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Support that Saves
Investigating the value for money of support provided by The Wallich
Registered Charity No: 1004103 / Registered in England and WalesCompany Limited by Guarantee No: 2642780
www.thewallich.com
Support that Saves © The Wallich 2017
Investigating the value for money of support provided by The Wallich
This report was written and researched by Alex Osmond, Research OfficerGraphic design and visual elements by Nick Fudge, Graphic Design and Print Manager
Completing this report, the result of months of work, would have been impossible without the input of many people both within and outside The Wallich. Sadly, The Wallich’s Chief Executive Officer, Antonia Watson, passed away in July 2017, before the completion of this report. She strongly believed in this piece of work, and in The Wallich’s role in making the case for the importance of the Supporting People programme. Antonia will be missed across the sector by countless friends and colleagues.
The Wallich’s front-line staff – the Support Workers and Project Managers who work with service users on a daily basis – were vital when it came to providing the information that forms this report’s backbone: the case studies. Not only that: the rough sleeping data which we publish to spread awareness of the issue of rough sleeping in Wales comes from the work of our Rough Sleepers Intervention Teams. These teams not only provide valuable support to some of the most vulnerable people in our society, but the information they collect has been key to several parts of this document.
Most departments and teams at The Wallich played a role in this work: thanks must go to the Communications, Fundraising, Financial, Human Resources, Operations, Business Growth & Improvement, and Participation & Progression teams.
Outside of The Wallich, various local organisations provided information – including Becky Hancock and Sonya Dawes at the Welsh Centre for Action on Dependency and Addiction. Joan Lockett from the Local Government Partnerships team at the
Education and Public Services Group, within the Welsh Government, provided me with the Family Savings Calculator. She also helped explain how to use it, and the context behind it. It is worth noting how both national and local government in Wales are working together, and working hard, to tackle the issue of homelessness. The strong relationships our organisation has forged with Welsh local authorities make it easier for The Wallich to deliver its services. The Big Lottery Fund must be credited for funding the BOSS Project, which is referenced in this document. The Wallich is also fortunate to be part of Cymorth Cymru, the umbrella organisation that so passionately advocates for the Supporting People programme year after year.
I am indebted to Nick Fudge for his tireless work making this document visually accessible, so the report clearly presents the effects of The Wallich’s services. Mia Rees, manager of the Public Affairs and Research team in which I work, has provided a steady and supportive hand throughout the time I’ve spent working on Support that Saves, and deserves a huge amount of credit for ensuring that the work was completed to the highest standard.
Finally, I must mention The Wallich’s service users. They exist behind the case studies, the numbers, and the savings. They are the real people, the real experts when it comes to the support we as an organisation provide, and the people who help us shape and change this support day-by-day. Support that Saves is, ultimately, a part of the support we want to provide, and a part of The Wallich’s mission: to get people off the streets, to keep people off the streets, and to provide opportunities for homeless people in Wales.
Alex Osmond, August 2017
Acknowledgments
© The Wallich 2017 ContentsForeword
Executive summary
Section one: ContextHomelessness in Wales and beyond
Supporting People and The Wallich’s funding
Scope and aims
Section two: MethodologyCase studies and categories
Costing, anonymising and presenting the case studies
Gathering the case studies
Costing the case studies
A note on the cost categories
Section three: Case studies
Other initiatives at The Wallich
Why we’re including the BOSS case study
The BOSS case study
Section four: AnalysisA reminder: our conservative approach
Presenting the data
Savings
Benefit-cost ratios
Beyond the numbers: some qualitative quotes
Section five: ConclusionThe bigger picture
A problem and an opportunity
References
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ForewordI am pleased to introduce the Support that Saves report. Support that Saves highlights the importance of providing support services in Wales for some of the most vulnerable people in society. It is well established that early intervention leads to the best results for the individual and society at large; this report builds on that evidence.
The report demonstrates the value of Supporting People funding in Wales. It highlights the important role effective, long-term funding programmes like SP play in making sure that providers like us can plan and deliver sustainable and cost-effective outcomes. SP funding helps us to make sure the right support is there, when people need it.
We are proud, at The Wallich, to provide a range of services to help get people off the streets, keep people off the streets and create opportunities for people.
More than 5,000 homeless and vulnerably housed people are supported by The Wallich each year in Wales. Support that Saves includes examples of the range of support and solutions that we offer. This varies from established residential and floating support, to our new BOSS project which provides innovative employability and entrepreneurship training to ex-offenders and prisoners in South Wales.
Support that Saves shows that the right support saves public money but, for many, it can save lives.
Antony Kendall,Director of Operations at The Wallich
Support that Saves
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Executive SummaryThe Wallich is a homelessness charity that works across Wales. By providing a range of support, it aims to get people off the streets, keep people off the streets, and provide opportunities for people. The Support that Saves report examines real-life case studies to determine whether providing the right kind of support to clients can save public money.
Context• Rough sleeping and homelessness are rising across Wales. The average number of rough sleepers in
Cardiff has risen from 9, in May 2014, to 30, in May 2017.1 During 2015-16, 6,891 Welsh households were assessed as homeless and needed support. The following year saw this number rise to 10,884.2
• The majority of The Wallich’s public funding comes from the Supporting People programme, which directly pays for most of our residential projects, as well as many floating support services. As such, most of the support offered by the organisation is paid for by the taxpayer.
• The Welsh Government has consistently highlighted the need for value for money in the support and services paid for by the Supporting People programme.
Scope• The aim of this report is not to reduce all support provided by The Wallich to a series of cost-benefit
calculations. It is hard to quantify many aspects of this kind of support, especially over the longer-term – when someone leaves the benefit system and moves into employment, for example. This report focuses on the shorter-term, more immediately realised savings of providing someone with a place in supported accommodation, or with floating support.
• The Wallich is making the case that, in a time of pressured public services and reduced funding, as well as changes to the welfare system, support for those experiencing homelessness can be both morally justified and financially effective.
• This report does not factor in working-age benefits like Jobseeker’s Allowance or Employment Support Allowance. There are several reasons for this. Being homeless and being on benefits are not inextricably linked. Providing someone with a place in a residential project does not necessarily mean they will no longer be claiming benefits, which could be a longer-term process. What is more, the welfare system is changing to such an extent that comparing different years would become incredibly complex.
1The Wallich, “Rough Sleeping Statistics”, accessed August 22, 2017, https://thewallich.com/rough-sleepers-statistics/2See StatsWales, “Prevention of Homelessness by Area and Measure (Section 66), accessed August 22, 2017, https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Housing/Homelessness/preventionofhomelessness-by-area-measure-section66; StatsWales, “Relief of Homelessness by Area and Measure (Section 73)”, accessed August 22, 2017, https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Housing/Homelessness/reliefofhomelessness-by-area-measure-section73
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Methodology• We have gathered nine detailed case studies from clients across Wales. Information for the case studies
was put together through interviews with clients, and working with experienced Support Workers. In some cases, information was provided to this report’s author by a client’s Support Worker, while in other cases, the author carried out interviews. The case studies have all been carefully anonymised.
• The value for money has been determined by comparing the year of a client’s life before they were offered support by The Wallich, and the following year they spent being supported by The Wallich. We make the case that we have prevented the events from the year prior to support from repeating. By weighing these against the costs of supporting the client, we can calculate a saving and a benefit-cost ratio.
• This is a conservative approach, because it is likely that someone’s situation could become more chaotic without intervention, rather than continuing unchanged.3 That said, there is still a hypothetical element to our analysis, as we are predicting things we cannot guarantee would happen. This ‘counterfactual’ approach is common to cost-benefit analyses.
• We focus on four categories: crime; health; drugs and alcohol; and family, housing and social care. We are not suggesting that all our clients have issues that fall into these categories. However, some of our most complex service users have incredibly chaotic lives, and are in regular contact with a range of public services when their lives are at their most unstable. We make the case that in these situations, considerable savings can be made.
• Costing data in the case studies primarily came from internal data at The Wallich (the cost per person, per year, of a specific residential project, for example) and the Family Savings Calculator which was developed by the Education and Public Service Group within the Welsh Government. This tool uses a number of sources for its costs, some of which have been amended since the tool was developed; these are detailed within the report. Similarly, where a different costing tool has been used, it has been referenced appropriately.
