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Working for Families: Lessons from the Pilot Projects (Stage 1)

CHAPTER TWO The Pilot Projects

Introduction

2.1 The pilot projects are being developed in 2 contrasting areas: Dumfries and Galloway and Glasgow. In total there are 11 projects, although some of these are made up of a number of discrete elements. In addition the Scottish Executive is funding Glasgow City to undertake research into the type of childcare services that parents and carers would like to see. This Chapter gives an overview of their development state at October 2003.

2.2 In Dumfries and Galloway there are 8 projects. Although funded through the Council, the intention was that most would be delivered by other organisations. To facilitate this, Service Level Agreements are being drawn up between the Council and the deliverer. The first of these, with the Accessible Transport Forum that is to deliver the Access to Work project, has been drafted. However, delivery arrangements for a number of the projects have still to be resolved ( see Paragraph 2.8).

2.3 Three of the projects are within Glasgow. Of these 2 are being delivered by intermediary organisations with funding coming through the City Council whilst the third is being delivered by a voluntary organisation (Rosemount) that is being funded directly by the Scottish Executive. The 2 that are being delivered by intermediaries will have their relationships with the Council outlined in Service Level Agreements.

Project Funding

2.4 Table 2.1 summarises the funding that has been allocated to the projects. It will be seen that:

• 1,013,390 has been allocated by the Scottish Executive to the projects, an average of 92,000 per project, although the actual amounts range from 18,000 to 231,000;
• In addition to the Scottish Executive's funding, 3 of the projects intend to lever funds from other sources. This totals 99,452, giving total project funding of 1,111,842; and
• The leverage accounts for some 10% of total project costs.

Project Development Stages - Dumfries and Galloway

2.5 The development stages of the various pilot projects differ considerably both within and between the pilot authorities.

Tabele 2.1 Pilot Project Funding Details

1. Other financial support has come from Dumfries and Galloway Council Area Committees, Scottish Enterprise Dumfries and Galloway, the Rural Challenge Fund and, indirectly (for Rosemount), the European Regional Development Fund.

2.6 In Dumfries and Galloway project development is being overseen by a sub-group of the Council's Inclusive Communities Forum, entitled the Childcare, Employment and Training Working Group. This brings together the key partners, for example Council staff, the Surestart Service manager, the Accessible Transport Forum, Jobcentre Plus and the Scottish Childminding Association. Some of the members have responsibility for project delivery (for example the Transport Forum) whilst others can potentially provide relevant advice and support, such as Dumfries and Galloway College's Lifelong Learning Partnership Co-ordinator. Policy support, and liaison with the Scottish Executive, comes through a designated Council officer. In addition the Sub-Group has set up a Monitoring and Evaluation Group, which had its first meeting in early September. This is looking at how the pilots will be monitored and is developing proposals for using a common reporting template.

2.7 Attempts are also being made to keep local elected members informed about progress. This is being done by making presentations to the various Area Committees that have been set up throughout the Council area. There is no parallel in Glasgow, with the nearest being the Steering Group that is overseeing development and is chaired by a senior councillor. However, this has far more of a strategic role ( see Paragraph 2.10).

