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7 Survey of Services

7.1 Introduction

One of the main aims of this research was to make an assessment of the impact on housing, homelessness, health and social care services by migrants from the EU8. This section of the research was split into two stages.

In the first stage, a general survey was conducted with a range of services in Edinburgh, to gain information about their experiences of exposure to and work with EU8 migrants. This exercise generated some very useful information from agencies. A small number have established specialist, systematic means to monitor the impact of EU8 migrants on their service. However, a large amount of the information given was based on impressions and anecdote.

The second stage was carried out in response to the original draft recommendations of the research report, in keeping with the action research nature of the project. The general survey of agencies and the community profile had not generated sufficient information about the specific needs of women and children from EU8 countries. Therefore, qualitative interviews were carried out with several services within City of Edinburgh Council's Children and Families department and agencies who work specifically with women. As with the general agency survey, much of the information offered was based on impressions and experience; although some agencies were beginning to monitor the impact of EU8 women and children on their service.

Although the impact on services has varied hugely depending on type of service offered, there were some common issues across those surveyed. These relate to an increasing complexity of workload - in particular due to language barriers with clients; and lack of clarity about the legal entitlement to services. A range of recommendations have been made which can assist services to meet the needs of this new client group.

General survey of agencies

The services invited to take part in the general survey were chosen, primarily, from those represented at the New Member States Migrant Forum, convened by the Council. Their involvement in the Forum suggested the impact of EU8 migrants on their service was significant. Other statutory and voluntary agencies were also included. A list of those agencies that took part can be found in appendix (v). The questionnaire was given to both managers and frontline staff, in order to give as thorough a picture as possible of the impact of EU8 migrants on services.

The questionnaires posed questions in three main areas:

• General information about agency contact with EU8 migrants and, where appropriate, type of recording system in place
• Information on the use of services by EU8 migrants (patterns in usage; countries of origin; gender breakdown; main areas of need)
• The capacity of services to deal with the needs of migrant workers (training/information needs; barriers to offering assistance; effect on level of service being offered to other client groups)

20 services, split evenly between ten statutory and ten voluntary service providers, responded to the questionnaire. There were responses from the following types of services: housing; homelessness; health and social care; Children and Families; advice and information.

Qualitative interviews

Agencies chosen for this part were either working directly with vulnerable women, or were part of the Children and Families department. Semi-structured interviews were usually carried out with service managers, although frontline staff also participated where this was appropriate. Further information about the participating agencies can be found in appendix (v). The interviews followed the same structure as the general survey questionnaire, detailed above; although respondents were given far greater opportunity to expand and reflect on the relevant issues. In addition to the semi-structured interview, participants were asked to fill in a short post-interview questionnaire to provide some statistical data on age, nationality and gender of clients.

Ten agencies were interviewed for this part of the research:

• Four services within the Council's Children and Families department
• Four agencies working exclusively with vulnerable women
• Two agencies who have high levels of contact with women and children

Seven of the agencies returned the post-interview questionnaire.

7.2 Findings from the general survey of the impact of EU8 migrants on services

General information about agency contact with EU8 migrants

Out of the 20 services which responded, 17 reported contact with EU8 migrants. Twelve services were recording information about their clients' nationality, and the predominant system of collecting and monitoring other qualitative data about all client work was the Edinburgh Common Homeless Outcomes ( ECHO), used by seven of these 12. Other agencies use their own systems such as paper records; initial enquiry forms; and GP Clinical System Database. However, only two service managers indicated that their answers about the level and type of contact with EU8 migrants was based on systematically gathered data about this group, rather than "experience". Frontline workers were only asked to give information based on experience. Therefore, it is clear that there is currently very limited firm and documented evidence of work with this group by services; and further, that which does exist is not consistent from agency to agency. This limits the extent to which it is possible to assess the impact of EU8 migrants on services.

Information on the use of services by EU8 migrants

Nearly three-quarters of all respondents reported that there had been an increase in enquiries from EU8 migrants. Ten respondents thought there had been an increase of 50% or more; a further seven thought the increase had been between 30% and 50%. However, within these services, there were differences in the perceptions of the extent of this increase. This further highlights the need for systematic monitoring of EU8 migrants use of services.

