Category

• Emerging Local Practice

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Poverty impact

• Mitigation
• Reduction
• Awareness

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Poverty driver

• Provide benefit in-kind (experience)
• Increase income from benefits
• Increase employment income

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Keywords

• Money Advice
• Employability
• Benefits
• Support
• Outreach

Aim

● To identify people who are not claiming the benefits they are entitled to.
● To support families needing money advice and identify those most at risk of poverty.
● To test new ways through which service users can access discretionary housing payments.
● To help service users access employment.

Summary

Aberdeen City Council's project, ‘Using Data to Inform and Direct Intervention and Support’, combines data held by the Revenue and Benefits Manager and other organisations to identify levels of financial exclusion and unclaimed benefits faced by residents.
The project also seeks to provide money, advice, and support to people who find themselves homeless. The data collected is used to advise on supportive interventions and preventative actions that can be implemented to help prevent and lessen poverty, improving the lives of some of Aberdeen’s most vulnerable citizens. The project aims to tackle poverty and develop strategies to help those most at risk access financial services.

What difference does it make?

It is too early to say. However, there should be enough evidence to analyse later in 2025 which will clearly indicate what works and what does not.

Key take-aways

• Check the quality and structure of your data early on. Review and confirm the cleanliness and structure of your data at the outset. This would have helped ensure the correct datasets were identified in the original Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA), streamlining the process of data integration and avoiding time-consuming backtracking.
• Expect hurdles and factor in time for them. Data-driven projects—especially those involving multiple partners, will inevitably face challenges, whether legal (e.g., data reuse permissions) or technical (e.g., matching datasets). Angela notes that while some obstacles are expected, having a flexible and solutions-focused mindset makes a big difference.
• Early stakeholder engagement is essential. One of the key strengths of this project has been the willingness of other services to get involved once they understood its potential. Angela emphasises the value of sharing early findings, even if partial, to build support and momentum across teams.
• Be clear on who accesses what. There was strong interest from other services to access the dashboard directly, but Angela and her team had to clarify and manage access due to data protection considerations. Establishing clear protocols early around access, roles, and responsibilities is crucial.
• Use momentum wisely. Angela described the early traction of the project as positive demand increased quickly. This momentum can be used to build internal buy-in, engage local committees (like the Anti-Poverty Committee), and potentially secure long-term funding.

 

Organisations

Aberdeen City Council, Policy in Practice.

Location

Aberdeen Council area.

April 2024

Contact