The case studies• The case studies have been presented in a visually clear, accessible way. On the left-hand side,
the categorised costs from the year prior to intervention by The Wallich are broken down. On the right-hand side, costs of supporting that service user, as well as any other costs incurred during the year after The Wallich’s intervention, are listed.
• At the bottom of each case study, we have included any relevant additional notes, and the total calculations. These result in an amount saved, as well as a benefit-cost calculation. The latter can be used to determine what saving was made for each pound spent in a particular case.
3Shelter, Homelessness: Early identification and prevention, 6, accessed August 22, 2017, https://england.shelter.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/193134/Homelessness_early_identification_prevention.pdf
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Support that Saves• A case study involving a client participating in our Building Opportunities, Skills and Success
(BOSS) Project has also been included in this report. The BOSS Project is funded by the Big Lottery Fund and must be considered separately from the others. Its focus is on returning ex-offenders to the world of work. We have included this case study to highlight the varied support The Wallich offers and the potential for savings, regardless of where funding comes from.
Analysis
Case study Amount saved Benefit-cost ratio
#1 - Brian £41,745 2.56
#2 - Craig £5,787.63 1.30
#3 - Thomas £3,879.50 1.18
#4 - Martin £2,342.67 1.08
#5 - Bella £3,566.17 1.10
#6 – Robert & Erica £3,405.04 1.25
#7 - Mandy £67,178.27 14.40
#8 - Tanya £50,451.64 2.46
#9 - Nick £9,984.63 1.54
BOSS – Charlie* £66,805.68 182.87
Average excluding BOSS £20,926.78 2.99
Average including BOSS £25,514.60 20.97
• The results of the case studies are presented in the table below. Additionally, in the main body of the report, the amounts saved and benefit-cost ratios are presented as circles, proportional in size to the number they represent. This enables the reader to quickly and easily compare the different case studies.
• Excluding the BOSS Project case study, the average benefit-cost ratio is 2.99. Therefore, the Supporting People-funded support investigated in this report saved £2.99 for every pound spent. The BOSS case study distorts this average significantly. Not only does it have a much higher benefit-cost ratio – 182.87 – it pushes the average up to 20.97. This means that, if we look at The Wallich’s broader programmes of support, we can conclude that a saving of £20.97 for every pound spent is possible.
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• Excluding the BOSS Project case study, the average benefit-cost ratio is 2.99, meaning that for every pound of the Supporting People fund which The Wallich spends, £2.99 is saved. This is a substantial saving in today’s financial climate.
• This kind of saving demonstrates how vital the Supporting People programme is, and how cost-effective this funding can be. Given the troubling increases in homelessness and rough sleeping, if more of this funding were available real changes could be made to the lives of some of Wales’s most vulnerable people.
• We firmly make the case that, to continue to deliver our main aims – getting people off the streets, keeping people off the streets, and providing opportunities for people – the Supporting People programme is crucial.
Conclusion• The results of the case studies speak volumes. We are not claiming that each time we provide an
individual with support, we generate a saving. However, based on the case studies in this document, investment in the most complex and chaotic clients can result in substantial savings.
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Section one : ContextHomelessness in Wales and beyondHomelessness and rough sleeping, which are two linked but distinct issues, are rising across Wales. They have been doing so consistently over the past three years, which can be seen in both the annual Welsh Government statistics and The Wallich’s own data. The Wallich website, for example, shows an average of 30 rough sleepers seen on the streets of Cardiff in May 2017, compared with nine in May 2014. The 2016 Welsh Government one night count shows a 72% increase in rough sleepers across Wales compared to 2015 one night count. 4
We can also see a rise in homelessness in Welsh households. Although the increases appear less dramatic than those associated with rough sleeping, we must bear in mind that homelessness affecting a ‘household’ could be impacting an entire family. During 2015-16, 7,128 households were threatened with homelessness and needed prevention assistance; 6,891 households were accepted as homeless and needed subsequent support. During the following year, 2016-17, 9,210 households were threatened with homelessness; 10,884 were considered homeless.5
This has led to an increased interest in these issues among the media, the general public, and policymakers. The recent passage of the Housing (Wales) Act and the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act, alongside efforts to enact similar laws in England, highlight the renewed sense, across the UK, that these are problems which need some kind of solution.6
Legislation is not the only evidence of this increased interest in homelessness. Debate and discussion about topics that for years took place among specialists are now much more common in the mainstream media and the offices of policymakers. These concepts include the ‘Housing First’7 approach to homelessness, and supervised drug consumption rooms.8
Supporting People and The Wallich’s fundingEach year, the Welsh Government sets the budget for the Supporting People programme. 9 The majority of The Wallich’s taxpayer funding comes from Supporting People, which directly pays for
4 See Welsh Government, “Homelessness”, accessed August 22, 2017, http://gov.wales/statistics-and-research/homelessness/?lang=en; Welsh Government, “National rough sleeping count”, accessed August 22, 2017, http://gov.wales/statistics-and-research/national-rough-sleeping-count/?lang=en; The Wallich, “Rough Sleeping Statistics”, accessed June 26, 2017, https://thewallich.com/rough-sleepers-statistics/5 See StatsWales, “Prevention of Homelessness by Area and Measure (Section 66), accessed August 22, 2017, https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Housing/Homelessness/preventionofhomelessness-by-area-measure-section66; StatsWales, “Relief of Homelessness by Area and Measure (Section 73)”, accessed August 22, 2017, https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Housing/Homelessness/reliefofhomelessness-by-area-measure-section73 6 See “Housing (Wales) Act 2014”, accessed August 22, 2017, http://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2014/7/contents/enacted; “Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014”, accessed August 22, 2017, http://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2014/4/pdfs/anaw_20140004_en.pdf; “Homelessness Reduction Bill”, accessed August 22, 2017, https://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/communities-and-local-government/Homelessness-Reduction-Bill.pdf7 Foster, Dawn, “What can the UK learn from how Finland solved homelessness?”, The Guardian, accessed August 22, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2017/mar/22/finland-solved-homelessness-eu-crisis-housing-first8 Alderson, Reevel, “Glasgow site found for UK’s first legal drug addict ‘fix room’”, BBC News, accessed August 22, 2017, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-40341080 9 See Welsh Government, “Supporting People programme”, accessed August 22, 2017, http://gov.wales/topics/housing-and-regeneration/services-and-support/supporting-people/?lang=en
10 For more information about Supporting People’s background, see Cymorth Cymru, “Supporting People”, accessed August 22, 2017, http://www.cymorthcymru.org.uk/en/supporting-people/11 See The Wallich, “Boss Project Launched to Support People With A Criminal Record”, accessed August 22, 2017, https://thewallich.com/boss-project-launched-to-support-people-with-a-criminal-record/ 12 Welsh Government, “Draft supporting people programme guidance and outcomes framework”, 9, accessed August 22, 2017, https://consultations.gov.wales/sites/default/files/consultation_doc_files/170508_consultation_draftsppguidanceoutcomes_en.pdf 13 The Wallich, “2016 Welsh Assembly Manifesto”, accessed August 22, 2017, https://thewallich.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Manifesto_English_Web.pdf 14 For various views on the role of employment, see “‘Best way out of poverty is to get a job’ says Alun Cairns”, BBC News, accessed August 22, 2017, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-wales-politics-40007095/best-way-out-of-poverty-is-to-get-a-job-says-alun-cairns; Keating, Matt, “Postcode lottery”, The Guardian, accessed August 22, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/society/2006/mar/11/homelessness.careers
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the support offered at many of our residential projects. Nine of the ten case studies in this report involve projects that are paid for by Supporting People, as well as housing benefits claimed by the residents for accommodation. As such, the projects we are dealing with in this exercise are paid for by the public.10 One case study from a particular initiative run by The Wallich, the Building Opportunities, Skills and Success (BOSS) Project11 , operates slightly differently, and has been included separately to highlight the range of support offered by The Wallich.