The impact on housing and homelessness services in particular shows significant variation. The City of Edinburgh Council Housing Options Team perceived the increase as "very large". Some agencies working in the private rented sector reported some contact with this group, but no significant increase. This is unexpected, bearing in mind the high proportion of EU8 migrants accessing private rented accommodation (outlined in section 5, above). Two of the frontline emergency homelessness services, the Ark and the Salvation Army, reported only a small increase in use of services. This contrasts sharply with the experience of the Cowgate Centre (outlined in the in section 6, above). Two temporary accommodation hostels reported no contact with EU8 migrants at all. It is likely that this contrast is as a result of a generally held view that EU8 migrants are not eligible for temporary accommodation and therefore are not referred to this type of service or do not attempt to access it independently. It may also indicate that those who might otherwise access temporary accommodation "spill" over to the Cowgate Centre, as eligibility to access this service is not restricted in the same way. However, this situation may change as a result of the widening of local authority legal duties in respect of EU8 nationals' access to housing and homelessness assistance (see section 2, above).

More than half of the respondents did not report any seasonal fluctuation in use of services; although one-third did identify an increase in service contact in March/April 2006, when the survey was conducted. Those who observed seasonal fluctuation said that the busiest periods are spring and summer. However, again, there was no clear statistical data from agencies to support these views. It is therefore likely to be difficult to assess seasonal differences in service usage unless a more thorough longitudinal survey is conducted, based on systematic data collection. More than one-third of respondents reported that EU8 migrants tended to approach appropriate services within a month of their arrival in Edinburgh.

Respondents from services have reported the following impressions of those EU8 nationals who have accessed their service:

• The largest single nationality represented is Polish; with Czech, Latvian, Lithuanian, Slovakian, Hungarian and Estonian represented in respective order. No service noted any Slovenians accessing any services
• Service-users from EU8 states are of working age. Enquiries range depending upon age, with the most contact from those aged 18-45, and a particular emphasis on those aged 26-45
• Data would indicate that the majority of EU8 migrants presenting to services are male
• The types of service areas for which EU8 nationals seek assistance in order of frequency were: housing and accommodation (mentioned by 25 respondents); followed by employment (15); welfare benefits (ten); health (eight); and language support (seven)
• A number of respondents working for agencies providing homelessness assistance identified other areas of need presented by EU8 migrants, including the need for clothing; difficulties in maintaining personal hygiene; finding a dentist; improving English skills; and accessing University education
• It was generally felt by all respondents that the level of knowledge among EU8 migrants about their entitlements to assistance from housing, homelessness, health and social care services was poor

It is interesting to note the young age group, which is mirrored in the community profile in section 5. This indicates a large proportion of young, single people from EU8 states. This position is unlikely to remain the same as this group becomes established in Edinburgh and starts to mature.

The research involved a specific targeted discussion with in Inspector from Lothian and Borders Police. This was to ascertain if there was any intelligence relating to human trafficking with in the EU8 migrant population. It was clear from this discussion that there was no evidence of this in the City of Edinburgh.

The capacity of services to deal with the needs of migrant workers

Responses to this part of the questionnaire were varied and not always consistent. This is likely, again, to be due to limited systematic evidence. Around half of respondents were of the opinion that their agencies need to increase their capacity in order to be able to provide a quality service to EU8 nationals. Around one-third of respondents felt that a separate specialist service for EU8 nationals should be established. A quarter felt that their service had sufficient capacity to assist migrants from EU8 states.

Respondents gave an indication of the types of support which would enable them to increase their capacity to work with EU8 migrants:

• As language was the main barrier in providing services to EU8 migrants, increased access to interpretation and translation services would make this barrier much easier to overcome
• A greater understanding of the entitlements of EU8 migrants to a range of services and benefits. Around two-thirds of service managers and more than half of frontline staff felt they did not have sufficient knowledge of general entitlements; and 84% wanted information specifically on homelessness assistance
• Training for agency staff in: working with interpreters; entitlements to health and welfare benefits; the Worker Registration Scheme; cultural awareness

Finally, respondents were asked whether the presence of EU8 migrants in Edinburgh and meeting their needs affected the level of service to traditional user groups. Two-thirds of respondents (and two-thirds of the services) did not feel that their traditional service-user group received a lower level of assistance due to EU8 nationals using these services as well. This does not fit with the amount of responses reporting the need to increase capacity in services to work with EU8 migrants.