2.8 At the time of writing in October 2003, the individual projects are at varying stages of development:

• There has been no progress on the Sitter Service (Project 1) ², which is to provide childcare within parents/carers homes. The intention is that the service will be run by an intermediary organisation. A brief is to be drawn up and it is hoped to commission someone to implement this shortly thereafter;
• A start has been made on Project 2, Out-of-Hours Childcare. This aims to provide subsidised childcare outwith the hours of 9 to 5. This is to be part of the remit of 4 childcare development workers who have recently been appointed by the Council;
• Project 3, Evening Childcare was the idea of a parent-led community group in North West Dumfries. The project is to provide childcare in the evening to enable parents/carers to attend classes at a learning resource centre. Unfortunately the Care Commission has expressed reservations about the group's ability to take on board additional responsibilities. At the moment it is unclear how the project will be implemented, although it is recognised that there is still a need. One possibility is for delivery to be undertaken by one of the other Pilots, possibly Project 5 (Expansion of Existing Childminding Services). However this would need to be agreed with the Scottish Executive;
• Project 4 (the Roving Crèche) is currently available throughout the region. The intention is to expand provision in the more remote rural areas and link it to outreach learning centres and eventually to a mobile learning facility. It is also to be used to pilot a computer based training package for potential childminders. This is intended to take trainees through the process from pre-registration to becoming established childminders. It is to be based in Annandale, Eskdale and Upper Nithsdale. Originally it was to be run by a community group, Little Stars. However the Care Commission has expressed concerns about its capacity. What seems now likely to happen is that it will be taken forward by the Council, using the same staff. The long term aim will be that the group should eventually take over responsibility for the project once its management capacity has developed;
• Project 5, the Expansion of the Childminding Service, is being delivered by the Scottish Childminding Association (SCMA). It aims to target those on low incomes who wish to enter employment as childminders. Two part-time co-ordinators have been recruited covering, respectively, the West of the area and the East. In parallel with this, publicity material is being prepared (which will also be used for Project 6) and a monitoring pro-forma has been drafted. This has been helped by the fact that the SCMA is accustomed to running projects funded by Europe that have monitoring requirements;
• There has been limited development of the Childminding Subsidy (Project 6) which is again to be delivered by SCMA. The project is based on feedback from SCMA's helpline and surveys which identified a need for evening support so that parents could gain work. The aim is to make childminding more affordable by providing the minder with a subsidy to cover the extra costs of evening childcare. There is also to be support during the transitional period when the parent or carer moves into a job and is waiting for Working Tax Credit to be processed. It is hoped to recruit a co-ordinator but as yet no one is in post. However there has been progress on preparation of publicity material (see Project 5) and it is expected that there will be rapid progress once staff are in post;
• Project 7, The Access to Work pilot (which provides childcare whilst parents are being taught to drive) has appointed a co-ordinator who took up post on the 1 ^st August. The local press is being used to recruit clients and the eligibility questionnaires have been prepared. In part the reason for this relatively rapid progress is that the project has already run in a similar form for one year, albeit covering a smaller area. As a result it was relatively easy to roll it out across new areas (South Machars);
• Progress has also been made with the Community Transport, Project 8. This aims to use community transport to take children to childcare services thereby enabling their parents to access employment or training. This is to be managed by a local group. The Accessible Transport Forum co-ordinator has spent time working with local people to get them to the stage at which they feel confident about taking on management responsibilities. Time has also been spent looking at suitable transport, with various providers being invited to bring people carriers and mini-buses down to Whithorn to be examined by the group; and
• The Council received a contract in August from the Scottish Executive for delivering the 8 projects and associated outputs and outcomes.

2.9 The Council's intention is to appoint a co-ordinator whose remit will be to oversee all 8 projects and ensure that they meet the Scottish Executive's objectives. The co-ordinator will also help the projects to develop their marketing strategies thereby ensuring that the target client group is reached. There has been discussion about the job specification, which at one time was to include project development. This might have resulted in the job being impossible for a single person to fill. However, the description has now been narrowed down and made more strategic, and therefore manageable, for whoever is appointed. The expectation is that the post will be filled by a secondee who has been involved in project development. Yet progress has been slow and to date no appointment has been made. There is clearly a danger that, by the time the appointment is made, the projects will be well into their one year life so that the opportunity to influence their development may be limited.

Project Development Stages - Glasgow

2.10 Within Glasgow a Steering Group has been set up to oversee development of the 2 projects being funded by the Council. In contrast to Dumfries and Galloway the majority of the members are senior officers from relevant departments (for example Education and Social Work) and the chair is a senior councillor. As such its role is more strategic than operational. Unlike Dumfries and Galloway there is no intention of appointing a co-ordinator. However, this role is effectively being filled by a staff member from Development and Regeneration Services who acts as the liaison person between the projects and the Steering Group and also liaises with the Scottish Executive.

2.11 Progress in developing the 2 Glasgow City projects is as follows:

• The Castlemilk project (Castlemilk Employment, Education and Childcare Support), after a slow start, has developed rapidly in the last month (October 2003). It has 2 elements and in many respects is similar to the Easterhouse pilot. The elements are:
  • A childcare subsidy scheme to allow parents or carers to purchase suitable childcare to meet their needs; and
  • A dedicated guidance worker who will provide advice and support to individuals to help them make the transition to work.

