Wellbeing Fund - open application process: evaluation

6. Lessons learned: funded organisations' experiences of the fund

The next two sections of this report examine what we can learn from the experiences of those involved with the Wellbeing Fund to help policy makers, funders, third sector organisations and other stakeholders to understand what worked well, what could have been improved, and how the design and implementation of the fund could be improved for future third sector funding initiatives.

This section focuses on the experiences of the funded third sector organisations themselves, and seeks to answer the following two questions:

• 1) What emerging needs did organisations identify during the funding period?
• 2) What did third sector organisations learn from the experience of running Wellbeing Fund projects as part of the Covid-19 response effort, and how could their responses have been improved?

The data used in this section is taken from open-ended questions completed by recipients of the Wellbeing Fund in the end-of-project monitoring forms about their experiences of the fund.

6.1 Emerging needs identified by third sector organisations

Wellbeing Fund recipients were asked to report any emerging needs or gaps in provision that they had observed over the course of running their projects in response to the Covid-19 crisis. A randomly selected sample of 100 organisations' open-ended responses to this question were selected for coding and analysis.

Of this sample of 100 TSOs, 80 organisations identified emerging needs. The remaining 20 organisations either reported that they had not noticed any emerging needs, left the question blank, or did not specify their answers clearly enough to be included in the analysis.

Of the 80 organisations that did specify emerging needs, 146 separate needs were identified. These were coded into the broad categories shown in Table 3. When grouped into these broad categories, 49% of comments related to health and wellbeing. This included needed relating to mental health, loneliness and isolation, physical health and disabilities, support for carers, adapting to the "new normal", and general physical and mental wellbeing.

Table 3: Broad categories of emerging needs identified by Wellbeing Fund recipients

Broad categories of emerging needs	Percentage of organisations identifying need
Health and wellbeing	49%
Poverty and unemployment	37%
Digital inclusion	20%
Support for TSOs	3%
Other	17%
None/unspecified	20%

37% of comments related to emerging needs relating to poverty and unemployment, with organisations noting greater numbers of people needing food, financial and employment support as well as advice relating to benefits, unemployment, and finances. The 20% of comments relating to digital inclusion overlap to a large extent with this category, as many of the comments related to the needs of those who could not afford access to digital devices such as phones, tablets and laptops or data to keep them connected to the internet. The 20% of needs categorised as "other" were those specified by two or fewer organisations.

When coded into more specific categories, Figure 16 shows that the most commonly identified needs were those relating to mental health support and digital inclusion, with 20% of organisations identifying each of these as emerging needs.

6.1.1 Digital inclusion

Digital inclusion was the joint most common need identified by respondents, with one in five organisations (20%) citing this as an emerging need. Given that very few of the organisations supported by the Wellbeing Fund are focused primarily on this issue ordinarily, this suggests that digital exclusion has been a particularly noticeable and significant challenge for the third sector and their beneficiaries as a result of the pandemic.

Organisations highlighted several factors preventing people from using their virtual services, connecting digitally with friends and family, across the age range. Access to, and the affordability of, devices and data was cited by several organisations as a significant barrier to people's engagement in their services, with concern raised about the impact that this has on equality of opportunity, particularly for children unable to access the internet while schools were closed. As one respondent noted:

"The effects of digital exclusion on low-income communities is clearer than ever before, and as we gradually ease out of lockdown, digital access remains limited at a time when it is most essential. It remains imperative that young people and their families are connected to ensure the safety and wellbeing of their families and communities. There is a huge IT gap in skills and knowledge for very many of our tenants who do not have access to broadband, access to a device and the knowledge of how best to use a device to stay in touch with people, to get a cheaper quotation or to access information on the web."

Like this respondent, several organisations also commented on the need to address low IT skills and confidence. Where service users were able to use digital technology and access services remotely, other organisations highlighted the fact that there is a need to be sensitive to what formats people are comfortable using, with some people preferring more traditional channels like email to communicate, rather than social media or video calls.

Another consideration highlighted by an organisation working with disabled people was the particular challenges to using digital and virtual technology facing people with particular disabilities. For example, digital inclusion was made more difficult for those who needed particular software or skills, such as voice-activated technology, to be able to use virtual services:

"It has been hugely frustrating at times to know that so many of our guests were experiencing unnecessary isolation due to their own digital exclusion as a result of their disability. In today's day and age, with more and more voice activated technology readily available in the marketplace, this simply should not be the case"

6.1.2 Health and wellbeing

Mental health, loneliness and isolation

Just under half (49%) of the comments on emerging needs identified by organisations were broadly related to the health and wellbeing of beneficiaries. Needs relating to mental health were the joint most common of all emerging needs identified, with one in five (20%) organisations mentioning this.

