by a wide range of funders who recognise the good work we do and we are very grateful to them for their support. It is worth noting that funding to employ a coordinator has been key to enabling us to attract additional funding and we are pleased to acknowledge continued support from Tudor Trust and the role that Emma Frew has played in securing a wide range of funding.

Due to the increasing demands of the welfare reform from government, our work seems to be more important than ever to be able to work with local people to support them in finding solutions to their situations, ensuring people are able to take up the benefits they are entitled to and campaign for social justice. Our advice workers play a key role in responding to these demands and their commitment has been key to us responding to these demands.

Going into 2013/2014 we are hopeful we will be able to go from strength to strength due to the high levels of commitment from everyone involved in ShARP, ensuring we will continue to be able to offer many varied opportunities to be part of the project, for example through our volunteering scheme, joining our board or having lunch in our community café.

I hope you enjoy reading the rest of the report, which gives much greater detail of the work we have carried out and what we plan to


Advice Service


2012/13 has been another busy year for the Advice Service we are seeing growing numbers of people being affected by changes in Welfare Reform. We had expected the number of people needing the service to increase as the changes in Welfare Reform begin to come into place. These changes include information sought on personalized budgets and housing occupancy levels as well as changes in Disability and Into Work Benefits.

In August 2012 we secured the ongoing provision of the First Tier Welfare Rights contract which we deliver on behalf of Sunderland City Council, and also further funding via SIB Sunderland Initiative Budget to support welfare rights and advice within the Coalfields area of Sunderland. We have also received funding from Money Saving Expert to support people with debt problems.

This funding has enabled us to maintain services of daily drop in sessions, telephone advice sessions, and debt support for clients from the ShARP offices on Beatrice Terrace as well as outreach sessions in the Coalfields area and home visits as and when needed.

ShARP helped 2,272 clients.

176 young people under the age of 25 received support. 219 people over the age of retirement came to us for assistance. 8 of those were aged 80+. Our oldest client was 96. 321 clients needed support because of long term un-employment.

Advice statistics.

An outline of current activities and services at ShARP, including roughly how many people attend in a typical day or session.


ShARP helped 2,272 clients.

176 young people under the age of 25 received support. 219 people over the age of retirement came to us for assistance. 8 of those were aged 80+. Our oldest client was 96. 321 clients needed support because of long term un-employment.

EMPLOYMENT SUPPORT AL-

LOWANCE; 384

DISABILITY LIVING ALLOWANCE; 338

ATTENDANCE ALLOWANCE; 75

WELFARE BENEFIT CHECKS; 381

DEBT ADVICE; 160

HOUSING ADVICE; 111

WELFARE BENEFITS

ISSUES; 791

EMPLOYMENT SUPPORT AL-LOWANCEDISABILITY LIVING ALLOWANCE

ATTENDANCE ALLOWANCE

WELFARE BENEFIT CHECKS

DEBT ADVICE

HOUSING ADVICE

WELFARE BENEFITS ISSUES

CLIENT SEEN 2012-2013

UNDER 25; 176

RETIRED; 219

LONG TERM UN-EMPLOYED; 321

UNDER 25 RETIRED

LONG TERM UNEMPLOYED

CLIENTS 2012-2013


Name of ServiceAnd basic information

Number of people employed & man hours per week

Frequency/level of activity each week

How many people benefit from the service

Funding provider

First Tier Welfare Rights Advice Servicefor Welfare benefits, Employment, Housing and Debt

3 Part Time Advice Workers42 hours per week

Plus 10 hours administrative support

Plus 8 hours volunteer support each week

2 drop in sessions

2 telephone advice sessions

1 outreach session

2 appointment sessions

5 days a week

An average of 12 people per session for drop ins and telephone advice give an average monthly total of between 200 and 250 each monthBetween 45 and 60 people supported on an average week

Sunderland Council Welfare Rights Contract

Sunderland Initiative Budget

Energy Advice ServiceTo support vulnerable individuals and groups in energy efficiency in the home and comparing markets.

1 Part Time Energy Advice Worker20 hours per week

4 mornings per week working with individuals accessing the centre and working with community groups in the local area

In the first year of the service 1109 individuals received energy advice

an average of 20 – 25 people per week

Scottish Power Energy Peoples Trust

Energy Best Deal


Summary of ShARP’s activities.