  The guidance worker, a secondee from the local economic development company (Castlemilk Economic Development Agency (CEDA)), has been appointed and took up post at the end of September. Accordingly the project will run from October 2003 to September 2004. The worker's immediate priority is developing marketing and publicity material. Presentations are also to be made to local agencies. Priority is being given to developing links with the Community Care Manager and the Social Work Team as it is thought that they will make the majority of referrals to the project. The guidance worker also intends to work closely with "Moneymatters" (a local financial advice agency). It will give advice on benefits, how to maximise uptake and how to manage once the 6 to 12 month period of childcare subsidy comes to an end; and

• The Easterhouse project is to be run by Childcare Greater Easterhouse and, like Castlemilk, will run from October 2003 to September 2004. Originally it had 4 discrete elements. These were:
  • A mentor whose role was to work with parents, employers and agencies to identify the childcare support that needed to be provided to allow entry to the job market or to education/training;
  • A childcare subsidy that was to help people who had problems paying for childcare during the first 6 months that they were in work or on a course;
  • Paying for additional 0-3 year old childcare provision in the area; and
  • Providing school holiday and wraparound childcare provision.

  These 4 elements have now been combined into 2: mentoring and childcare subsidy, with the latter incorporating the 2 other elements: a wrap-around and holiday childcare service and additional provision for 0 to 3 year olds. The mentor has been appointed and takes up post in mid-October. It had initially been hoped that a local agency Family Action in Rogerfield and Easterhouse (FARE) would provide a secondee. In the event this proved to be impractical. Instead the person targeted for the secondment has been appointed on a one year's contract. It was felt to be important to recruit a local person who was aware of local childcare issues and agencies. There would, therefore, be no need to spend time developing networks so that the appointee would be able to make the most effective use of time. The mentor will manage the subsidy scheme. The benefits of Easterhouse's well developed inter-agency links, through such groups as the Greater Easterhouse Partnership and the Childcare Greater Easterhouse Strategy Group are already apparent. For example Community Connections (a local training agency) is keen to work with the project and to make its clients aware of the assistance that it can provide to help them move into employment. Likewise links have been made with Greater Easterhouse Money Advice. It will conduct quarterly financial checks with those who have received a subsidy and provide a wider financial advice and support service.

2.12 The Rosemount Transitions Project, although in Glasgow, is slightly different in that it is being funded directly by the Scottish Executive. It aims to provide advice, support and guidance to parents to enable them to make the "transition" to work. As part of this process childcare support is to be provided, as well as a crisis fund that provides small amounts of money to be paid out to clients to help them overcome unforeseen circumstances such as emergency childcare. One of the outcomes that the project hopes to achieve is involvement in voluntary activity, which is seen as a halfway house between being economically inactive and entering the labour market. This is not something that is explicitly mentioned by the Scottish Executive. It may, however, be an intermediate outcome that other projects could usefully pursue and which needs to be measured. This is considered again in Chapters 3 and 4.

