Working Together for Advice Project
User and stakeholder involvement workstream
Final evaluation
January 2011
Contents
Section
Page
1. Introduction
4
2. Working Together for Advice project
4
3. User and Stakeholder Involvement workstream
4
3.1 Aims of the workstream
3.2 Outcomes, activities and milestones
3.3 Workstream resources
4. Workstream evaluation
7
5. Achieving workstream outcomes
7
5.1 Involve, Engage, Empower toolkit
8
5.2 Training
9
5.3 Promoting user and stakeholder involvement as an essential factor in the
development of advice services
10
5.3.1 Levels of User and Stakeholder Involvement in the sector
5.3.2 Communication
6. Findings
14
Appendix I - Workstream milestones
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1.
Introduction
This is the final evaluation report of the Big Lottery funded Working Together for Advice
Project’s User and Stakeholder Involvement workstream. The report focuses on whether the
workstream achieved both its key aim and the projected outcomes identified at the onset of the
project in 2008.
It considers the work completed in the final year of the project and also reviews the findings
from the first two years of the project. It focuses on the completion of the Involve, Engage,
Empower toolkit and the provision of training during the final year. Individual reports covering
the first two years of the project are also available.
2.
Working Together for Advice project
The Working Together for Advice project was a ‘multiple strand project’ set up with funding
from the Big Lottery Fund as part of the first phase of the Advice Plus1 programme to ‘provide a
range of support services to independent advice centres in England. It was a delivered by a
consortium of organisations 2 and aimed to:
•
•
•
•
•
Increase access to advice
Enhance the quality of advice
Demonstrate the value of advice
Improve the efficiency of advice services
Build the capacity of the advice sector.
The project was divided into eight workstreams that considered specific aspects of the delivery
of advice services. These were:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Developing access to advice
Enhancing frontline advice
Developing a quality mark
Advice outcomes
Developing discrimination advice
Promoting advice
Workforce development and training
User and Stakeholder Involvement.
The project operated from January 2008 to December 2010.
3.
User and Stakeholder Involvement workstream
The need for a workstream that focused on user and stakeholder involvement as part of the
Working Together for Advice project was based on the experience of members of the
consortium who reported receiving requests from their member organisations for assistance in
1
The Advice Plus programme aimed ‘to help people access good quality advice on their legal rights and
responsibilities, so that they can overcome disadvantage’.
2
Advice Services Alliance, AdviceUK, Age UK, Citizens Advice, Law Centres Federation and Youth Access.
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developing this. In addition, it was recognised that while the voluntary and community sector,
generally, had been relatively successful in engaging with users and other stakeholders, this had
not necessarily been the case in the advice sector. This is partly explained by the different style
of relationship that advice agencies have with their users.
While some users may establish long-term relationships with advice agencies the majority of
interactions tend to be short-term and time limited in order to address a single or related group
of issues and do not necessarily lend themselves to ongoing long term relationships. In addition,
advice agencies generally seek to empower their users to address their own issues, this is
thought to discourage users from becoming dependent on agencies. However, it also makes it
less likely for users to become engaged with an agency in the longer term 3.
3.1
Aim of the workstream
The aim of the User and Stakeholder Involvement workstream was to:
“Increase user and stakeholder involvement in the management and
development of advice services by identifying best practice through research,
development of a toolkit and delivering appropriate training.”
The terms users and stakeholders were defined for the purposes of the workstream as:
Users - individuals with advice needs who do, or potentially could, access, receive and benefit
from the services of independent, not-for-profit advice agencies.
Stakeholders - organisations or individuals directly involved in the processes by which users
access and receive advice. They aim to ensure positive outcomes for users of an advice service,
eg referral organisations; families and carers of users and service providers/organisations that
users are directed to by advice agencies.
