Publicly-funded advice services in Scotland: review report

Appendix 2: Funding provided by non-statutory organisations & the Third Sector

This appendix sets out the funding received by a number of advice providers who receive public money directly from Scottish Government, Local Authorities, SLAB, NHS Scotland or Accountant in Bankruptcy. The financial information has been provided by survey respondents, and where practicable, it has been augmented by and verified against data published in annual reports and accounts, and through telephone interviews with some of providers and funders. The advice providers highlighted in this section represent a range of organisations highlighted by the research advisory group as being key recipients of public funding for advice services. This section also includes information received from other recipients of public funding who responded to the survey.

This section does not provide an exhaustive list. However, it serves to illustrate that national and local organisations that deliver advice services can and do receive funding from multiple public sector bodies, and that funding awards are made over differing timescales. In addition, advice providers report that they receive funding from a range of other sources.

Citizens Advice Scotland

In their response to the online survey issued as part of this review, Citizens Advice Scotland reported receiving fourteen different funding grants. Of these, eight can be classed as direct funding from the public sector. The breakdown of public funding received by CAS is noted below.

Citizens Advice Scotland received annual funding totalling £6,450,000 from Scottish Government and the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy ( BEIS) of the UK Government, to support its core advice services delivered via the Citizens Advice Bureaux network:

• It received, for a six-month period, an additional £1,591,000 from BEIS and Scottish Government for its Consumer Advice Service following the transfer of responsibility from the UK Government to the Scottish Government;
• It also reports an annual payment of £1,621,000 for its Extra Help Unit from Scottish Government and BEIS;
• It received £3,080,000 from the Department of Work and Pensions to deliver its Pension Wise service;
• It received £1,460,000 from the Scottish Government for a Social Security Mitigation Project for the period 2016/2017;
• It received grant funding from NHS Scotland totalling £1,122,212 for the period 2016/17 for its Patient Advice & Support Service (it received a total of £3,415,277 for the period 2014-2017);
• It received £87,000 for its MATRICS service from the Office for the Accountant in Bankruptcy (for a 12 month period);
• It received £161,000 from the Scottish Government for its kinship care service.

In addition to these publicly-funded grants CAS received funding from Citizens Advice ( UK), Big Lottery, E-on, Money Advice Trust, Poppy Scotland and a private donation from Martin Lewis.

Advice Direct Scotland Limited (Advice Direct Scotland T/A Citizens Advice Direct)

Advice Direct Scotland delivers the online and telephone helpline for Citizens Advice and offers a range of other technology-enabled services for other organisations, for example, Police Scotland and Glasgow City Council.

In its annual accounts for the period 2015/16 it reports a commitment of £550,000 core funding from Scottish Government for the next financial period (Advice Direct Scotland Limited 2016).

It also receives £61,852 from SLAB through its Making Advice Work Programme to provide a service for the Glasgow Advice & Information Network, and reports receiving £1,000,000 from Citizens Advice to run its consumer helpline.

Money Advice Scotland

Money Advice Scotland is an umbrella organisation which promotes the development of free, independent, impartial and confidential debt advice and financial inclusion education. Money Advice Scotland is a charitable organisation and in its most recent audited accounts for the period 2015/2016, it declares income from a range of sources which are detailed below.

The Money Advice Service reports receiving three funding amounts from Scottish Government totalling £377,732. Two of these funding amounts represent contributions from Scottish Government and the Accountant in Bankruptcy - funding for the MATRICS project £102,224 and funding for the Scottish Financial Health Check Helpline £129,752. The additional funding received from Scottish Government supports financial capability work and totals £145,756.

In addition to the funding received from Scottish Government, Money Advice Scotland received a grant payment from SLAB totalling £36,541. This funding has enabled Money Advice Scotland to partner with the Council for Ethnic Minority Volunteer Organisations ( CEMVO) to target advice to minority ethnic people.

In addition to the public funding noted above totalling £414,273, the Money Advice Service received a further £519,040 from other sources. These are noted below:

• Money Advice Service: £103,040
• Money Advice Trust: £85,000
• Private donation: £200,000
• Membership: £131,000

In addition to funding received, Money Advice Scotland reports in its accounts that it has lost core funding previously awarded by the Money Advice Trust and that its future funding position for all streams of work is currently unknown.