It is important to note that the Welsh Government repeatedly refers to value for money within the Supporting People programme’s documentation, making it clear that it wants Supporting People funding to be used for initiatives that ‘[prevent] the need for more costly interventions by the NHS and/or…the
Scope and aimsThe aims of this report are clear: we want to prove that the support offered by The Wallich saves public funds. We are not suggesting that it is easy, or correct, to reduce the issue of homelessness to a series of cost-benefit calculations. As an organisation, we recognise and believe in the moral imperative to get people off the streets, keep people off the streets, and provide people with opportunities, as outlined in our 2016 manifesto13. It is hard to quantify some of the benefits that can come from ending homelessness in a person’s life, and the importance of the concept of ‘home’ in Western society should not be underestimated. We live in a society that highly values the security and comfort of the ‘home’, as well as the economic value of property.
What is more, there are many longer-term economic benefits that materialise when someone is no longer homeless. It might take a person time to re-enter the world of work, for example, but if they do this when they are ready, they are likely to feel a sense of fulfilment and belonging, as well as contributing to the economy.14 Having a home might enable someone to raise a family, the members of which will also contribute. The Wallich, in addition to its residential projects, also runs schemes that specifically aim to help people start or return to work. The WISE (Working in Sustainable Employment), Residents and Service Users Volunteering Programme (RSVP) and BOSS (Building Opportunities, Skills and Success) Projects do just that. WISE is a system of internships for Wallich clients, and BOSS is aimed at ex-offenders trying to gain meaningful employment. We have included one case study, analysed separately, that comes from the BOSS Project, in this report. In some cases, clients who are living in our projects will decide to participate in skills-based programmes like WISE and RSVP, thereby compounding the savings they incur over the medium and longer terms.
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The Wallich believes in helping people prepare for employment and independent living. However, while these topics are worth exploring, they are beyond the scope of this document, which focuses on the more immediate savings that materialise very soon after someone has started receiving support. Most of the Support that Saves case studies involve people who are still residents at The Wallich; this provides sufficient analysis to meet our aims.
It is also worth mentioning the preventative agenda. The Housing (Wales) Act, in particular, has shifted the focus in Wales from cure to prevention when it comes to homelessness. This makes it imperative for local authorities to take pre-emptive action to stop people becoming homeless in the first place.15 Again, while prevention is a worthy topic that merits investigation, it is outside the scope of this document, and would necessitate a more hypothetical approach than this report does.
The Wallich provides support to people who are experiencing homelessness; therefore, by very definition, the clients discussed in this report have not had their homelessness prevented. That said, given that this report makes the case that there are immediate benefits to intervention, one might accept the following logic: if intervention provides benefits, intervention should happen as soon as possible; and if intervention should take place as soon as possible, it stands to reason that prevention is even better.
All this considered, the aim of the Support that Saves report is clear. This report emphasises that, in a time of reduced budgets for public services16, funding cuts that would also affect projects like those at The Wallich17, and changes to the welfare system18, the need for innovative interventions which save money make more sense than ever. The kind of support The Wallich provides can deliver savings to a strained public purse, as well as genuinely helping our service users. Now is the time for a kind of support that is both practical and effective.
It is worth mentioning one important aspect when it comes to scope. In calculating the savings that support from The Wallich can generate, we have not factored in Working-Age Benefits (Jobseeker’s Allowance, for example). While many of our service users might be claiming these benefits, there are several reasons that including their analysis is beyond the scope of this exercise. We have made it clear that this document focuses on the immediate, short-term savings that come from The Wallich’s interventions. Moving into a residential project is not likely to immediately change a person’s benefit situation, which makes this a longer-term issue (again, this is well worth analysing, but as part of a different exercise).
What is more, homelessness, rough sleeping and benefits are not inextricably linked. Among our service users are people who worked or studied while they were homeless. Accounting for all this could make this exercise too complex. More complexity is introduced when one considers how many imminent changes are coming to the welfare system. This could pose challenges to making year-on-year comparisons; even in a matter of months, the system could be very different.19
15Murray, Kate, “Welsh law shows that early support prevents homelessness”, The Guardian, accessed August 22, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/26/welsh-law-early-support-prevents-homelessness-crisis16Wheeler, Brian, “Spending Review: Department-by-department cuts guide”, BBC News, accessed, August 22, 2017, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34790102 17Community Housing Cymru, “Concerns about funding of life-changing Supporting People Programme”, accessed August 22, 2017, http://chcymru.org.uk/en/view-news/concerns-about-funding-of-life-changing-supporting-people-programme18Citizens Advice, “Universal Credit”, accessed August 22, 2017, https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/nireland/benefits/welfare-benefits-reform-ni/universal-credit-ni/universal-credit-if-you-are-already-getting-benefits-and-tax-credits-ni/ 19See UK Government, “Universal Credit guides”, accessed August 22, 2017, https://www.gov.uk/guidance/universal-credit-toolkit-for-partner-organisations; “Benefit changes: Who will be affected?”, BBC News, accessed August 22, 2017, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33429390
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Section two : MethodologyCase studies and categoriesThe core of the Support that Saves report is based on case studies. We gathered stories from service users within The Wallich’s residential projects and floating support services across Wales. Using real-world examples enables us to provide a genuine picture of the range of backgrounds and journeys of the people we support. It also supplies tangible evidence of the economic benefits of providing this support.
We focus on costs in four categories: health; crime; drugs and alcohol; and family, housing and social care. These categories cover the main public services involved in our clients’ journeys. The numbers behind these costs come primarily from one electronic tool, which will be discussed later in this section.
For each case study, we compare the year prior to someone being housed in a Wallich project with the following year, spent as a resident in that project. If someone received support from a floating support service, we compare the year before their engagement with the year of their engagement. By doing this, we are making the case that we have prevented the same costs for public services from being repeated year after year. (In some cases, we compare two years prior to two years of support from The Wallich. In one case, somebody was supported for one and a half years. Where this is the case, this is noted on the case study, and the costs are divided to represent one year. This makes them all comparable).
Costing, anonymising and presenting the case studiesFigure 1 is an example of how the case studies will be presented in this report. They are portrayed consistently and clearly, enabling the reader to quickly compare different case studies. The client’s (changed) name and some brief context is provided. There is also a breakdown of the ‘Benefits’ and ‘Costs’ relevant to their situation. As Figure 1 shows, ‘Benefits’ refers to the costs of the year before a service user was being supported by The Wallich, while ‘Costs’ refers to the cost of supporting that service user – as well as any other costs incurred – during the following year.
We have already mentioned the categorisation of the various costs, and how in some cases the ‘Costs’ section does not purely consist of support from The Wallich. Some clients began or continued a methadone prescription in the second year. There are also examples where a person was arrested or court proceedings took place while someone was a resident at The Wallich. In the first case study, for example, the client underwent ‘local alcohol treatment’. Although this would technically fall into the ‘Drugs & Alcohol’ category, for the sake of visual clarity, the ‘Costs’ section is not separated into categories.
A priority for The Wallich in an exercise like this is protecting our service users. We have made every effort to anonymise them. Names have been changed, and case studies have not been linked to specific places. Different residential projects vary in cost, which is clear in each case study – but to protect our clients, we do not name the projects. A later subsection lists the areas the case studies have come from. To retain extra anonymity, instead of naming a particular organisation, we have used phrases like ‘local alcohol treatment’.