3.2
Outcomes, activities and milestones
The workstream identified a number of outcomes as key measures of the success of the project:
•
•
•
•
•
3
750 voluntary and community sector organisations are better equipped to deliver more
effective advice services based on the motivations and needs of advice users and
stakeholders
Members of Advice Services Alliance (ASA) improve their understanding of user and
stakeholder involvement in the development of advice services
A minimum of 180 staff in the advice sector improve their ability to effectively involve
users and stakeholders in development of services
Users of advice services increase their opportunities to influence the planning delivery
and management of services
The advice sector improves its contribution to policy development on user involvement
in the provision of mainstream advice services.
ASA Business Plan v4.1, Section 6: Workstream 2 - Users and Stakeholder Involvement
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In order to achieve the outcomes the workstream identified a number of core activities and
mapped out a series of milestones 4 for each year of the project. The key activities throughout
the project were to:
•
•
•
•
•
Research and map existing models of user and stakeholder involvement
Develop a draft toolkit and training programme
Pilot the toolkit and training with local advice agencies
Promote and rollout the toolkit and training across the regions
Influence policy development on user involvement in advice service provision.
Evaluation of the project throughout the three years has considered the progress of the
workstream in completing the planned activities and achieving its original outcomes
3.3
Workstream resources
The workstream was co-ordinated by Age UK5 and involved all of the advice networks
contributing to Working Together for Advice – Advice UK, Age UK, Citizens Advice, the Law
Centres Federation and Youth Access. Representatives from each of the advice networks and
Advice Services Alliance formed the Workstream Management Board.
The workstream had a Co-ordinator, employed by Age UK, with responsibility for:
•
Identifying ways to motivate users and stakeholders to be involved, taking into account
the range of users across the advice sector.
•
Reviewing existing good practice, from across voluntary, statutory and private sectors, in
user involvement
•
Developing methodologies to improve user and stakeholder involvement in the
development and provision of advice services
•
Identifying the resources needed by advice services to embed user and stakeholder
involvement in their organisation
•
Developing a toolkit and training for advice agencies on user and stakeholder
involvement and using the toolkit
•
Piloting and adapting a range of user and stakeholder involvement methods with advice
agencies
•
Rolling out training across nine English regions in user and stakeholder involvement and
using the toolkit
•
Co-ordinating the linkage between local level and national level involvement to ensure
the user and stakeholder involvement on strategic decisions at national and regional
levels.
In addition to the Workstream Co-ordinator position AgeUK, the Law Centres Federation and
Youth Access received funding to assist in the delivery of the workstream.
4
5
The workstream milestones are listed at Appendix I.
Age UK is a charity formed in 2010 following a merger between Age Concern and Help the Aged. The project was
previously co-ordinated by Age Concern England.
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4.
Workstream evaluation
The main focus of the evaluation has been on how far the work carried out as part of the
workstream has achieved or contributed to:
•
•
•
The main aim of increasing user and stakeholder involvement in the management and
development of advice services
The workstream’s specific outcomes, activities and milestones
The Working Together for Advice Project aims and outcomes
This report provides details of the workstream’s activities over the three years and how
successful it has been in achieving its outcomes. In producing this report we have reviewed the
interim evaluation reports completed at the end of years one and two and carried out
interviews with the Workstream Management Board representatives from the advice networks
and the Workstream Co-ordinator and National Manager, Quality and Partnerships at Age UK. A
survey was also circulated to participants of the training carried out in year three in order to
obtain their views on how they had been able to use both the skills and knowledge they
obtained from the training and the toolkit. Unfortunately, the survey received only five
responses, which was considered insufficient from which to obtain any meaningful data.
The survey was circulated at a time when advice agencies were concerned with more pressing
issues. Agencies are currently operating in an environment where they are extremely concerned
about their future funding. Ongoing changes to the provision of services funded by legal aid and
threats to both funding from that source as well as threats to other funding, particularly that
from local authorities at this time, means that it is more difficult than usual to get agencies to
engage with new developments, such as the user and stakeholder involvement work, at a time
of massive uncertainty for many agencies across the country.
This is the final of three evaluation reports focusing on the work of the project. The first year
report focused on the development stage of the project and reported on progress on the main
activities and achieving the project outcomes. In Year Two the focus was on the pilot agencies
and the development of the toolkit. This report reviews the work carried out in the first two
years and that completed during the final year and how successful the workstream has been in
achieving its outcomes.
