Adactus celebrates 30th anniversary of Welfare Rights Service » Housing » 24dash.com

Adactus Housing Group will this month celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of its Welfare Rights Service – the longest running welfare rights service of its kind in the UK. 

The service was the first ever welfare rights service provided by a housing association, when it was set up by Adactus (called Family Housing Association at the time) in 1977.

To celebrate the thirtieth anniversary and give the service a new look, the facility is to be renamed the ‘Financial Inclusion Service.’ 

Tenants will continue to receive the same range of services they have enjoyed from the service over the years with the addition of new services aimed at tackling issues of multiple debt and lack of access to mainstream financial services, which have become increasing issues for Adactus tenants.

The service helps Adactus Housing Association tenants, or prospective tenants, with benefit problems.  Typically the service provides advice on what benefits tenants are entitled to and assists them with claiming benefits. 

Based at Adactus’ South area office in Moss Side, Manchester the Financial Inclusion Service assists around four hundred Adactus tenants from across the North West every year.  In 2006, the service helped to secure £247,310 for tenants in need.

As well as helping tenants who experience difficulties in claiming benefits, staff at the Financial Inclusion Service can also write letters seeking review and appeal as well as offer budgeting and money advice.

Tenants can access advice on any state benefit and tax credit including incapacity benefit, income support, pension credit and disability allowance.

One tenant helped by Adactus’ Financial Inclusion Service is a widowed pensioner – who wished to remain anonymous - who had been told that she could not get Housing Benefit because she had savings of over £16,000 and was not entitled to Pension Credit. 

She said:  “I have been paying my rent out of my savings for some time. When I had a visit from a Welfare Rights Officer he was able to advise me to claim Housing Benefit and get it backdated to the time my savings went below the £16,000 limit. I gained £73 per week and £3,400 in backdated benefit”.  (See below for further tenant quotes)

John Ball, Senior Financial Inclusion Officer at Adactus Housing Group, said:  “The benefits and tax system can be complex so it is understandable that some tenants need advice and assistance.  Adactus was the first housing association to recognise that this is an essential service that should be available to all its tenants. 

“We typically secure between £200,000 - £300,000 a year in benefits that would otherwise have gone to waste or been wrongfully deducted from tenants.  Many of the people we have helped over the years have faced serious monetary problems, which has have been alleviated or solved by the Financial Inclusion Service.  This pioneering service is there to ensure that all tenants are receiving the benefits and tax credits that they are entitled to.”

Also celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the service is Ade Felton, one of the longest-serving employees at Adactus Housing Group and the original Welfare Rights Officer when the service began in 1977.

Now Adactus’ Business Expansion Manager, Ade worked at the Welfare Rights Service for 10 years but has remained within Adactus Housing Group for thirty years. 

He said:  “This really marks my anniversary at Adactus as well as the anniversary of the Welfare Rights Service.  Many people ask why I have stayed with the same organisation for so long, but my answer is that I have always enjoyed it and felt I was doing something for the local community.  Plus I have been able to move around within the organisation – always learning new skills and taking on new challenges.  I am proud that the Service is still going strong after thirty years and that we are still helping around four hundred people a year to access money that they are entitled to".

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