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Figure 1 – example case study
There is a hypothetical element here. We are assuming that, without support from The Wallich, the negative events in a homeless person’s life would repeat each year. However, this ‘counterfactual’ aspect is a common part of cost-benefit analyses across diverse fields of study.20 We argue that we are being appropriately conservative in our approach; anecdotal evidence from our Support Workers suggests that the lives of homeless people become more difficult and chaotic the longer their issues are not dealt with. These observations have been researched by Shelter; the charity pointed out that not only does homelessness become ‘increasingly difficult and more costly [emphasis mine]’ the longer it goes on, but also that early intervention is ‘less costly both to the individuals concerned and to the public purse’. 21
At an event organised by Cymorth Cymru22, Nicholas Pleace at the Centre for Housing Policy at the University of York23 presented on the relationship between homelessness and mental health. He highlighted research by Dennis Culhane that took place over the last two decades. It suggested that
20 These aspects of cost-benefit analysis are common to wildly different fields: A Women’s Aid campaign, ‘Change That Lasts’, has taken this approach, and the New Zealand Treasury describes the importance of the ‘counterfactual’ in cost-benefit analysis. See Women’s Aid, “Change that Lasts”, accessed August 22, 2017, https://www.womensaid.org.uk/our-approach-change-that-lasts/; New Zealand Treasury, “Step 1: Define policy and counterfactual”, Guide to Social Cost Benefit Analysis, accessed August 22, 2017, http://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/guidance/planning/costbenefitanalysis/guide/04.htm 21 Shelter, Homelessness: Early identification and prevention, 6, accessed August 22, 2017, https://england.shelter.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/193134/Homelessness_early_identification_prevention.pdf22 Cymorth Cymru are an umbrella body for Welsh housing and social health issues. For more information, see their website: http://www.cymorthcymru.org.uk/en/ 23 University of York, “Nicholas Pleace,” Centre for Housing Policy, accessed August 22, 2017, https://www.york.ac.uk/chp/people/pleace/
24See Pleace, Nicholas, “Homelessness and Mental Health”, in Cymorth Cymru, Together for Mental Health, August 22, 2017; Osmond, Alex, “Homelessness and Mental Health: A Complex Relationship”, accessed August 22, 2017, https://thewallich.com/homelessness-mental-health-complex-relationship/ 25The Wallich, “Our projects”, accessed August 22, 2017, https://thewallich.com/our-projects/ 26The Wallich, “Rough Sleeping Statistics”, accessed August 22, 2017, https://thewallich.com/rough-sleepers-statistics/
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rather than being a cause of mental health issues, mental health issues tend to arise as a consequence of someone being homeless, and worsens as homelessness becomes more entrenched. This evidence further reinforces the idea that the approach taken by this exercise is a conservative one, and in fact, savings made by The Wallich’s interventions could be larger than the work here suggests. 24
It is, of course, possible that someone’s situation might improve without the support of The Wallich or an organisation like it. We maintain that this scenario is less likely than one in which more costs to public service are incurred.
Gathering the case studiesThe Wallich works across Wales, operating in 19 of the country’s 22 Local Authorities.25 Homelessness and rough sleeping have different contexts in different areas; we wanted a set of case studies that represented the breadth of the work we do. Not only did we want case studies from different parts of Wales, but were also eager to emphasise how varied a service user’s story can be. There are, certainly, trends when it comes to our work – for example, we tend to support proportionally more men, as our quarterly rough sleeping reports indicate.26 We did not, however, gather a completely representative collection of case studies, which would have extended the time of the exercise, and may not have been possible given the nature of the information we can present in an anonymised way.
To gather the case studies, the author of this report contacted The Wallich’s Project Managers. In some cases, the author was invited to interview service users. In others, detailed information about a client was sent to the author by the relevant Project Manager, or a Support Worker who has worked closely with that client. Case studies were chosen based on the level of detail they included, as well as the area of Wales they originated from. The case studies that appear here represent the simplest year-to-year comparisons, not necessarily the best or worst savings. The aim of this report is not to provide exhaustive accounting for a large number of clients, but to reinforce the idea that The Wallich’s interventions can save money, and represent effective use of Supporting People funding. Figure 2 shows how many case studies came from different parts of Wales.
Area of Wales Number of case studies
North Wales Two
Mid Wales One
South West Wales (including Swansea) Four
South East Wales Three
Figure 2 – areas of Wales
27The Wallich, “Support That Saves”, accessed August 22, 2017, https://thewallich.com/support-that-saves/28Ibid.
Support that Saves
15
Costing the case studies
The Wallich support costs
Another aspect of our conservative approach that is worth noting is the fact that we have used unit costs for our projects; that is, the unit cost per person per year of support: if a project has thirty beds, but over the course of a year, sixty people are supported by that project as people move on, then the actual cost per person has effectively been reduced. This will vary from project to project, depending on the length of stays of individual clients. We have chosen to use unit costs to maintain consistency, but the actual savings for certain projects could, in reality, be higher.
The Family Savings CalculatorThe costing work carried out for this report was primarily carried out using a tool devised by the Education and Public Services Group within the Welsh Government: the Family Savings Calculator (FSC). This tool can be downloaded from The Wallich website. 27
We chose this tool because Welsh data has been incorporated within it to the greatest extent possible. This makes sense, given the fact that the tool was devised by a department within the Welsh Government. When it comes to health and housing costs in particular – issues devolved to Wales – it makes sense to use data that Welsh Government uses in their work.
Also available on The Wallich website is a brief overview, written by the developers, explaining the context of the tool. Readers interested in additional details should consult this overview, but one statement must be highlighted in particular:
The tool is not an extensive cost benefit analysis or evaluation; rather it offers a snapshot of ‘savings’ the intervention may yield.28
This provides a sense of the level of detail we are aiming for with this report: we want readers to have an idea of the savings which interventions by The Wallich can generate. It is not an extensive, in-depth, quantitative exercise.
The tool is not intended to be an extended in-depth cost benefit analysis, but to provide an overview of the benefits The Wallich’s interventions can realise. However, inflation has not been considered beyond the adjustments already incorporated in some of the costs within the FSC. It is doubtful that factoring inflation into this work would have a substantial impact on the numbers, and it would likely complicate the exercise.
The tool uses a range of documents and other sources for its costings. These sources, often government documents or reports from other organisations, vary in terms of publication date. A small number of the costs in the FSC have been updated, as newer versions of the sources containing them have been released since the tool was first developed. In addition, the cost for a community-based dentist was not included in the FSC, but can be found in a source the FSC takes
29PSSRU, Unit Costs of Health and Social Care 2016, accessed August 22, 2017, http://www.pssru.ac.uk/project-pages/unit-costs/2016/ 30New Economy, “Research, Evaluation & Cost Benefit Analysis”, accessed August 22, 2017, http://www.neweconomymanchester.com/our-work/research-evaluation-cost-benefit-analysis 31See Chaplain, Chloe, “‘Mum’s depression pushed us apart’: Family relationship breakdown to blame for 60% of youth homelessness”, Evening Standard, accessed August 22, 2017, http://www.standard.co.uk/homelesshelpline/mum-s-depression-pushed-us-apart-family-relationship-breakdown-to-blame-for-60-of-youth-homelessness-a3416876.html; Womack, Sarah, “More over-50s homeless due to rise in divorce”, The Telegraph, accessed August 22, 2017, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/4193448/More-over-50s-homeless-due-to-rise-in-divorce.html
16
many of its costs from. Figure 3 shows the updated costs, as well as the cost of a dentist. These all come from the Personal Social Service Research Unit’s Unit Costs of Health and Social Care 2016.29
Health Care Cost in 2016 document
Visit to a GP Surgery £36/visit
Practice Nurse £36/visit
Dentist £121/hour of patient contact
Drug and Alcohol Services Cost in 2016 document
Inpatient detoxification £153/day
Alcohol Health Worker – Clinic Consultant £45/consult
Social Care Cost in 2016 document
Occupational Therapist £40/hour
Figure 3 – updated costs
Other costing tools and sources Some costs were calculated using other documents, because they were not available in the FSC. One source is New Economy’s Cost Benefit Analysis tool, which has been widely used by public and private sector investigations across the UK. New Economy has worked with UK and local government to develop the tool.30 Where another tool has been used as part of a case study, this is made clear in the ‘Notes’ section of that case study.
A note on the cost categoriesWhile these categories include crime and drugs or alcohol, The Wallich as an organisation does not buy into, nor support, the stereotyping of homeless people. Many of our service users will not have issues with substances, and won’t have committed any crimes. Family and relationship breakdowns, for example, are much more common as a factor in causing homelessness than many people realise.31
The Wallich projects will provide support to even the most chaotic clients, as long as the safety of other clients and staff can be ensured. As these are the clients who tend to incur the most costs to the public purse, they are the ones represented here. By no means are we suggesting that they are representative of all our clients. Each client is an individual with specific needs.