5.
Achieving the workstream outcomes
This section of the report focuses on the main activities that the workstream was tasked to
deliver in order to achieve the outcomes. The main activities were to:
•
•
•
•
•
Research and map existing models of user and stakeholder involvement
Develop a draft toolkit and training programme
Pilot the toolkit and training with local advice agencies
Promote and rollout the toolkit and training across the regions
Influence policy development on user involvement in advice service provision.
The report focuses on four key elements of the workstream:
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•
•
•
•
The production of the toolkit Involve, Engage, Empower
The delivery of training on implementing user and stakeholder involvement
Promoting user and stakeholder involvement as an essential factor in the development
of advice services
Influencing policy.
Each of these is considered in relation to their contribution to achieving the workstream
outcomes. In the Year One Interim Evaluation report the workstream activities were broken
down into those that assisted progress towards better involving users and stakeholders in
delivering more effective advice services and those that influenced policy. We have used this
method again here in relation to reporting against how successfully the workstream has
achieved its outcomes.
5.1
Involve, Engage, Empower toolkit
The production of the Involve, Engage, Empower toolkit was one of the main activities identified
for the workstream. The final version of the toolkit consists of a set of resources and exercises
aimed at enabling ‘local information and advice providing organisations to embed user and
stakeholder involvement in the management and development of their services’.
The toolkit has six main sections and includes a brief introduction on how to use it. The opening
section defines user and stakeholder involvement and offers suggestions for why organisations
should involve users and stakeholders. The following five sections provide information and
practical exercises to assist organisations develop user and stakeholder involvement that cover:
•
•
•
•
•
Reviewing levels of involvement
Developing a strategy for involvement
A range of methods of involvement
Policies and procedures for involvement
Skills and knowledge - building capacity and confidence among the involvement
audience.
The toolkit has been distributed to advice network members and is available in both print and
downloadable versions. Feedback from the network representatives has been fairly positive
about the final version of the toolkit. Both Citizens Advice and AdviceUK have received requests
for hard copies of the toolkit from member organisations and report that feedback from
members has generally been positive.
During the development of the toolkit the Workstream Management Board raised concerns
about the way that the initial toolkit had been developed particularly an overemphasis on the
theoretical aspects of user and stakeholder involvement. This was also raised by the pilot
agencies who reported difficulties in practically applying the contents of the toolkit. It appears
that while some of the Management Board still raised issues about the length of time taken to
produce the toolkit during the final interviews the majority of concerns raised about the draft
version used during the pilot stage have been addressed and the workstream has delivered a
practical tool that is likely to be of benefit to advice agencies.
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There is currently no feedback from agencies from across the advice networks about their
practical use of the toolkit. The work with the pilot agencies highlighted the need for
considerable lengths of time needed for agencies to adopt new processes and procedures and
the late production of the final version of the toolkit has not allowed for this to be monitored as
part of the evaluation
The process for developing the toolkit included a review of good practice in involving users and
stakeholders from across the voluntary, statutory and private sector. This was completed during
the first year of the workstream and included a review of identified literature and a series of
meetings with agencies both from within the advice sector and externally. It resulted in a
collection of material collated by the Workstream Co-ordinator that influenced the structure of
the Involve, Engage, Empower toolkit 6.
The review of good practice took up a considerable amount of time during the first year of the
project. Discussions with the Workstream Management Board and the Workstream Coordinator suggest that the workstream could have been more effective in terms of getting things
in place, such as the toolkit and training, had this been done more quickly. Delays in delivering
on this element of the project had a knock on effect on the delivery of the other main activities
such as the production of the toolkit, the start of the pilot phase and the delivery of the training.
As a result this has left insufficient time to obtain the views of advice agencies on how they have
used the resources developed by the workstream to develop their user and stakeholder
involvement.
