Social Welfare Legal Advice
Reducing health inequities in London by improving access to social welfare advice
“Why treat people and send them back to the conditions that make them sick?”
Sir Michael Marmot, 2017
In November 2023, the London Health Board members endorsed the principle that “free social, welfare and legal advice should be available to any Londoner who needs it” and to ensure that London’s ICSs have plans in place for such provision. London’s ICSs and partners are required to report back on progress to achieving this commitment at the London’s Health Board meeting in November 2024.
We are supporting ICSs to do this with bespoke support and convening pan-London groups to build momentum and support the culture shifts required to embed social welfare legal advice within health care. This has been commissioned by the Greater London Authority, and the support offer was developed in partnership with ICSs.
For more information, please get in touch with sandi.bhangu@nhs.net and Dan.Hopewell@nhs.net
Social Welfare Legal Advice (SWLA) refers to the provision of free, independent, quality-assured advice on social welfare issues relating to civil law including: debt, welfare benefits, housing, employment, education, discrimination, immigration, community care and consumer rights.
Social Welfare problems such as accessing benefit entitlements, dealing with problem debt and damp housing conditions are impacting on health and contributing to worse outcomes among more vulnerable groups.
These issues disproportionately affect people living on low incomes and in deprived households. Additionally, they are more likely to affect people with certain vulnerabilities and characteristics, for example: migrants and refugees, single parents, ethnic minorities, and those living with long-term health conditions, disabilities or mental health conditions.
These issues contribute to health inequalities by exacerbating the impacts of hardship among groups who are already more vulnerable to poor health outcomes and experiences. Welfare advice makes a key contribution to improve health and wellbeing outcomes for the most disadvantaged, maximise income, reduce indebtedness, and prevent homelessness.
Ongoing changes to the welfare system and the cost-of-living crisis has led to increased demand for social welfare advice and support on welfare benefits, debt, housing and immigration issues at the same time as advice services are struggling due to lack of resources.
Over 45% of London’s social prescribing link workers struggle to find Social Welfare Legal Advice services they can refer clients to. The definition of Social Welfare Legal Advice services in this Terms of Reference refers to advice services that hold the nationally recognised Advice Quality Standard at either generalist or specialist level.
Bromley By Bow Insights, in collaboration with TPHC, have published a new, independent report, funded by the Mayor of London, which focuses on the opportunities and need for greater collaboration between healthcare provision, social prescribing and social welfare legal advice to meet advice needs, particularly of the most vulnerable patients and families struggling on low income, those who suffer the greatest health inequalities.
The study focuses on the following areas:
- the effects on people’s health of the issues supported by social welfare advice, such as lack of income, overcrowded and substandard housing etc and the health benefits of people accessing timely, professional advice in their communities
- the growing need and demand for social welfare advice in London, particularly amongst those with the greatest levels of health inequalities and the current postcode lottery of supply of welfare advice in London
- the opportunities for and challenges to strengthening access to advice allied to healthcare and social prescribing, what works and what needs to change, and how that change can be brought about
- readily replicable examples of collaboration between healthcare, social prescribing and social welfare advice providers to improve access to social welfare legal advice
- the opportunity presented by the development of Integrated Care Partnerships and Integrated Neighbourhoods to better co-ordinate approaches to increase access to advice provision in the Capital.