Closely related to this, 9% of comments referred to support for those struggling with loneliness and/or social isolation. To some extent, these concerns reflect the fact that the majority of projects funded by the Wellbeing Fund (64%) were focused on mental health and wellbeing.

The main themes arising from the comments concerning mental health needs were exacerbations of existing mental health conditions, newly emerging mental health issues, and concerns about access to mental health support.

Some organisations highlighted the negative impact that the pandemic and social restrictions have had on people with existing mental health conditions. Most comments particularly focused on anxiety, with many pointing out that anxiety-related conditions appear to have worsened for many people. For example, respondents noted anxiety being exacerbated by concerns such as those relating to job losses and unemployment, physical health, loneliness and isolation, bereavement, accessing food and medication, and worries about adhering to specific regulations such as wearing face coverings in public places. As one respondent, whose organisation works with veterans described:

"The majority of our course participants suffer from mental health issues. These were made much worse by Covid-19, leaving some people extremely anxious. Many veterans find using supermarkets a difficult environment at the best of times, with the additional queues and difficulty in getting online shopping this was made much worse and sometimes food supplies became extremely low. There was a similar effect with medication as a lot of our participants are on long term medication. There was huge anxiety about whether medication would be available. For those with hidden injuries, e.g. head injuries, resulting in not being able to wear masks, there was a lot of confusion and unknowns which again led to a lot of anxiety and stress."

As these comments highlight, organisations have observed the pandemic not only exacerbating existing sources of anxiety – in this instance, struggling with supermarkets – but also bringing up new causes of anxiety, such as face coverings for those with hidden injuries.

Other organisations highlighted the view that new cases of mental health problems across the age range appear to have arisen as a result of the lockdown. As one respondent commented:

"We have evidenced a very high need for mental health supports for all ages as we have witnessed kids as young as 8 years old right through to pensioners who have developed mental health issues throughout the lock down period. Anger issues have grown from frustration and this has led to resentment within families and extended families, breakdowns in relationships and the stress of the ongoing uncertainty for the future. Statistics were high prior to lockdown but we have evidenced a sharp rise and as stated, more kids are showing signs now than ever before."

Loneliness and isolation

As with other mental health concerns, comments relating to the needs of those suffering from loneliness and/or social isolation emphasised the view that this was a significant problem which has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Some indicated that their work during the pandemic has enabled them to better understand and respond to the needs of those who feel lonely or socially isolated:

"Many of our clients who participated in online activities shared with us that they had been feeling severely lonely and isolated long before COVID-19, and that they would have benefitted from this kind of contact [the virtual social activities offered by the organisation] even under normal circumstances. We have been aware that loneliness and isolation is a serious problem within the veteran community and have created in-person sports groups for football and disabled curling to address it [before the pandemic]. However, it is clear that sports activities are not meeting the social needs of all those suffering with loneliness. As a result, we will be continuing virtual outreach for this cohort through the most popular of our activities, such as the weekly video quiz."

Similarly, another organisation said it had become aware during the response to the pandemic of how dependent some of their members are on carers and specific activities for social connection, also suggesting that there will be a continued need for online sessions in the future:

"The lockdown period has confirmed to us how isolated and vulnerable many of our community are. When services have been paused, such as reduction in carers visiting, or usual activities cancelled, many are very likely have to have little or no contact outside of immediately family. We hope to continue online peer support sessions that are both social and informative."

6.1.3 Physical health and people with disabilities

7% of comments about emerging needs were related people with specific needs arising from physical health conditions and/or disabilities. A common need cited was the need for specialist advice, information and support for people living with specific conditions to help them understand what they needed to do to stay safe from Covid-19, maintain their health, and manage the virus should they catch it. One organisation, which works with people with cerebral palsy, noted that there was a need for better understanding of cerebral palsy and Covid-19 to better inform people with the condition of how to address their concerns.

"The lack of specialist knowledge both of COVID-19 and cerebral palsy meant that often GPs were having to guess if someone should be shielded or not and greatly increased anxiety for people with cerebral palsy. This lack of specialist knowledge of cerebral palsy is something that we are committed to working with partners in order to address. Wider conversations also highlighted, and again confirm our experience, that some adults haven't had any ongoing contact or support from health and social care services. The pandemic has left them feeling that they had nowhere to turn when they needed help and advice at a frightening time."