Support that Saves
17
Section three : Case studiesThe following pages contain nine case studies from a range of The Wallich’s support projects. Subsequently, there follows the discussion and presentation of a tenth case study, from a particular Wallich initiative.
#1 B
rian
Healt
hCr
imeD
rugs &
Al
cohol
Supp
ort
Tota
ls (W
hat w
e’ve
sav
ed)
Bene
fits
(wha
t w
e’ve
pre
vent
ed b
y pr
ovid
ing
supp
ort)
Cost
s (w
hat
we’
ve s
pent
on
supp
ort)
Tota
l = £
46,8
95To
tal =
£21
,151
Tota
l = £
480
Tota
l = N
ATo
tal =
£26
,781
Not
app
licab
le in
thi
s ca
se•
5x a
rres
ts
5 x
£2,5
00 =
£12
,500
• C
row
n C
ourt
pro
ceed
ings
1
x £2
,043
• 59
day
s se
rved
in p
riso
n 59
x £
112
= £6
,608
• 5x
A&
E v
isit
s 5x
£13
1 =
£655
• 6
mon
th h
ospi
tal s
tay
184
days
x £
247
= £4
5,44
8
• 3
mon
ths
phys
ioth
erap
y @
2 s
essi
ons
per w
eek
24 s
essi
ons
x £3
3 =
£792
Bri
an h
as b
een
resi
dent
in a
Wal
lich
pro
ject
sin
ce S
epte
mbe
r 201
6. H
e m
oved
into
the
pro
ject
aft
er a
leng
thy
hosp
ital
sta
y, th
e m
ain
caus
e o
f whi
ch w
ere
his
issu
es w
ith
alco
hol.
For s
om
e ti
me,
he
had
been
in a
nd o
ut o
f ho
spit
al b
ecau
se o
f alc
oho
l-re
late
d liv
er is
sues
. In
the
year
pr
eced
ing
mov
ing
into
The
Wal
lich,
Bri
an s
pent
sev
eral
mo
nths
in p
riso
n. A
fter
alm
ost
co
mpl
etel
y lo
sing
his
mo
bilit
y in
ho
spit
al, w
hile
livi
ng a
t The
Wal
lich,
he
has
wo
rked
har
d to
wal
k ag
ain,
and
has
sto
pped
dri
nkin
g. H
is c
urre
nt fo
cus
is o
n re
mai
ning
so
ber,
wit
h th
e he
lp o
f his
sup
port
wo
rker
s at
The
Wal
lich,
and
at l
oca
l dr
ug s
uppo
rt a
genc
ies.
Aft
er h
is c
onfi
denc
e in
his
so
brie
ty d
evel
ops
, he
inte
nds
to re
turn
to w
ork
.
Bene
fits
Cost
s
£
vs.
£26,
781
£41,
745
Savin
gs =
£46,
895
Note
s:
NA
.
£0£1
0k£2
0k£3
0k£4
0k£5
0k£6
0k£7
0k£8
0k£9
0k£1
00k
£21,
151
Ben
efits
: £6
8,52
6 - C
osts
: £2
6,78
1 =
Sa
ving
s:
£41,
745
----
----
----
----
----
----
- B
enefi
t-co
st ra
tio
2.56
£480
• 6
mon
ths
alco
hol w
orke
r @
1 s
essi
on p
er fo
rtni
ght
12 s
essi
ons
x £4
0 =
£480
Famil
y, Ho
using
&
Socia
l Car
e
• W
allic
h R
esid
enti
al
Supp
ort
£25,
337
per y
ear
• Lo
cal a
lcoh
ol t
reat
men
t
£1,4
44
#2 C
raig
Healt
hCr
imeD
rugs &
Al
cohol
Supp
ort
Tota
ls (W
hat w
e’ve
sav
ed)
Bene
fits
(wha
t w
e’ve
pre
vent
ed b
y pr
ovid
ing
supp
ort)
Cost
s (w
hat
we’
ve s
pent
on
supp
ort)
• W
allic
h Re
side
ntia
l Sup
port
£1
5,84
1.37
per
yea
r
• 1 y
ear m
etha
done
pr
escr
ipti
on
52 w
eeks
x £
55 =
£2,
860
• 1
year
dru
gs w
orke
r @
1 s
essi
on p
er m
onth
12
ses
sion
s x
£44
= £5
28
Tota
l = £
170
Tota
l = £
22,3
61To
tal =
£2,
486
Tota
l = N
ATo
tal =
£ 1
9,22
9.37
Not
app
licab
le in
thi
s ca
se•
2 x
Polic
e ca
llout
s
2 x
£33
= £6
6
• A
rres
ts: 6
x £
2,50
0 =
£15,
000
• M
agis
trat
es’ c
ourt
pr
ocee
ding
s 5
x £1
,377
= £
6,88
5
• O
ffen
der
Man
ager
to
supe
rvis
e co
mm
unit
y se
nten
ce =
£41
0
• A
&E
vis
it
£131
• G
P p
resc
ript
ion
£39
Aft
er s
pend
ing
tim
e liv
ing
and
wo
rkin
g in
Eng
land
, dur
ing
whi
ch h
is s
ubst
ance
issu
es d
evel
ope
d to
bec
om
e m
uch
wo
rse,
Cra
ig
gave
up
his
job
and
retu
rned
to th
e fa
mily
ho
me
in W
ales
. Sho
rtly
aft
er th
is, h
e w
as m
ade
hom
eles
s. It
was
alm
ost
exa
ctly
a
year
bef
ore
he
beca
me
a re
side
nt in
a W
allic
h pr
oje
ct, w
here
he
spen
t ano
ther
yea
r, be
fore
find
ing
wo
rk a
nd p
erm
anen
t ac
com
mo
dati
on.
Bene
fits
Cost
s
£
vs.
£ 19
,229
.27
£578
7.63
Savin
gs =
Note
s:T
he c
ost
s o
f the
O
ffen
der M
anag
er
com
e fr
om
a d
iffer
ent
cost
ing
too
l (s
ee ‘m
etho
dolo
gy’
sect
ion)
.
£2,4
86
£0£1
0k£2
0k£3
0k£4
0k£5
0k£6
0k£7
0k£8
0k£9
0k£1
00kB
enefi
ts:
£25,
017
- Cos
ts:
£19,
229.
37
=
Savi
ngs:
£578
7.63
--
----
----
----
----
----
---
Ben
efit-
cost
rati
o
1.30
£22,
361
£2,4
86
• 26
wee
k m
etha
done
pr
escr
ipti
on
26 x
£55
= £
1,43
0
• 1
year
dru
gs w
orke
r @ 1
se
ssio
n pe
r for
tnig
ht
24 s
essi
ons
x £4
4 =
£1,0
56
Famil
y, Ho
using
&
Socia
l Car
e
#3 T
homas
Healt
hCr
imeD
rugs &
Al
cohol
Supp
ort
Tota
ls (W
hat w
e’ve
sav
ed)
Bene
fits
(wha
t w
e’ve
pre
vent
ed b
y pr
ovid
ing
supp
ort)
Cost
s (w
hat
we’
ve s
pent
on
supp
ort)
Tota
l = £
995.
50To
tal =
£20
,440
Tota
l = £
3,61
8To
tal =
NA
Tota
l = £
21,1
74
Not
app
licab
le in
thi
s ca
se•
1 ye
ar s
erve
d in
pri
son
365
days
x £
112
= £4
0,88
0 O
ne y
ear t
otal
=
£40,
880/
2
• 2
x A
&E
vis
its
2 x
£131
= £
262
• 1
wee
k ho
spit
al s
tay
7 da
ys x
£24
7 =
£1,7
29
One
yea
r tot
al =
£1
,991
/2
Tho
mas
spe
nt s
ever
al y
ears
of h
is li
fe in
and
out
of p
riso
n, in
clud
ing
a ye
ar b
efo
re c
om
ing
to a
Wal
lich
resi
dent
ial p
roje
ct. H
e al
so h
ad is
sues
wit
h m
ulti
ple
subs
tanc
es, a
nd a
ttem
pted
sui
cide
on
mo
re th
an o
ne o
ccas
ion.
