Santander Social Housing Research Project Engaging tenants in financial capability training Early findings – February 2012 Lead partner: Citizens Advice Research partner: University of Bristol Personal Finance Research Centre Delivery partners: Bedworth, Rugby and Nuneaton CAB / Orbit Heart of England Expert partners: Chartered Institute of Housing, West and Wales Housing Association, Money Advice Service Funded by: Santander plc

Project Background A research project to compare the impact of short financial capability training sessions between an intervention and comparison group over a 6-9 month period. ‘Intervention group’ Delivery of short financial capability workshops (2 x 45 mins) Original target up to 300 tenants of Orbit Heart of England HA in Rugby and Stratford Impact of intervention assessed through Baseline questionnaire (before training) Feedback questionnaire (immediately post training Follow up telephone interview (4-6 weeks after training) Sample in depth interviews ‘Comparison group’ Original target up to 200 social housing tenants Similar demographic and socio economic profile to intervention group Financial capability assessed through: Baseline telephone questionnaire Follow up telephone questionnaire

Progress to end Jan 12 Intervention group Tenant engagement very difficult 97 received training in 6 months against interim target of 240 Further 6 weeks of delivery – final target halved to 150 Comparison group Tenant engagement rolling out as planned This interim briefing focuses on the challenges of tenant engagement based on feedback from the project reference group which includes all delivery partners. The findings have not been corroborated against wider research evidence at this stage

Tenant engagement Three levels of activity: General awareness raising Targeted marketing One to one follow up Note – The delivery model for this research project challenged known success factors for financial capability: Participants needed to be recruited across a geographical area rather than from a specific community or interest group The Housing Association did not have pre existing tenant groups or community centres through which training could be delivered Most of the housing stock was dispersed rather than clustered

Level 1: Awareness raising What worked Briefing for Orbit staff – Tenancy Support and Community Housing Officers Briefing for Children’s Centres and CAB advisers (when sold on benefits of financial education) Offer of £10 shopping voucher for completing research helped staff in making “sell” What worked less well Briefing for Orbit staff on reception, facilities team Information re training given in “on hold” message for inwards calls (although only recently started) Leaflets at reception in contact centre / local CAB Briefings / leaflets in tenant newsletters / letters to tenants / radio / media promotion Awareness raising with local voluntary and community agencies, including faith groups Key messages Comprehensive staff / frontline worker engagement strategy needs to precede training delivery – cannot assume prior knowledge and very helpful if they personally witness benefits of training, e.g. by attending sample session Commitment to the project must cascade down from executive / strategic level to ensure appropriate resources are allocated Be mindful of resources / priorities of local community contacts, e.g. Children’s Centres less engaged than expected because of cut backs in their service

Level 2: Direct Marketing What worked Tenancy support workers and Community Housing Officers seeking opportunities to raise with tenants on routine visits (once basic awareness training completed). Leaflets useful to support this Door knocking on estates in target areas by CAB trainer with professional marketing support Cold telephone calling of tenants by Orbit staff (using agreed script) – 50% of those contacted were interested Introducing as part of new tenant sign up Delivery of group sessions in trusted settings (Children’s Centres) Linking with existing events, e.g. Christmas party Taster/ briefing sessions where residential clusters exist, e.g. blocks of flats What worked less well Leaflets sent to tenant households Information sent out by Money Advice team at Orbit for tenants already experiencing difficulties Drop in sessions in CAB Mixed messages about importance of £10 shopping voucher in incentivising attendance Key Messages Financial capability needs a one to one sell (phone or in person) when not delivering to established groups in trusted settings. Need to talk through and help individual see direct relevance to them Maximise opportunities to deliver where there are clusters of residents – creates opportunities for word of mouth referrals

Level 3: One to one follow up What worked Visit to tenant within 2-3 days of ‘warm’ lead being handed on from Orbit telephone cold calling Utilising marketing professional expertise in door knocking alongside Orbit / CAB workers Trusted brand of CAB for delivery – comfortable inviting into home Completing a ‘booking’ process with the tenant which they sign to confirm their planned attendance Spending as much time going through the details of how to access the training as spent on ‘selling’ the training when meeting one to one Offering one to one sessions at flexible times, including offering on the spot when door knocking Offering one to one sessions in the home when requested Encouraging word of mouth referrals, e.g. £10 voucher for ‘recommend a friend’ referrals, particularly helps where these are respected ‘peers’ Entry in £500 prize draw for all participants completing follow up questionnaire What worked less well All of the one to one work was effective Key messages Overall two thirds of delivery to tenants on a 1:1basis. Although successful a very resource intensive and costly model which would be very difficult to replicate on a larger scale Model used in this project due to short delivery window

Securing tenant participation – what would we do next time…? Stage 1 Get buy in Repeated cascade of project messages internally and externally Integrate with strategic priorities / action planning Workers attend sample sessions “seeing is believing” Bring together workers from all partners for joint briefings and delivery planning Design leaflets and tenant engagement messages with professional support Level 2 Targeted marketing Regular short sessions of cold calling by Housing Association staff using scripts – set realistic targets for conversion - complete in teams Build into regular routine visits for all tenant facing staff Piggy back existing events / meetings / social gatherings – anywhere tenants will meet in trusted settings Level 3 One to one Follow up warm leads in person within 2-3 days of receiving – try and achieve maximum two weeks from first contact through to delivery completing Identify anxieties / barriers and address individually – the “how do I get involved” as important as “why should I get involved” Get professional support / training to develop door step/ phone skills Deliver training flexibly – in home / out of working hours Maximise word of mouth referrals using incentives Stage 4 Review Refresh internal messages – using participant case studies / quotes Celebrate the achievements collectively – participants and partners Refresh targets – keep realistic and deliverable in short timescales Involve experienced workers in training new ones Cultivate tenant advocates for training Quarter 1Quarter 2Quarter 3Quarter 4