7.3 Findings from the interviews of the impact of EU8 women and children on services

General findings from interviews

Many of the findings from the qualitative interviews were very similar those of the general survey and are summarised below:

• All ten agencies had contact with either EU8 women or children. Most services were recording some information about nationalities, but in several cases a monitoring system had only recently been implemented. Therefore, as with the general agency survey, there is limited documentary evidence of work with this group; and the methods of recording information are not uniform
• All respondents reported that there had been an increase in enquiries from EU8 nationals since May 2004
• None of the respondents felt that their clients had good knowledge of their rights and entitlements, with six of the agencies specifying that knowledge was either poor or very poor
• Many of the requests for advice were similar to the general survey: employment was mentioned by five respondents; housing and accommodation (four respondents); and language difficulties (four respondents)
• In order to increase capacity to deliver services to EU8 women and children, agencies identified the need for increased access to translating and interpreting services (six respondents) and training on rights and entitlements (four respondents). Other training issues mentioned included access to health services and cultural awareness training
• Eight respondents felt that working with EU8 women and children had not affected the service provided to other service-users; one respondent felt there had been a detrimental impact for traditional service-users and one respondent was not sure.

These findings support and enhance some of the main findings from the general survey. However, all of the agencies interviewed also identified further issues specific to EU8 women and children, which had not been identified within the general survey. None of the agencies interviewed were dealing with large numbers of EU8 clients: numbers of recorded clients ranged from between one and ten, with an average of 4.8 clients per service. This fits with the findings from the general survey, which established that EU8 nationals are generally low users of public services.

Domestic abuse

Five agencies specified that women were contacting them as a result of abuse. Four of these responses related specifically to domestic abuse; one respondent reported a mixture of domestic abuse and abuse from outwith the home. All five agencies reported that women were accessing their services via referrals (from the police, social work departments and temporary accommodation providers), rather than accessing services directly. Issues raised by these agencies are as follows:

• Only very limited support can be offered if a woman has no recourse to public funds - for example, accommodation in refuges is usually funded by housing benefit
• Female EU8 clients who are fleeing domestic abuse can have more complex issues than indigenous clients, because the sense of isolation from family, friends and familiar culture is increased
• Two agencies expressed concern that so few EU8 female clients had accessed their services: a lack of resources meant translating information was difficult, but there were also concerns about cultural differences in service provision: "women coming from these countries might not even know services like this exist, let alone how to access them". Therefore, an awareness-raising campaign targeted at EU8 women might be beneficial
• Interpreters need to be fully trained in dealing with highly-sensitive issues such as rape and domestic abuse. Concerns were also expressed with regard to confidentiality and interpreters: "we know as well that the communities in Edinburgh are very small - Edinburgh's a very small place, so….we know that there may be a chance that the interpreter may be known to the woman". Three respondents also felt that recruiting staff with EU8 language skills would be better than relying on interpreting services

Relationship breakdown

Female EU8 nationals with children can be left in a vulnerable situation if their relationship breaks down: in several cases, women have been left destitute because they have not worked or registered on the WRS. In these cases, women have usually been full-time mothers with working partners, and their language skills and knowledge of entitlements have been particularly poor. They have not wanted to return home, due to having children settled in school and wanting to allow children access to both parents. Three respondents described cases of this nature.

Use of community resources

One respondent described a Polish-led community group operating in Leith, which also has a mother-and-child group. Although the group are resourceful and able to facilitate access to advice for families within the Polish community, concerns have been expressed within the wider community that indigenous families now have decreased access to their community centre as Polish families are travelling city-wide to access this resource. The respondent suggested that other, similar community groups should be encouraged within Edinburgh, to take the pressure off this particular resource.

Accommodation

In a very small number of cases, Children and Families services are accommodating children, due to the parents living in inappropriate accommodation or having no accommodation. No respondents reported that EU8 children were accommodated as a result of child welfare concerns.

Other issues

Other issues mentioned specifically in relation to either women or children were:

• A small number of women are using frontline homelessness services; they appear to be heavily reliant on their partners for support, in some cases leading to concern that they are being controlled by them
• Women working in the sex industry need access to sexual health information and advice in their own language. Sex workers are also wary of accessing services due to a mistaken belief that sex work is illegal and that they are breaking the law by engaging in this work

7.4 Conclusion

The absence of consistent and systematic monitoring data makes it difficult to measure the impact of EU8 migrants on housing, homelessness, health and social care services in Edinburgh. There are also some inconsistencies and potential contradictions in the responses given. However, some common themes emerged which make it clear that there has been a significant impact on services. There is also some indication of the types of support which could be given to assist services in developing their capacity to work with EU8 nationals and meet their needs. It is interesting that some agencies see a specialist EU8 migrants' service as necessary, although it seems more efficient and effective to ensure that existing services are able to meet needs. Language barriers and clarity about entitlements are the two most prevalent issues affecting the ability of services to meet needs. There are also some issues which are specific to women and children. These needs are likely to shift as the existing very new population stabilises and becomes established in Edinburgh - for example, an increase in families and changes in healthcare.

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