Sin
ce m
ovin
g to
the
Wal
lich,
he
has
been
cle
an o
f dru
gs, a
nd h
as m
ade
no m
ore
sui
cide
att
empt
s. H
e is
par
ticu
larl
y vo
cal i
n pr
aisi
ng th
e st
aff a
t his
pro
ject
and
th
e su
ppo
rt h
e ge
ts fr
om
them
.
Bene
fits
Cost
s
£
vs.
£21,
174
£3,8
79.5
0Sa
vings
=
Note
s: T
his
case
stu
dy w
as
cost
ed o
ver a
two
-ye
ar p
erio
d, re
flect
ing
a tw
o-y
ear s
tay
in a
W
allic
h re
side
ntia
l pr
oje
ct. T
he p
rice
s ha
ve
all b
een
halv
ed in
eac
h ca
tego
rise
d bo
x to
resu
lt
in c
ost
s fo
r one
yea
r.
£3,6
18
£0£1
0k£2
0k£3
0k£4
0k£5
0k£6
0k£7
0k£8
0k£9
0k£1
00kB
enefi
ts:
£25,
053.
50
- Cos
ts:
£21,
174
=
Savi
ngs:
£3,8
79.5
0 --
----
----
----
----
----
---
Ben
efit-
cost
rati
o
1.18
£995
.50
£20,
440
• 2
day
inpa
tien
t ho
spit
al s
tay
for
drug
/alc
ohol
mis
use
2 da
ys x
£14
2 =
£28
4
• C
ouns
ello
r ses
sion
s 4
x £4
4 =
£176
• 2
year
met
hado
ne p
resc
ript
ion
104
wee
ks x
£55
= £
5,72
0
• 24
ses
sion
s w
ith
drug
wor
ker
24 x
£44
= £
1,05
6 O
ne y
ear t
otal
= £
7,23
6/2
Famil
y, Ho
using
&
Socia
l Car
e
• W
allic
h Re
side
ntia
l Su
ppor
t £4
1,82
0 ov
er 2
yea
rs
• 12
ses
sion
s w
ith
drug
w
orke
r 12
x £
44 =
£52
8 O
ne y
ear t
otal
= £
42,3
48/2
#4 M
artin
Healt
hCr
imeD
rugs &
Al
cohol
Supp
ort
Tota
ls (W
hat w
e’ve
sav
ed)
Bene
fits
(wha
t w
e’ve
pre
vent
ed b
y pr
ovid
ing
supp
ort)
Cost
s (w
hat
we’
ve s
pent
on
supp
ort)
• W
allic
h Re
side
ntia
l Sup
port
£5
3,70
9.66
ove
r 2 y
ears
• D
rug
wor
ker o
ver 2
yea
rs
38 s
essi
ons
x £4
4 =
£1,6
72
• 2
year
met
hado
ne
pres
crip
tion
10
4 w
eeks
x £
55 =
£5,
720
One
yea
r tot
al =
£6
1,10
1.66
/2
Tota
l = £
196.
50To
tal =
£32
,044
Tota
l = £
653
Tota
l = N
ATo
tal =
£30
,550
.83
Not
app
licab
le in
thi
s ca
se•
5 x
Polic
e ca
llout
s 5
x £3
3 =
£165
• 3x
arr
ests
3
x £2
,500
= £
7,50
0•
Mag
istr
ates
’ cou
rt p
roce
edin
gs
£1,3
77•
Cro
wn
Cou
rt p
roce
edin
gs
2 x
£2,0
43 =
£4,
086
• 14
mon
ths
serv
ed in
pri
son
455
days
x £
112
= £5
0,96
0
One
yea
r tot
al =
£64
,088
/2
• 3x
A&
E v
isit
s 3
x £1
31 =
£39
3 O
ne y
ear t
otal
= £
393/
2
Mar
tin
was
livi
ng in
a c
ity
in E
ngla
nd, w
here
he
deve
lope
d a
drug
s pr
obl
em a
nd w
as b
eing
inti
mid
ated
by
pote
ntia
lly v
iole
nt d
rug
deal
ers.
Aft
er m
ovin
g to
Wal
es, h
e co
mm
itte
d nu
mer
ous
off
ence
s an
d w
hen
he w
as re
ferr
ed to
The
Wal
lich
he w
as a
hea
vy u
ser o
f ha
rd d
rugs
. He
was
als
o v
ulne
rabl
e to
man
ipul
atio
n by
oth
ers.
He
has
not c
om
mit
ted
any
off
ence
s si
nce
mov
ing
into
The
Wal
lich
pro
ject
, and
is o
n a
pres
crip
tio
n th
at h
as h
elpe
d ke
ep h
im c
lean
fro
m d
rugs
. His
co
nfide
nce
has
also
impr
oved
mas
sive
ly.
Bene
fits
Cost
s
£
vs.
£30,
550.
83£2
,342
.67
Savin
gs =
Note
s: T
his
case
stu
dy w
as c
ost
ed o
ver a
tw
o-y
ear p
erio
d, re
flect
ing
a tw
o-
year
sta
y in
a W
allic
h re
side
ntia
l pr
oje
ct. T
he p
rice
s ha
ve a
ll be
en
halv
ed in
eac
h ca
tego
rise
d bo
x to
re
sult
in c
ost
s fo
r one
yea
r.
The
dru
g w
ork
er a
ppo
intm
ents
in
the
‘Co
sts’
sec
tio
n de
crea
sed
over
tim
e, fr
om
eve
ry fo
rtni
ght
for o
ne y
ear t
o e
very
mo
nth
in th
e se
cond
yea
r, m
akin
g a
tota
l of 3
8 ap
poin
tmen
ts.
£653
£0£1
0k£2
0k£3
0k£4
0k£5
0k£6
0k£7
0k£8
0k£9
0k£1
00kB
enefi
ts:
£32,
893.
50
- Cos
ts:
£30,
550.
83
=
Savi
ngs:
£2,3
42.6
7 --
----
----
----
----
----
---
Ben
efit-
cost
rati
o
1.08
£196
.50
£32,
044
• 3
day
inpa
tien
t ho
spit
al s
tay
for d
rug/
alco
hol m
isus
e 3
days
x £
142
= £4
26
• 10
mon
ths
drug
wor
ker @
1
sess
ion
per f
ortn
ight
20
ses
sion
s x
£44
= £8
80
One
yea
r tot
al =
£1,
306/
2
Famil
y, Ho
using
&
Socia
l Car
e
#5 B
ella
Healt
hCr
imeD
rugs &
Al
cohol
Supp
ort
Tota
ls (W
hat w
e’ve
sav
ed)
Bene
fits
(wha
t w
e’ve
pre
vent
ed b
y pr
ovid
ing
supp
ort)
Cost
s (w
hat
we’
ve s
pent
on
supp
ort)
• W
allic
h Re
side
ntia
l Sup
port
£2
6,85
4.83
• Po
lice
callo
ut
£33
• O
ffen
der M
anag
er
£410
• D
aily
vis
it b
y 2
nurs
es
260
wor
king
day
s x
£26
= £6
,760
• 3
x G
P vi
sits
3
x £3
6 =
£108
Tota
l = £
11,8
61To
tal =
£25
,168
Tota
l = £
703
Tota
l = N
ATo
tal =
£34
,165
.83
• 4
day
inpa
tien
t ho
spit
al s
tay
fo
r dru
g/al
coho
l mis
use
4 x
£142
= £
568
• 3
sess
ions
wit
h al
coho
l eal
th
wor
ker
3 x
£45
= £1
35
Not
app
licab
le in
thi
s ca
se•
4 x
Polic
e ca
llout
s 4
x £3
3 =
£132
• 2x
arr
ests
2
x £2
,500
= £
5,00
0•
Mag
istr
ates
’ cou
rt p
roce
edin
gs
2 x
£1,3
77 =
£2,
754
• 4
mon
ths
serv
ed in
pri
son
120
days
x £
112
= £1
3,44
0•
ASB
O -
£3,4
32•
Off
ende
r Man
ager
= £
410
• G
P v
isit
£3
6•
9 E
mer
genc
y am
bula
nce
jour
neys
9
x £2
72 =
£2,
448
• 4x
A&
E v
isit
s 4
x £1
31 =
£52
4
• 35
day
hos
pita
l sta
y 35
x £
247
= £8
,645
• 2x
app
oint
men
ts w
ith
spec
ialis
ts -
2 x
£10
4 =
£208
Bel
la h
ad s
pent
sev
eral
yea
rs s
leep
ing
roug
h an
d dr
inki
ng h
eavi
ly p
rio
r to
her
sup
port
fro
m T
he W
allic
h.