The workstream has developed a useful tool for advice agencies to develop their use of user and
stakeholder involvement. Testing the initial draft toolkit with the pilot agencies enabled changes
to be made to the draft version to ensure a practical tool was produced that could be used by
advice agencies. Now that the Working Together for Advice project has ended and the
Workstream Co-ordinator role will not continue it is important that advice networks consider
how they might continue to support their members to develop their work in this area. A number
of important policy developments and an increasing emphasis, particularly on user involvement,
by advice funders, such as local authorities is likely to ensure that this remains a significant area
of development for the advice sector.
5.2
Training
At the planning stage those involved in developing the workstream also identified the provision
of training as one of the key mechanisms for increasing the use of user and stakeholder
involvement in the advice sector. The initial idea was to deliver a pilot training course to the
pilot agencies and adapt the training based on feedback and then roll out the training across the
nine English regions. It was anticipated that this would be available to up to 20 participants in
each region from across the advice networks and would contribute to achieving the workstream
outcome to improve the ability of advice sector staff to effectively involve users and
stakeholders.
As a result of delays in the production of the toolkit the delivery of the training was also delayed.
Training started in July 2010 and as delivered four events in the Eastern, East Midlands, North
West and South West regions. Discussions with the Workstream Co-ordinator have highlighted
6
A list of the good practice resources and contributors is at Appendix E of the Year One Evaluation Report.
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that the training has primarily been attended by staff from local Age Concerns and has not been
promoted to other advice network staff. Separate training has been carried out for its members
by Youth Access in partnership with two external organisations Participation Works and
Independent Academic Research Studies on getting started with participation and conducting
research with young people.
Feedback from the training events collected immediately following the event indicates that
participants have found the training to be useful. However, the feedback is fairly limited and
there is no information available on what agencies attending the training intend to do with the
skills and knowledge obtained. It would have been useful to get an indication from agencies
about how they intended to develop user and stakeholder involvement. This could then have
been followed up at a later date to establish what, if any, progress agencies had made. Delays in
organising the training and the lower than expected attendance, along with the concentration of
training across only two of the networks, limits the usefulness of the data that is available.
Discussions with the Workstream Management Board suggest that they believe their members
would still benefit from training in this area. However, there was recognition that in the current
environment, with agencies unclear about their future, within the advice sector take up of
training might be limited. We would suggest that in order not to lose some of the momentum
established through the workstream that there may be an opportunity to develop alternative
training and promotion methods such as online workshops in order to train agencies in this area
of work. We recognise that within the current financial climate this may be difficult to achieve
but an increase in requirements by funders to involve users may present an opportunity to
obtain resources to deliver this.
The diverse nature of the sector and the networks does not always lend itself to joint working.
The different sizes of organisation, the different client groups, different local and regional
priorities can make it difficult to develop a one size fits all solution such as training.
Organisations with a specific client group such as Age UK and Youth Access are perhaps better
positioned to have been able to develop processes and engage with their users. A number of
policy initiatives aimed specifically at the involvement of both young people and older people in
service delivery give a focus to work with particular groups which agencies working with more
general populations are not always able to take on.
We consider that the use of training to promote user and stakeholder involvement has only had
limited success through the workstream and while those that have accessed it suggest it has
been useful it has not managed to deliver a sector-wide package of training that can be used
across the different networks.
5.3
Promoting user and stakeholder involvement as an essential factor in the
development of advice services
5.3.1 Levels of user and stakeholder involvement within the sector
In order to establish where advice agencies were in relation to the involvement of users and
stakeholders in the management and development of their services, agencies and users were
surveyed and a series of short telephone interviews carried out with advice agencies. The
surveys considered the motivations and barriers to involvement from the perspective of the
agencies themselves and their users. During years one and two interviews were carried out with
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agencies with the intention of revisiting agencies in the final year to see how they had used the
resources developed by the workstream to progress their work on user and stakeholder
involvement. The delays in the production of the toolkit and the training as not allowed the final
interviews to be carried out, however, some of the information gathered provides a useful
outline of work in the sector.