The concerns of this organisation were reflected by other organisations in relation to a range of other conditions, including heart problems, blood diseases and cancers.

Some organisations also highlighted an emerging need to support people suffering with "Long Covid", noting that growing numbers of people seeking support and information about this condition. As one organisation that works with people with neurological conditions noted:

"Long Covid seems to have significant overlap with many of the neurological health conditions we support and we are seeing an increasing number of enquiries across our centre and other similar charities as people look for support and solutions."

Support for carers

The need for greater support for carers was highlighted as an emerging need by 6% of respondents. These comments highlighted a range of challenges that carers face, and which have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, including: financial struggles; stress, anxiety and burnout; digital exclusion; and loneliness and isolation.

Organisations highlighted the intense pressure some carers were under during the lockdown, with many having to take on full-time care for relatives without respite, as paid carers were often not able to work because of illness, self-isolation or lockdown restrictions. Several organisations noted that the Covid-19 pandemic had highlighted the a pre-existing need for a stronger caring workforce. As one organisation stated:

"The project reminded us of the ongoing need to build a quality workforce. Families often commission this care directly but when supply dries up, have nowhere else to turn. The pandemic has shone a spotlight on this issue as many carers were unable to work. With other support services also shutting down, this left too many families having to care for their child 24/7. There is an emerging need for an emergency social care service to be available to families in these times to prevent them falling into crises themselves."

6.1.4 Poverty and unemployment

Needs relating to poverty and/or financial assistance were prevalent in the comments provided by recipient organisations, with more than one in three (37%) respondents citing these as emerging needs.

Food

12% of respondents highlighted a continuing need for food security, with several commenting on the upsurge in demand for emergency food parcels and meals during the lockdown, and the expectation that this would continue as a result of economic recession:

"From the start of lockdown our frontline staff were connecting vulnerable families with foodbanks. We recognise that as we have now officially entered a recession demand for food banks will only grow. It is essential that foodbanks are able to keep up with demand, as no child should have to go hungry."

A number of organisations also stressed that the main need in relation to food was for longer-term food security so that people would be less dependent on emergency food aid. As one respondent commented:

"Covid responses across Dundee have predominantly looked at increasing food distribution which is great, but income maximisation is really important, especially if we aim to move away from always having to provide crisis interventions; we want to tackle rent arrears before eviction notices are served; we want to make sure people are addressing debt before being court action is taken. We hope to make sure people have long-term food security, instead of referring people for food parcels as and when needed."

Poverty

As well as the specific problem of food insecurity, 12% of organisations noted more general needs relating to poverty, while 13% noted needs specifically relating to unemployment. Many of these comments centred on concerns about increasing unemployment and redundancies, and the likelihood of these continuing to rise in the near future. As a result, organisations highlighted emerging needs for access to support and advice relating to benefits, personal finances and debt, and support in seeking employment. The following comments from three separate respondents highlight these main concerns:

"Employment and redundancy issues continue to spike and there is a strong indication that the need for this type of advice [on employment and redundancy] will continue. On the back of these issues come the money and benefits advice clients require due to changing circumstances. I do fear that advice agencies will struggle to cope with the additional need and demand for services are the true impact of COVID-19 emerges."

"My current concern is regarding the furlough scheme – will employers start paying off staff – this will create an influx of people who will need support until their universal credit will get sorted out, therefore there is the anticipation that support may be needed through until end of October and possibly beyond – but at the moment this is an unknown factor."

"The future for our clients is once again going to be made very difficult. We were recovering from the impact of the 2008 financial crash and were seeing more of our clients moving in to employment and ending their previous negative lifestyle. The rate of unemployment now has soared and our client group will be pushed further back from the labour market and from support."

6.1.5 Support for third sector organisations

A small number (3%) of third sector organisations highlighted better support from local authorities and/or the Scottish Government as an emergent need. One commented that there is a need for more guidance from government for community groups (although the type of guidance was not specified), while the other two commented on wanting more engagement and support from their local councils for third sector organisations. As one commented:

"The Third Sector is still not recognised to be an equal partner in terms of service provision, unfortunately, and are under-utilised by local authorities, certainly in [ local authority name]. We could have done so much more if we had had support from [the local authority] and recognition of the support we offer to families of children with additional support needs"

6.1.6 Other

17% of emergent needs were coded into the "other category". These were needs identified by two or fewer of the 100 organisations sampled. They included a need for better communication with service users and potential service users, specific support for minority groups, more outdoor spaces for children to play in, more support for young people, particular essential items outside of food boxes such as toothbrushes, and support for people who are rough sleeping.

