On the 01 April 2013, Crisis Loans and Community Care Grants were abolished and replaced by Local Welfare Assistance (LWA). Previously, Crisis Loans and Community Care Grants were administered centrally by the DWP. By contrast, responsibility and funding for LWA has been devolved to local authorities.

Local authorities now have the power to tailor their LWA schemes to meet the needs of their local communities. As a result, some local authorities have continued to provide cash payments in emergencies, whilst others have developed ‘cashless’ systems of assistance, including vouchers and payments in kind through local services such as food and furniture banks.      

Homeless Link is conducting a short survey to obtain a snapshot of your experiences with the new LWA system. We are particularly interested in how it operates in your local area, as compared to the old system of Crisis Loans and Community Care Grants. Your response will help us to gather evidence to submit to the National Audit Office’s review of LWA and the upcoming Government Spending Review.

The survey is quite short and will only take 10 -15 minutes to complete. The deadline for responses is Wednesday 12th August

Any questions about the survey please contact Francesca Albanese, Research Manager - Francesca.Albanese@homelesslink.org.uk  or 020 7840 4422



 

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* 1. To help us avoid duplication please give the name of the project (or projects) that your data refers to. *We will not publish individual provider's responses.*

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* 2. Which council(s) do your answers refer to? [if your answer refers to more than one local authority then list additional local authorities in the text box below]

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* 3. In the past year (June 2014 to June 2015) to what extent have your clients been able to access local welfare assistance schemes run by the local authority?

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* 4. We are interested to know what it has been like for people trying to access LWA since it was first introduced in April 2013. In answering this question, please think about how access to LWA compares to Crisis Loans and Community Care Grants:

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* 5. Thinking about your answer to question 4 please can you briefly explain the reason for your response including any local variation if you are referring to more than one council’s scheme

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* 6. We are also interested in changes to demand for Crisis Loan and Community Care Grant type support in your area since LWA was introduced in April 2013. Please tick the statement that best applies to the demand for LWA in your area:

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* 7. Thinking about your answer to question 6 please can you briefly explain the reason for your response considering if there are any local factors that have made an impact on the demand for LWA in your area.

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* 8. In some areas there are restrictions made to eligibility criteria to access LWA, do any of the following apply to your area? [please tick all that apply]

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* 9. What assistance is given through the LWA scheme in your area?

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* 10. What form is the assistance given in?

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* 11. Is there any other information about LWA schemes in your area you would like to share with us?

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* 12.  Homeless Link would like to conduct short follow up interviews on LWA schemes over the next few weeks. Is this something you would be willing to assist us with? If so, please provide your name, email and phone number below:

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