Why are we doing the project?
Several reports over the past few years have identified the high demand for advice provision across the capital. The Advising Londoners report commissioned by the Greater London Authority and delivered by the Advice Services Alliance in 2020 identified that:
“The provision of social welfare advice across London is insufficient to meet the needs of Londoners. Shortages are particularly prevalent in services for young people and ethnic minority communities whose advice needs have increased during the lockdown”.
A second report, Mind the Gap, was then commissioned by a group of key London advice funders to further examine workforce issues in the advice sector. A number of the recommendations from this research are now being taken forward by a partnership of funders and advice infrastructure organisations through the Propel collaborative funding programme.
A further recommendation was to carry out an audit of funding for London’s advice sector. This has been done previously for single types of advice. For example, A Huge Gulf in 2021, examined immigration advice, and led to the publication of a Strategy for Funding Immigration advice in London.
However, there are still gaps in our knowledge. This piece of work attempts to fill some of these by examining the current picture of funding going into advice (the definition of which incorporates all types of social welfare advice). This will provide a platform for funders and the sector to consider how best to tackle the gap between demand, provision and future capacity.
The project is combining quantitative analysis from 360 Giving alongside data from interviews with funders and case studies, and we expect to share the findings in early Autumn 2024. We’re grateful to the Greater London Authority for supporting this work. If you’d like to know more, contact our Research & Evidence Manager Shreya.Gautam@londonfunders.org.uk.