2.13 The current situation in the Transitions project (which is to run from October 2003 to September 2004) is that:

• The senior guidance worker took up post at the start of July. This was possible because, as with Dumfries and Galloway's Access to Work project, the Transitions Project is an extension and intensification of an existing initiative that had run for 18 months. Once this funding stream ended it proved possible to support the same worker through the pilot monies;
• The other 2 posts that are being funded through the pilot (an information and support officer and an administrator) have been advertised and filled. As Rosemount decided to make permanent appointments, rather than go for a temporary post or a secondment, the application and appointment process was very time consuming due to the number of applicants;
• The crisis funding part of the pilot (5,000 to cover a variety of crises, for example the need to provide emergency childcare or cover loss of earnings due to childcare problems) is almost finalised. Discussions have been held with various agencies to ensure that the Fund will not duplicate the support that they offer. In order to avoid conflicts of interest the Fund is to be managed by Rosemount's financial controller rather than the guidance worker. The controller's post is, however, currently vacant, although it is due to be filled by the end of October;
• Part of the pilot was funding for 6 additional childcare places that were to be purchased from a local community-based childcare provider (St Roch's) and provided in its facilities. At our first meeting with the project there was uncertainty as to how these would be used. For example, one option was that they would be used by the parents who were being supported by the guidance worker. In the event this is not the option that the project has decided to adopt. The St Roch's places will be used by a group of parents who will enrol on a European Social Fund training course. This will mean that there are then 6 childcare places in Rosemount that will be filled by the children of parents who will make use of the Transitions project. It has also been decided, since our first meeting, that 3 of the places will be for parents who are involved in voluntary work: this being seen as a half-way house to paid employment. As such a volunteer co-ordinator is part of the Transitions staff complement, albeit that salary costs are being covered from other sources;
• There are on-going discussions about eligibility criteria for accessing the childcare places. The key factor has to be that any recipient of support would not be eligible for assistance through some other channel. This might, for example, mean that those on education courses would not be eligible as there is usually some form of childcare support for students;
• Part of the pilot funding (6,000) is to be used for developing more effective monitoring and evaluation systems. At the moment the project is in the process (using an external consultant) of revising its existing monitoring and evaluation forms; and
• The project's geographical area has also been slightly changed. As well as covering the area of the Glasgow North Social Inclusion Partnership (SIP) it will also take in Townhead which, although not within the SIP, contains areas of recognised need.

2.14 In addition to the pilot projects the Scottish Executive is also funding the City to undertake market research that is being done on its behalf by FMR Research. The original intention was that this would be undertaken sequentially, with the research findings shaping the pilot projects. In the event the work is being undertaken in parallel and it remains to be seen if it has the ability to shape the pilots, given their development stages.

2.15 The first stage of the research was published in August (FMR Research 2003) and involved 60 face-to-face interviews conducted in Castlemilk and Easterhouse. To some extent the profile of the interviewees matches the profile of the intended recipients of the Working for Families support, with almost half being single parents and two thirds receiving Income Support. However, in other ways the survey has deficiencies. There were no ethnic minority respondents (partly a reflection of the areas in which the survey was carried out) and some of the questions seem to omit useful dimensions. For example the question that asks for views on the type of childcare services makes no mention of childminding.

2.16 The research does, however, provide some justification for some of the pilots. For example, in terms of the childcare support that would help respondents move into employment or onto a course:

• 58% cited school holiday childcare;
• 57% financial assistance; and
• 45% childcare outwith 9 to 5.

2.17 In other respects the research presents challenges to the assumptions underpinning the Working for Families funding, or at least indicates that results may not be rapid. This comes about when the interviewees were asked about the timing of their intentions to move into work or education/training. Very few saw this as an immediate intention, with the majority seeing it as a long term goal (longer than 12 months). Given this type of timescale, there must be some doubt if this is a realistic intention at all. At the very least it does indicate that "success", in terms of achieving such a hard outcome as a job, may be a long time coming if left to the parents/carers alone. It also emphasises the importance of having some monitoring system that can measure changes in attitudes as well as simply hard outcomes. This is considered in greater detail in Chapter 4.

2.18 There may also be a danger that, if the findings of the research about the timing of a move into work, are generally applicable, then the Working for Families funding may result in displacement. This may come about as those who want to work, or are already in a job (and currently make use of informal childcare) take advantage of the additional provision. This then displaces their informal arrangements. They may be helped in this by the desire of the projects to illustrate success. The outcome could be that those who are furthest from the labour market are not helped, in part as they do not want to move into work in the near future. Some evidence for this is found in the research which identified a view that additional childcare places would take the pressure off informal provision (FMR Research, 2003, p. 14).

Summary

2.19 In summary, of the 11 projects, 2 were effectively operational by October 2003 (Rosemount's Transitions and Dumfries and Galloway's Access to Work). It is significant that both of these are developments of existing projects that have run, albeit in slightly different or less intensive forms, prior to Scottish Executive support being obtained. There has been little development for 4 of the others. The remaining 5 are in the process of starting to deliver, with staff having been appointed, although as yet developments on the ground are limited.

2.20 Having produced an overview of the 11 pilot projects we will now consider the issues that have emerged over the time of the formative evaluation.

2 The project numbers refer to the numbers in Table 2.1

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