The agency survey highlighted that 90% of agencies responding (30 agencies) said they involved
users and stakeholders in managing and developing their services. The main ways they did this
was through the use of satisfaction surveys; users becoming members of the management
committee and participating in group meetings to discuss service development, such as away
days, planning days, focus groups and liaison groups. Agencies suggested that their main
motivation for involving users was to ensure that the services they provided met users need.
Almost 70% of respondents to the user survey said that they thought it was important for
people who use local advice services to be involved in the way services are delivered. They
considered that this could: empower users; improve workers understanding of users needs; help
improve service; give something back to the community, generate new ideas; improve access
and help others through sharing experiences.
One issue that was highlighted in both the surveys and discussions with advice agencies and
network representatives was the emphasis on users to the virtual exclusion of other
stakeholders. The first year evaluation suggested that Workstream Management Board should
consider whether this was an issue for the workstream and if so how the involvement of other
stakeholders needs to be considered further. The emphasis on users has continued throughout
the workstream. Although the resources provided in the toolkit could as easily be used to
engage with other stakeholders and some other stakeholder engagement is evident the main
focus has been on users.
Discussions with the Workstream Management Board in the final year suggest that user and
stakeholder involvement remains a key issue for the advice sector. This is partly due to an
increased emphasis on it by current and potential funders or advice services and increasing
awareness from both within advice agencies and from users of their need to be involved in
ensuring that services meet their needs, as part of general shift in increased involvement. The
issues of different styles of engagement with users that advice services have, which can often be
short-term and issue specific, continues to be an issue for the sector to maintain ongoing
involvement and engagement with its users.
5.3.2 Communication
Ensuring effective communication and disseminating the workstream resources to the advice
networks was an important part of the function of those involved in the workstream,
particularly the network representatives on the Workstream Management Board and the
Workstream Co-ordinator. Throughout the different evaluations we have considered how
effective the workstream communication has been across a number channels including the
Workstream Management Board with frontline agencies and also across the other workstreams
operating as part of the Working Together for Advice Project.
Throughout the first two years of the project the Workstream Management Board generally
reported that communication across the workstream and with the Workstream Co-ordinator
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had generally been effective. Members considered the Board Meetings to be a useful
mechanism and the information provided by the Co-ordinator enabled them to contribute to the
management of the workstream effectively. In the final interviews with the Board Members a
number said that they felt that the communication had deteriorated towards the end of the
project. Members who raised this were unsure why this had happened but suggested that the
extension of the project beyond the scheduled time had made it more difficult for them to be
involved as other priorities began to take precedence.
The issue of allocating sufficient time to the workstream was raised throughout the project.
Some of the network representatives were involved in a lot of the different workstreams and
allocating sufficient time to each one was sometimes difficult. This was particularly the case
where a network representative had a more significant role in another workstream. In addition,
only some of the networks were provided with resources to be involved and this led to those
not receiving resources concentrating on those workstreams they were funded to participate in.
One of the key relationships for the workstream was with the frontline advice agencies. There
were some concerns raised early on that communication with these agencies overly relied on
the ability and capacity of the respective network representatives to communicate effectively
with their members and on the Workstream Co-ordinator to ensure information was available.
This could result in agencies getting different messages about the work dependent on which
network they were a member of. An initial response to this was to get the Workstream Coordinator to take a more active role in direct communication or to produce clear guidance to
ensure commonality of the message. This was developed throughout the second year of the
project but appears to have fallen away during the final year with network representatives
reporting only limited communication following production of the toolkit.
A further issue identified was that in the same way that the network representatives had
competing priorities for their time this was the same for the advice agencies. The workstream
was not only competing with the other project workstreams for advice agency time but also
with agencies need to deliver their existing services. The work with the pilot agencies and
discussions with the network representatives highlight the amount of time and support required
by agencies in order to implement new processes can prevent them being implemented as other
priorities take precedence.
5.4
Influencing policy
At the time of developing the workstream there was recognition throughout the advice sector of
the increased need to involve people in deciding how they wanted to resolve their problems and
how services needed to change to reflect the needs and wishes of service users. This continues
to be an issue for advice agencies, the introduction of the Duty to Involve in 2009 and current
policy developments following the change of government in 2010, such as the development of
the Big Society idea and the increased emphasis on localism, through the Localism Bill, are likely
to ensure that the involvement of individuals and local communities in service delivery
continues to remain an issue for the advice sector.