6.2 What did organisations learn from the experience of running projects through the Wellbeing Fund?

6.2.1 What would organisations do differently?

All recipient organisations were asked what, with hindsight, they would have done differently if they could have run their Wellbeing Fund project again. A random sample of 100 open-ended responses was selected for analysis.

Of this sample, 56 (56%) said that they would do something differently, while 27 (27%) said that they would do nothing differently. 17 (17%) did not specify whether they would make any changes.

The 56 responses indicating that the organisation would make changes were coded and analysed to understand what challenges these organisations faced and what they might change in a similar future situation. In total, 96 suggested changes were identified by the 56 organisations, and were coded as shown in Table 4.

Table 4: What organisations would have done differently

What organisations would have done differently. Coding of responses where changes were specified by type (56 out of 100 organisations)	Number of organisations	Percentage of total sample
Nature of service delivery	15	15.6%
Digital technology and online services	14	14.6%
Infrastructure/capacity	12	12.5%
More funding/longer funding period	11	11.5%
Speed	10	10.4%
Planning	8	8.3%
Expand service provision	6	6.3%
Staff skills/training	6	6.3%
Better knowledge of the crisis, needs, and the wider response	5	5.2%
Staff/volunteer wellbeing	2	2.1%
Other	7	7.3%

The most common areas where organisations suggested that they would have liked to do something differently were in relation to: the nature of their service delivery (15.6%), digital technology and online services (14.6%), infrastructure and/or capacity (12.5%), more funding/longer funding period (11.5%), and the speed of their projects (10.4%).

Nature of service delivery

The most common change that organisations suggested that they would like to have made were changes to the nature of their service delivery. In most cases these were relatively minor changes such as changing the type of activities offered, or the medium through which they communicated with their clients. In a small number of cases, the changes suggested were more significant, such as completely changing the focus or type of support provided to ensure that people's most pressing needs were being met.

Some respondents mentioned changing their focus because they became aware of unanticipated unmet needs, or found that the original service they offered was already available from other organisations. For example, one organisation, with a focus on supporting people with HIV, realised that their initial offering of free food was already available from many other local organisations and was not necessarily what their service users needed most:

"In the early days, there was a lot of duplication. Every other organisation was attempting to deliver free food. For many of our service users, the cost of the food wasn't really the issue, it was the access to food that was the real problem. Not all of our service users have the tech, knowledge or a suitable bank card to order food online from the major supermarkets. The Scottish Government and local food banks (Trussell Trust) were fantastic and credit to them for weekly deliveries and medication pick-up and drop-offs. Because HIV is unfortunately still a stigmatising health condition many of our service users were not comfortable with local volunteers delivering their HIV medication for fear of disclosure. There was clearly a role here for [us]. Medication distribution was the focus and we should have left the early distribution of food to the Scottish Government and food banks, with a few clear exceptions (specific dietary issues)."

One area where several respondents noted a need for changes in their service delivery was in relation to online and virtual services, with many service users being less keen than had been anticipated on using online tools such as video calling. For example, one organisation working with families noted that they had assumed that people who had previously attended family group sessions would want to continue their groups online via Zoom or Skype. However, they found that many service users were wary of "appearing on screen" from home – for example because they were not comfortable showing others their homes. Many therefore preferred individual sessions with staff members via phone or text. This led the organisation to reflect that it would have been better to offer a more flexible approach to providing support for the families they work with remotely.

Digital technology and online services

The area of digital technology and online services was the second-most common category of suggested changes, with issues arising in relation to both staff and service users' ability to use certain technologies.

As already mentioned, in some instances service users were less willing to embrace certain means of virtual communication than organisations had initially anticipated. In other cases respondents reported service users struggling to access their online services as a result of poor connections, lack of equipment or low digital literacy. As such, some organisations said that they would have liked to be able to more to help services users access virtual services, through provision of the necessary equipment and support with using it. As one respondent commented:

"We have identified very definite skills gaps amongst our participants in relation to using technologies. For example, in setting up and using wifi connections, accessing and signing up to apps and using them. Ideally, we would have had the ability to offer "Digital First Aiders" from the outset, to assist with these issues and ensure people could get quickly connected to support. In our survey [of service users], 20% of respondents said they had not found our online platforms (e.g. Cluster, zoom) easy to use and we were aware that some were not participating within these groups. We did as much as we could remotely, but this could be time consuming, difficult, and was not always effective."