She
als
o c
om
mit
ted
a st
ring
of p
etty
and
mo
re s
erio
us c
rim
es. H
er ti
me
at T
he W
allic
h ha
s se
en a
hug
e im
prov
emen
t in
her
beha
vio
ur a
nd li
fest
yle.
She
has
als
o s
tart
ed to
pro
perl
y en
gage
wit
h he
alth
care
pro
fess
iona
ls re
gard
ing
an e
arlie
r dia
gno
sis
of a
se
rio
us il
lnes
s .
Bene
fits
Cost
s
£
vs.
£34,
165.
83£3
,566
.17
Savin
gs =
Note
s: T
here
is a
hyp
othe
tica
l ele
men
t wit
h B
ella
’s
heal
th. S
he h
as b
een
diag
nose
d w
ith
a se
rio
us d
isea
se w
hich
, had
she
not
sta
rted
en
gagi
ng w
ith
heal
th p
rofe
ssio
nals
whi
le
supp
ort
ed b
y T
he W
allic
h, w
oul
d ha
ve li
kely
re
sult
ed in
mas
sive
ly in
crea
sed
heal
th
cost
s. W
e ha
ve fa
cto
red
this
in, b
ut in
a
cons
erva
tive
way
– th
e he
alth
co
sts
wo
uld
pro
babl
y ha
ve b
een
high
er th
an th
ose
pr
esen
ted
here
. S
om
e o
f the
hea
lthc
are
cost
s, a
nd th
e na
ture
o
f Bel
la’s
illn
ess,
hav
e be
en a
nony
mis
ed.
The
co
sts
of t
he O
ffen
der M
anag
er
com
e fr
om
a d
iffer
ent c
ost
ing
too
l (se
e ‘m
etho
dolo
gy’ s
ecti
on)
.
£703
£0£1
0k£2
0k£3
0k£4
0k£5
0k£6
0k£7
0k£8
0k£9
0k£1
00kB
enefi
ts:
£37,
732
- Cos
ts:
£34,
165.
83
=
Savi
ngs:
£3,5
66.1
7 --
----
----
----
----
----
---
Ben
efit-
cost
rati
o
1.10
£11,
861
£25,
168
Famil
y, Ho
using
&
Socia
l Car
e
Healt
hCr
imeD
rugs &
Al
cohol
Supp
ort
Tota
ls (W
hat w
e’ve
sav
ed)
Bene
fits
(wha
t w
e’ve
pre
vent
ed b
y pr
ovid
ing
supp
ort)
Cost
s (w
hat
we’
ve s
pent
on
supp
ort)
Tota
l = £
813
Tota
l = £
4,28
7To
tal =
NA
Tota
l = £
12,0
72To
tal =
£13
,766
.96
• 2
child
ren
bein
g ta
ken
into
fost
er c
ase
2 x
£6,0
36 =
£12
,072
• A
rres
t £2
,500
• M
agis
trat
es’ c
ourt
pr
ocee
ding
s £1
,377
• O
ffen
der M
anag
er
£410
• A
bort
ion
£813
Bene
fits
Cost
s
£
vs.
£13,
766.
96£3
,405
.04
Savin
gs =
Note
s: T
he c
ost
s o
f the
Off
ende
r Man
ager
co
me
fro
m a
diff
eren
t co
stin
g to
ol (
see
‘met
hodo
logy
’ sec
tio
n).
The
re w
as a
hyp
othe
tica
l ris
k th
at R
obe
rt a
nd E
rica
’s c
hild
ren
coul
d ha
ve b
een
take
n in
to c
are
if th
eir s
itua
tio
n w
ors
ened
. The
co
st fo
r thi
s ri
sk in
volv
es a
n in
itia
l sum
, £6,
036
per c
hild
, and
then
£1
,898
per
mo
nth
of e
ach
child
bei
ng in
fost
er c
are.
Thi
s ca
se
stud
y ha
s no
t co
nsid
ered
the
addi
tio
nal m
ont
hly
cost
s.
In th
e ca
se o
f one
chi
ld, E
rica
was
co
nsid
erin
g an
abo
rtio
n. R
eade
rs
sho
uld
bear
in m
ind
that
the
abo
rtio
n an
d th
e ch
ild b
eing
take
n in
to c
are
coul
d no
t bot
h ha
ve h
appe
ned.
Bot
h co
sts
have
bee
n in
clud
ed h
ere.
It is
wo
rth
bear
ing
in m
ind
that
pri
or t
o s
uppo
rt, E
rica
was
in
volv
ed in
pro
stit
utio
n, a
nd b
oth
peo
ple
had
incr
easi
ng is
sues
w
ith
subs
tanc
es. W
itho
ut s
uppo
rt, i
t is
likel
y th
at m
ore
co
sts
in
all c
ateg
ori
es w
oul
d ha
ve b
een
incu
rred
, and
Ro
bert
and
Eri
ca’s
si
tuat
ions
gre
atly
wo
rsen
ed.
£0£1
0k£2
0k£3
0k£4
0k£5
0k£6
0k£7
0k£8
0k£9
0k£1
00k
Ben
efits
: £1
7,17
2 - C
osts
: £1
3,76
6.96
=
Sa
ving
s:
£3,4
05.0
4 --
----
----
----
----
----
---
Ben
efit-
cost
rati
o
1.25
£4,2
87
Not
app
licab
le in
thi
s ca
se
£813
£12,
072
#6 R
ober
t &
Erica
Robe
rt a
nd E
rica
, yo
ung
pare
nts,
bot
h ha
d su
bsta
nce
issu
es a
nd w
ere
refu
sing
to e
ngag
e w
ith
soci
al s
ervi
ces.
Ro
bert
had
a
hist
ory
of o
ffen
ding
, and
Eri
ca w
as in
volv
ed in
pro
stit
utio
n to
fund
pur
chas
ing
the
coup
le’s
dru
gs. E
rica
was
co
nsid
erin
g th
e ab
ort
ion
of h
er fi
rst c
hild
bef
ore
the
coup
le w
ere
refe
rred
to W
allic
h Fl
oat
ing
Supp
ort
. The
ir e
ngag
emen
t wit
h so
cial
ser
vice
s an
d T
he W
allic
h, a
s w
ell a
s th
eir o
wn
effo
rts,
resu
lted
in b
oth
bein
g cl
ean
of d
rugs
, fo
cusi
ng o
n br
ingi
ng u
p bo
th c
hild
ren.
Famil
y, Ho
using
&
Socia
l Car
e•
Wal
lich
Floa
ting
Sup
port
for
2 pe
ople
2
x £2
419.
48 =
£4,
838.
96
• 96
wee
k m
etha
done
pre
scri
ptio
n 96
x £
55 =
£5,
280
• 2
wee
ks in
pati
ent d
rug
reha
bilit
atio
n 2
x £8
10 =
£1,
620
• 1 y
ear s
ocia
l wor
ker @
1 se
ssio
n
per w
eek
52
x £
39 =
£2,
028
#7 M
andy
Healt
hCr
imeD
rugs &
Al
cohol
Supp
ort
Tota
ls (W
hat w
e’ve
sav
ed)
Bene
fits
(wha
t w
e’ve
pre
vent
ed b
y pr
ovid
ing
supp
ort)
Cost
s (w
hat
we’
ve s
pent
on
supp
ort)
• W
allic
h Fl
oati
ng S
uppo
rt
£3,6
29.2
1 ove
r 1.5
yea
rs
• A
ddit
iona
l cha
rge
for
tem
pora
ry a
ccom
mod
atio
n =
78 w
eeks
x £
49.9
0 =
£3,8
92.2
0 O
ne y
ear t
otal
= 2
/3 x
£7,
521.