There is limited evidence of the extent to which the advice sector as a whole has been involved
in influencing policy although some of the individual networks report significant developments
in their areas of work. As highlighted earlier this is particularly prevalent for agencies working
with specific client groups.
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5.5
Barriers
The initial surveys of agencies and users and the work with the pilot agencies identified a
number of barriers that faced agencies and users in getting involved with advice services. The
main issue for agencies tended to be the amount of time available to put things in place. This is
partly explained as the majority of organisations were starting from a point where they had
fairly limited experience of user involvement.
The second year evaluation discussed the barriers with the pilot agencies and identified a
number of barriers, in addition to the issues with time, these included:
•
limited staffing resources to implement
•
the reliance on one worker to take responsibility within the organisation
•
a lack of understanding across the organisation of the need for involvement
•
external personal factor
•
competing priorities for time
•
effects of increased demand for information and advice services during the recession,
particularly for debt advice services.
The second year evaluation highlighted that realisation of the amount of time needed to
develop processes and methods for involvement would have resulted in the pilots being done
for longer than the six-month period as it was generally agreed that there was insufficient time
for agencies to be able to put in place involvement at the levels that were expected when the
pilot started.
As well as barriers for agencies in taking on involvement the surveys carried out in year one also
identified barriers that prevented users getting more involved. These included:
•
•
•
•
•
People having other commitments
Competing priorities
Convincing users that their contributions will be valued
Lack of training available
Confidentiality issues
As indicated earlier there is currently a focus on people getting more involved in their
communities and local areas. This could potentially either make it more difficult for agencies to
attract users to be involved or increase awareness and confidence amongst users and put
greater pressure on agencies to adopt effective processes to ensure involvement and
participation from their users. Agencies will need to ensure they get the balance right between
getting people involved and not putting unrealistic demands on their time.
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6.
Findings
6.1
The workstream has either fully or partially completed all of the key activities identified at
the start of the Working Together for Advice Project. The workstream has made progress
towards achieving its outcomes. There is, however, limited evidence of the difference that
this has made to advice agencies in making progress towards better involving users and
stakeholders to deliver more effective advice agencies
6.2
The main issue for agencies developing involvement is the amount of time required to
develop systems, engage with stakeholders and begin to identify the results of
involvement. In addition, the current economic environment is not currently conducive to
agencies developing new areas of work. There is concern that this may be detrimental to
organisational development as there is potential for user involvement in particular to
become an increasing priority for funders.
6.3
The sector now has a toolkit available that can help advice agencies effectively engage
with their users and other stakeholders. The process of developing the toolkit and testing a
draft with pilot agencies was particularly beneficial in getting a practical resource that can
be used by advice agencies.
6.4
The use of training to promote user and stakeholder involvement has only had limited
success through the workstream and while those that have accessed it suggest it has been
useful it has not managed to deliver a sector-wide package of training that can be used
across the different networks.
6.5
Evidence of the change that the workstream has made to advice agencies in the area of
user and stakeholder involvement at this stage is lacking. This is partly due to insufficient
time to measure the effectiveness of the resources produced due to initial delays in
progressing the toolkit and training elements of the workstream. Too much time was spent
research and mapping existing resources which resulted in delays throughout the
workstream.
6.6
There is limited evidence that the advice sector as a whole has resources and processes in
place to encourage adoption of user and stakeholder involvement across the sector. Only
members of two of the networks have received training.
6.7
Communication across the workstream has been mixed. The Workstream Management
Board worked well throughout the majority of the project as a result of this. However, this
changed as the project came to a close with Management Board members reporting
limited contact in the final stages of the project. Communication with frontline agencies
was perhaps overly reliant on the network representatives and would have benefited from
a more co-ordinated approach across the workstream.
