Advice North Somerset The Way Forward

Current Situation Project funded for 2 years under The Advice Transition Fund, this ceases completely in December 2015 Continuation funding provided by North Somerset CAB and Alliance Homes to support a one day a week post until March 2016 Advice North Somerset has no legal identity of its own, currently it is a project of the CAB To date, members and participants have not had to pay for any services

Challenges ? Will Advice North Somerset continue? How will it be resourced, through a membership levy and/or other sources? Will it be a stand alone membership organisation ? If so what legal structure will it adopt ? What will it provide to its members?

Questionnaire Distributed to a range of organisations in North Somerset who have been engaged with the project Received 26 responses from 19 different organisations, but not all answered each question 65% of whom said their organisation was a member of ANS ( that is they had signed up to the membership criteria)

Membership 18 people responded to the question on the current membership criteria, all respondents agreed with the criteria, and no additional criteria suggestions were made 11 people from 8 organisations said they would remain or become a member if a membership fee was charged 4 organisations said they would not remain or become a member if a membership fee was charged 4 organisations thought that a membership fee should be based on the income of their organisation, 8 organisations thought that it should not

Participation 16 Respondents answered this question 92% said their organisation was listed on the website 78% said they used the website to find information and other services 80% said they directed clients /users to the website 73% said they had attended training put on by ANS 78% said they had attended quarterly meetings 38% said they had contributed to social policy issues 42% said they had been part of the pilot for referrals

Future Activities People were asked to rank a range of activities with 1 being the most useful. 16 people responded to this question Activities ranked 1 and 2: 86% website with client/user search facility 81% website with members section 75% on-line referral system 70% quarterly forum meetings 69% opportunity to influence local policy 69% opportunities to meet with advice and I and G agencies in the wider Avon area

Future Activities 69% ANS providing a funding brokerage facility 53% Face to Face Training 49% e-bulletin 43% e –learning

Issues Arising Questionnaire responses, a relatively small cohort, but nevertheless indicates commitment to the project, will this support future sustainability Activities with highest ranking have associated costs, unlikely these will be solely covered by membership fees Body of evidence demonstrates that networks rarely last where they are solely reliant on volunteers Is there sufficient energy for ANS to be a separate legal entity or should it combine with existing agencies, where those agencies have a common membership