Chair & Chief Executive Officer Introduction
Welcome to Advice NI’s Annual Report. We are delighted to present our work to you this year in a new electronic format. The report sets out the main activities and achievements for the organisation over the past year, which we have to say has been our busiest ever.
We have had a number of notable achievements this year and have bedded in a number of new projects and activities which are highlighted throughout this report. We worked with our members and other partners to develop our new strategic plan 2014-17 and we also achieved ongoing IiP (Silver) recognition. Advice NI was also one of the first organisations to achieve charitable status under the new Northern Ireland Charity Commission.
Our work this year has closely centred on developing the Northern Ireland Advice Services Consortium in conjunction with our partners in Citizens Advice and Law Centre NI. A number of new joint initiatives have been developed, including a new sector wide management information system for generalist advice services and a new Quality Assurance Framework. This work will continue to develop along with other consortium initiatives over the coming year.
We have also entered into a number of new partnerships and referral arrangements to ensure
that we better target our services to those in need. This has included initiatives such as partnering with Contact NI to provide practical support for victims of Historical Institutional Abuse and new referral arrangements between Northern Ireland Housing Executive and our Debt Action NI service to assist tenants who are struggling with debt. We have also established a new Business Debtline in partnership with the Money Advice Trust which has helped may business continue to trade.
This year we trained more people than ever and we continue to offer a greater range of training opportunities. We are particularly delighted this year to offer the first ever accredited Advocacy Course.
Our membership has remained steady. However there are enormous demands being placed on our members in terms of numbers of people seeking advice. This is reflected in this year’s Membership Profile report, which highlights that members dealt with over 270,000 enquiries, with over half of these related to social security.
The external environment continues to throw up many challenges for Independent Advice Services. With many Independent Advice Centres located in the most deprived communities across Northern Ireland advisers are faced daily with people in often desperate circumstances. Many approach
advice services feeling they have nowhere left to turn as they grapple with job loss, job insecurity, poverty, mental/physical ill health, debt, relationship breakdown and many more issues that are proliferating due to the recession and austerity measures. Advisers offer advice and advocacy in relation to the main issues presenting such as debt, social security, tax credits, housing and employment. However, they are also increasingly referring people to other services such as food banks, debt and counselling services and other statutory and community services to ensure that immediate needs such as lack of food are met.
We want to pay tribute to all advisers who work extremely hard to ensure that people get the help they need. Our thanks also to the Advice NI staff for their hard work and commitment and also to the Board for their oversight and guidance which ensures that the organisation is fit for purpose and continues to meet its strategic objectives. Finally a big thanks to all our partners and funders without whose help we could not continue to provide the range of quality services which are so vital to many individuals and families in Northern Ireland. We hope you enjoy the report.
Mary McManus – Chair Bob Stronge – Chief Executive
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