Energy Savings Trust (incorporating Home Energy Scotland)

The Energy Savings Trust is a not-for-profit organisation founded by the UK Government to promote energy efficiency, energy conservation and sustainable use of energy. It is funded by the public sector and private industry. In response to the survey issued as part of this review, the Energy Savings Trust reported receiving £8.8 million in funding from the Scottish Government for the year 2016/17 to deliver the Scottish Government's Home Energy Scotland advice network. The Scottish Government reports that, of this figure, circa £4million is directed to activity that could be described as offering Type I or Type II advice. The balance of funding relates to specific policy initiatives, for example, grants for insulation or similar energy savings activities. Due to the wide ranging remit of the Energy Savings Trust, it receives funding from three different Scottish Government policy areas. These areas work together to make one award of circa £20million to ensure that there is clarity about the level of investment made by Scottish Government.

Adoption UK in Scotland

Adoption UK offers Type I advice through remote channels to prospective adopters, adoptive families and professionals working in the field of adoption. It receives a grant amounting to £45,000 per annum from the Scottish Government's Children Young People & Families Early Intervention Fund ( CYPFEIF). Adoption UK reports that it received payments in quarterly instalments and is secured over a three year basis through the CYPFEIF fund. The CYPFEIF fund is administered in partnership between Scottish Government and Lloyds TSB Foundation Scotland.

Direct Inclusive Collaborative Enterprise ( DICE)

DICE reports that it has received a three year commitment from the Scottish Government's 'Support in the Right Direction' Fund. It provides advice to people who may be eligible to have self directed support. In total, DICE reports it will receive £204,002 between 2015 and 2018.

Families Need Fathers

Families Need Fathers reports that they receive funding from two sources – the Scottish Government Early Intervention Fund for Children and Young People, and the Tudor Trust. They report receiving £63,000, and state that just over half is from the Scottish Government (a three year commitment), with match funding coming from a four year commitment from the Tudor Trust.

Granton Information Centre

Granton Information Centre offers a range of advice services in Edinburgh across advice types I, II and III. All of their reported funding is from public sources . They report receiving two annual commitments: £264,780.07 from the City of Edinburgh Council and £31,956.50 from NHS Lothian, as well as an 18 month grant from the Scottish Legal Aid Board of £126,191.20.

Macmillan Cancer Care

Macmillan reports receiving £450,000 from Scottish Government annually to provide benefits advice in 5 Cancer Centres throughout Scotland. They state that they provide regular reports to demonstrate the value of this investment, and that the funding is reviewed annually.

One Parent Families Scotland

One Parent Families Scotland runs the National Lone Parent Helpline, provides online advice and information, and runs a Financial Inclusion Service in Glasgow and Lanarkshire. They report that their helpline, information and training service receives £212,000 from Scottish Government on one year cycles, and a total of £21,000 from Big Lottery, split between a number of different grants with different timescales. They report that their financial inclusion service receives £66,360, three quarters of which comes from Comic Relief, with smaller sums from the Bank of Scotland Foundation and Glasgow City Council.

Shelter

Shelter Scotland provides an advice network comprised of 19 separate projects across the country aimed at giving advice to help people access or stay in their accommodation. Shelter Scotland reports the total cost of these projects to be £2,256,007. To fund this work, they report receiving just over £1.2m in funding. The reported breakdown of the £1.2m funding includes £641,612 from the Scottish Legal Aid Board, £184,208 from Scottish Government, £156,962 from various Local Authorities, £144,905 from British Gas, £52,914 from Big Lottery, £29,058 from CBRE and £24,487 from Blackwood Housing Association.

Stepchange Debt Charity

Stepchange provides impartial debt advice via a variety of platforms, for which they report receiving £295,000 from the Scottish Legal Aid Board over three years (expiring end of March 2017). They also report receiving a small percentage of all payments their clients make towards their debts from creditors, as the payments distributor under the Debt Arrangement Scheme. This is supplemented by fair share funding from creditors based on charitable donations for clients who are paying debts through a debt management plan, which they receive as part of the charity on a UK basis. In addition, the charity has received funding from Money Advice Service to help people who have been impacted by the regulation of the advice sector by Financial Conduct Authority.