Funding provider

Volunteer Employment Support Programme(Commencing May 2013)

1 Part Time Volunteer Employment Co-ordinator20 Hours per week

Daily morning or afternoon sessions to meet the timeframe of volunteers (20 hrs per week)

A minimum of 30 people will be supported over 6 months of this programme

European Social Fund Community Grants via the Tyne and Wear Community Foundation

General Volunteering programme(for those not looking to gain employment.e.g. retired people and people with mental health issues)

Various support depending on the volunteer role including:Project Co-ordinator for business rolesCafé Co-ordinator for café places

Daily 10 volunteers are currently supported6 in the café and 4 in business development3 are working on the Business plan for our new charity shop ‘Shiney Things’

This is not directly funded by one funder but is supported by each worker in the organization taking responsibility for the development and support of volunteers

Training Courses provided by a variety of local providers

Provided on a session basis as per training courses

We currently hold an average of 3 training courses each monthExamples being health and safety, first aid, food hygiene

10-12 people per course30 people approx each month

Provided by the training provider and also generates room hire income for ShARP






Funding provider

Room hire for community activitiesCurrent users include:Lifeline Drugs and Alcohol, Kinship Carers (grandparent carers),Children’s services training and activity groups, Gentoo housing workshops

Groups have their own staff

Current average usage is 4 groups per week using the large or small community rooms

10-20 people each week depending on what activities are running

Provided by the group provider and also generates room hire income for ShARP

Currently under development

‘Shiney Things’(Charity Shop and Social Enterprise)

Run by a team of volunteers with some strategic support from the Project Manager and Volunteer Co-ordinator

Aim to be open Mon to Fri 9-3

Numbers of beneficiaries being explored. Potential benefits in team working, volunteering, training, community cohesion, low cost goods, recycling

We have made a presentation to Gentoo to help with the fit out of the shop (which is in our centre) and local people are gathering donated goods


Funding Achievements and Performance

ShARP has had funding support from Sunderland Council’s Strategic Initiative Budget to deliver extra advice sessions for people in the Coalfields area. Money Saving Expert has also provided funding support for people needing advice with debt issues.

In the first year of running an Energy Advice Service, ShARP has overachieved against its annual target of 1000 people to be supported, the actual number of people receiving support being 1109.

Scottish Power Energy Peoples Trust continues to support the Energy Advice Service into its second year. The Advice Worker is a fully trained Energy Adviser on secondment from TADEA (Tees and Durham Energy Action Trust) whom we have established good working links. The adviser is currently working with individuals and groups across the Coalfields and Sunderland area to provide free independent advice on fuel efficiency, meeting the demand of rising fuel costs, comparing markets and schemes to make homes more energy efficient.

Shiney Diner continues to trade and develop. Lloyds TSB Foundation have supported ShARP/Shiney Diner by providing 2 years worth of funding to employ a Full-time Cafe Co-ordinator. Having a full-time member of staff has helped to develop and implement new menus and offers, we have also been able to develop the volunteer base, 5 volunteers give time frequently and a further 10 help to fill sessions.

The next phase of the development is to expand the cafe to include a larger eating area and cyber cafe area (our current space of 20 covers is very often full and does not meet the demand put upon it).

Tudor Trust continues to support the employment of the Project Manager. The Project Manager supports the Board in identifying future opportunities and securing funding to enable the development of new activities. This year’s focus is the development of sustainable income and social enterprise activity. Greggs Foundation have supported the employment of the Administration functions within the organization. This funding has enabled ShARP to employ a Full-time Administrator. The other focus for the Project Manager and ShARP in 2013 and onwards, is the need to develop ShARP’s ‘contract readiness.’ The Tyne and Wear Community Foundation are supporting this by providing funding from the ‘Survive to Thrive’ Grant Fund. This funding is providing funding for back fill support for the Project Manager to focus on strategy and business development.


The Tyne and Wear Community Foundation is also supporting ShARP via an ESF Community Grant to undertake a pilot project working to develop the work skills of Volunteers between March 2013 and November 2013.

ShARP has received funds from Awards for All for new windows and flooring for the Training and Counseling rooms, both of which are now back in full use.

Income Breakdown 2012 - 2013ContractSurviving WinterSIBTudor TrustEnergy TrustAwards for All30th FundingGreggsSunderland uniLloyds TSBdonations MSE

Expenditure 2012 - 2013wagesstaff and vol expensestrainingroom hirebank/insurancebuilding running/repairsdepreciationadvertising/subsITother

Total Income £142131 Total Expenditure £138626


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