6.8
The nature of the relationships between advice services and its users which are often
short-term and issue related can make it more difficult than other services to ensure
ongoing contact and encourage involvement to the level required to influence service
development.
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6.9
Both advice agencies and users and stakeholders face a number of barriers that need to be
overcome in order to ensure effective user and stakeholder involvement.
6.10 User and stakeholder involvement is likely to become increasingly important for advice
agencies as both funders and policy and decision makers place increased emphasis on
engaging with individuals and communities in service delivery. The involvement of users
and other stakeholders in service development should be a key element for advice
agencies.
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APPENDIX I
Workstream milestones
The workstream set a series of milestones to help ensure that the outcomes were met and the
activities completed. The following tables show the milestones for the project broken down by
year.
•
Year one milestones
Milestone
Recruit and induct workstream staff
Establish workstream board, draft terms of reference and host board
meetings
Timescale
(Quarter)
1-2
1-2 and then
quarterly
Recruit independent evaluator
1-2
Select 40 advice agencies for survey
1-2
Begin review of existing good practice from across the voluntary,
statutory and private sectors
2-3
Design questionnaire and conduct survey to gather information from
across the advice sector regarding motivations of users and
stakeholders
2-3
Establish workstream steering group, draft terms of reference and
host group meetings
3 and then
quarterly
Begin independent evaluation of the workstream
3
Completed questionnaires received from users and stakeholders
3
Review of existing good practice in stakeholder involvement
completed
3
Analysis of user and stakeholder motivation completed
4
Analysis of and development of methodologies to improve user and
stakeholder involvement completed
4
Report for ASA members on user and stakeholder motivations and
recommendations
4
Begin draft user involvement toolkit for pilot
4
Interim report on independent evaluation of the workstream
4
Review milestones for remainder of workstream period and agree
amended and/or additional milestones
4
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Milestone
Timescale
(Quarter)
Submit workstream monitoring reports to grant funder
Quarterly
Submit workstream financial monitoring reports to grant funder
Quarterly
•
Year Two Milestones
Milestone
Timescale
(Quarter)
Publish report on findings to increase advice sector’s contribution to
policy development on user involvement
5
Complete draft user involvement toolkit for pilot
5
Agree monitoring process for assessing pilot
5
Recruitment minimum of 5 local advice agencies for pilot
5
Training on using toolkit provided to pilot agencies
6
Begin 6 month pilot
6
Pilot agencies submit progress reports on how user involvement has
increased
7
Identify resources required by agencies to embed user and
stakeholder involvement
8
6 month pilot completed
8
Publish interim report on pilot
8
Produce updated toolkit
8
Produce promotional booklet (short guide to user and stakeholder
involvement) to be distributed to advice agencies through all ASA
members
8
Interim report on independent evaluation of the workstream
8
•
Year Three Milestones
Milestone
Timescale
Pilot agencies submit final reports
9
Independent evaluation of pilots completed
9
Toolkit made available for download from Advice Services Alliance
website, with hard copies available for agencies without internet
access
9
ADP Consultancy  Working Together for Advice Project  January 2011
17
Milestone
Timescale
Toolkit and training on its use promoted through Advice Services
Alliance members, with promotional booklets sent to all agencies
9
Training in using toolkit update and developed
9
Training sessions begin - to be run for up to 20 participants in all 9
English regions
10
Training completed
11
Independent evaluation of whole workstream completed
11
Final workstream report produced and distributed
11
750 advice agencies better equipped to deliver more effective advice
services based on the needs of advice users and stakeholders
11
ADP Consultancy  Working Together for Advice Project  January 2011
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Written by: David Garner, ADP Consultancy
© Age UK/ADP Consultancy
www.adpconsultancy.co.uk
If you require more information about the Working Together for Advice User and Stakeholder
Involvement Workstream please contact:
Matthew Pilkington
Age UK
Astral House
1268 London Road
London
SW16 4 ER
Telephone: 020 8765 7748
Email: matthew.pilkington@ageuk.org.uk
www.ageuk.org.uk
January 2011
ADP Consultancy  Working Together for Advice Project  January 2011
2