Staff IT skills were also mentioned as an area where more training and support earlier in the pandemic would have helped to ensure that staff were able to support clients as well as possible remotely. One respondent commented, for example, that if they could do the project again:

"I would have applied for digital training for the staff – it would make more effective use of their time to be up to speed on all the packages we use – to enable better use of them and free up time for more direct support."

Infrastructure and capacity

Several organisations mentioned wanting to have had better infrastructure or more capacity in place to deal with the demand that they were facing. In many cases, the substantial changes that they needed to make to their usual patterns of service delivery required much better infrastructure or greater capacity than they had available at the beginning of the project.

Several organisations suggested that they would have benefited from already having the technological infrastructure in place for their staff to work remotely. Similarly, a number of the organisations engaged in cooking and/or distributing food mentioned needing to invest in better infrastructure to cope both with the supply of stock coming into them, and the demand from service users. As two separate respondents explained:

"We did experience issues on a few occasions with our generator as it was not designed to be used to the extent that it was. So, in hindsight, we could have had a back-up generator. We have very limited storage and with the volume of food and drinks being needed to operate 7 days we would definitely have found a benefit to having a bigger storage facility with the addition of a freezer as we had to use our volunteers' freezers to store our perishable foods."

"I would have increased the storage (especially of frozen food) at an earlier point as we received a lot of additional donations which we found it hard to find space for."

Some organisations also commented that their work would have been enhanced by greater staff and volunteer capacity. These comments reflected a relatively widespread overall sense that demand for third sector services was sometimes higher than anticipated, and that the demands of creating entirely new areas of work in such a short period of time was challenging. As one respondent explained:

"What I will do differently for any future response will involve being more realistic about the staff capacity required to move to a completely new area of work and to deliver it. We have a great staff team and they have all stepped up and put in the hours, working full time instead of part-time etc., but without this we would have found it very hard to keep up with need and demand."

This desire to have had more personnel also fed into concerns about staff and volunteer wellbeing, with a small proportion of organisations (2.1%) noting that their staff and/or volunteers were working extra hours and had suffered from low morale and even ill health as a result:

"Had we had better capacity at the onset of the pandemic, we could have avoided some of the added stress and pressure that the team felt. This would have made me feel that we were better prepared rather than just doing it anyway and hoping for the best. This would possibly have prevented very long working hours, some ill health, and staff morale taking a hit, but maybe that would still have happened anyway. We are now paying the price for this a wee bit as staff are very tired and have had no time off yet. I implemented a new well-being strategy for staff three weeks in, formalising regular Zoom team fun tea breaks, increased supervision, etc., but I wish I had done this sooner."

More funding/longer funding period

11 of the 56 organisations commented that they would have benefited from either more funding or a longer funding period. Some commented that the relatively short time in which they needed to spend the Wellbeing Fund grant meant that they did not have the necessary time for planning their projects thoroughly. This sentiment was also implied in several of the responses which focused on planning, without explicitly mentioning funding. These responses also tended to express a desire to have had more time for planning the project more in detail.

One organisation, which supports people coping with bereavement, said that with hindsight, it would have sought funding elsewhere in order to implement a longer project, as some people suffering a bereavement need a long period of support, which was not possible through a project of this length:

"We would have chosen a fund that provided a longer time frame to incorporate the grieving process from the death, including the Delayed Grief process which may not affect people until the festive period and beyond. Unfortunately [we] will not be accepting any further COVID-19 referrals from agencies or people grieving after 14^th September 2020 due to lack of funding."

Others commented that with hindsight they would have applied for more funding, as they had underestimated the level of demand for their services that the pandemic created. As one respondent noted:

"We would have asked for more funding earlier as the demand was far greater than we had expected."

Speed

10 organisations mentioned feeling that they would have liked to have moved more quickly at the beginning of the project. In some cases, organisations felt that they should have embraced new methods more quickly, particularly in relation to digital technology and virtual services, or provided for their clients' practical needs more quickly. Other things organisations felt they could have done more quickly to help the smooth running of their projects were mobilising or bringing in more volunteers and creating strategies for managing volunteer and staff wellbeing.

Some organisations noted the fact that as a result of the provisions they have put in place with the Wellbeing Funding, they will be in a position to respond more quickly to similar situations in future:

"We are, probably like most others, much more prepared to support the community in times of crisis as a result of the pandemic (and this funding) than we had been previously and while we are pleased to have been able to introduce some activity as the pandemic progressed, we would be in a better position to implement support more promptly in future if required."