41
Tota
l = N
ATo
tal =
£4,
218
Tota
l = N
ATo
tal =
£67
,974
.54
Tota
l = £
5,01
4.27
• Po
lice
callo
ut
£33
• A
rres
t £2
,500
• M
agis
trat
es’ c
ourt
pro
ceed
ings
£1
,377
• O
ffen
der M
anag
er fo
r 1.5
yea
rs
£615
• Pa
rent
ing
orde
r = 2
chi
ldre
n x
£901
= £
1,80
2
One
yea
r tot
al =
2/3
x £
6,32
7
Man
dy’s
hus
band
left
her
wit
h he
r tw
o c
hild
ren,
leav
ing
her i
n a
situ
atio
n sh
e co
uld
bare
ly c
ont
rol.
She
beg
an to
co
mm
it a
cts
of
vio
lenc
e ag
ains
t her
hus
band
’s n
ew g
irlfr
iend
and
had
sev
ere
pro
blem
s m
aint
aini
ng h
er te
nanc
y. H
er c
hild
ren’
s ed
ucat
ion
also
su
ffer
ed. A
fter
rece
ivin
g su
ppo
rt a
nd te
mpo
rary
acc
om
mo
dati
on
fro
m T
he W
allic
h, s
he h
as le
arne
d to
man
age
her o
wn
finan
ces
and
her a
nger
, and
her
chi
ldre
n ar
e no
w a
tten
ding
sch
oo
l and
are
invo
lved
in m
any
acti
viti
es o
utsi
de s
cho
ol.
Bene
fits
Cost
s
£
vs.
£5,0
14.2
7£6
7,17
8.27
Savin
gs =
Note
s: T
his
case
stu
dy w
as c
oste
d ov
er a
1.5
yea
r per
iod,
refle
ctin
g th
e le
ngth
of t
ime
Man
dy re
ceiv
ed s
uppo
rt. T
he p
rices
hav
e be
en
reca
lcul
ated
in e
ach
cate
goris
ed b
ox to
resu
lt in
cos
ts fo
r one
yea
r. T
he c
osts
of t
he O
ffen
der M
anag
er c
ome
from
a d
iffer
ent c
osti
ng
tool
(see
‘met
hodo
logy
’ sec
tion
).
The
re w
as a
hyp
othe
tica
l ris
k th
at M
andy
’s c
hild
ren
coul
d ha
ve
been
take
n in
to c
are
if he
r sit
uati
on w
orse
ned.
The
cos
t for
this
ris
k in
volv
es a
n in
itia
l sum
, £6,
036
per c
hild
, and
then
£1,
898
per
mon
th o
f eac
h ch
ild b
eing
in fo
ster
car
e. T
his
case
stu
dy h
as n
ot
cons
ider
ed th
e ad
diti
onal
mon
thly
cos
ts.
Not
e th
at th
is c
ase
stud
y is
by
its
very
nat
ure
hypo
thet
ical
. It i
s lik
ely
that
, had
Man
dy n
ot re
ceiv
ed s
uppo
rt, h
er b
ehav
iour
wou
ld
have
led
to a
ctio
n by
the
Polic
e, w
ith
repe
rcus
sion
s fo
r her
chi
ldre
n.
It is
als
o po
ssib
le th
at s
ome
of th
e el
emen
ts in
the
‘Fam
ily, H
ousi
ng
and
Soci
al C
are’
sec
tion
mig
ht b
e m
utua
lly e
xclu
sive
– fo
r exa
mpl
e,
a C
hild
Pro
tect
ion
Ord
er a
nd c
hild
ren
take
n in
to c
are.
How
ever
, it i
s po
ssib
le th
at th
e la
tter
may
hav
e ha
ppen
ed a
fter
the
form
er.
£0£1
0k£2
0k£3
0k£4
0k£5
0k£6
0k£7
0k£8
0k£9
0k£1
00k
Ben
efits
: £7
2,19
2.54
- C
osts
: £5
,014
.27
=
Savi
ngs:
£67,
178.
27
----
----
----
----
----
----
- B
enefi
t-co
st ra
tio
14.4
0
£25,
168
Not
app
licab
le in
thi
s ca
se•
Hou
sing
Dep
artm
ent i
nfor
mal
inte
rven
tion
=
£87.
82•
Not
ice
of s
eeki
ng p
osse
ssio
n =
£766
• Tr
ansf
er o
f ten
ancy
= £
1,46
4•
Trua
ncy
= 2
child
ren
x £1
,854
= £
3,70
8•
Educ
atio
n w
elfa
re o
ffice
r = 2
chi
ldre
n x
£12
= £2
4•
Excl
usio
n fr
om s
choo
l = 2
chi
ldre
n x
£11,
686
=
£23,
372
• Pu
pil r
efer
ral u
nit o
ver 1
.5 y
ears
= 2
chi
ldre
n x
£23,
853
= £4
7,70
6•
Chi
ld P
rote
ctio
n O
rder
= 2
chi
ldre
n x
£6,1
86
= £1
2,37
2•
Chi
ld ta
ken
into
car
e =
2 ch
ildre
n x
£6,0
36
= £1
2,07
2•
Soci
al w
orke
r to
supp
ort @
10 c
linic
ap
poin
tmen
ts =
10 x
£39
= £
390
O
ne y
ear t
otal
= 2
/3 x
£10
1,96
1.82
£67,
974.
54
£4,2
18
Not
app
licab
le in
thi
s ca
se
Famil
y, Ho
using
&
Socia
l Car
e
#8 T
anya
Healt
hCr
imeD
rugs &
Al
cohol
Supp
ort
Tota
ls (W
hat w
e’ve
sav
ed)
Bene
fits
(wha
t w
e’ve
pre
vent
ed b
y pr
ovid
ing
supp
ort)
Cost
s (w
hat
we’
ve s
pent
on
supp
ort)
Tota
l = N
ATo
tal =
£8
4,40
6To
tal =
£71
0To
tal =
NA
Tota
l = £
34,6
64.3
6
• 5
day
inpa
tien
t st
ay fo
r dru
g/al
coho
l mis
use
5 da
ys x
£14
2 =
£710
Not
app
licab
le in
thi
s ca
se•
27 a
rres
ts =
27
x £2
,500
=
£67,
500
• M
agis
trat
es’ c
ourt
pro
ceed
ings
10
x £
1,37
7 =
£13,
770
• 28
day
s se
rved
in p
riso
n 28
x £
112
= £3
,136
Prio
r to
bei
ng re
ferr
ed to
The
Wal
lich,
Tan
ya w
as a
ser
ial o
ffen
der,
rout
inel
y co
mm
itti
ng c
rim
es. S
he h
ad is
sues
wit
h su
bsta
nces
and
w
as re
fusi
ng to
eng
age
wit
h su
ppo
rt fo
r the
se is
sues
. Aft
er h
er re
ferr
al, h
er o
ffen
ding
beh
avio
ur d
ropp
ed s
ubst
anti
ally
, and
she
st
arte
d to
wo
rk w
ith
supp
ort
sta
ff re
gard
ing
her s
ubst
ance
mis
use
pro
blem
s.
Bene
fits
Cost
s
£
vs.
£34,
664.
36£5
0,45
1.64
Savin
gs =
Note
s:
NA
.
£710
£0£1
0k£2
0k£3
0k£4
0k£5
0k£6
0k£7
0k£8
0k£9
0k£1
00kB
enefi
ts:
£85,
116
- Cos
ts:
£34,
664.
36
=
Savi
ngs:
£50,
451.
64
----
----
----
----
----
----
- B
enefi
t-co
st ra
tio
2.46
£84,
406
Not
app
licab
le in
thi
s ca
se•
Wal
lich
Resi
dent
ial S
uppo
rt
£28,
160.
36•
Arr
est
£2,5
00•
1 yea
r met
hado
ne
pres
crip
tion
52
wee
ks x
£55
= £
2,86
0•
1 yea
r cou
nsel
lor @
1 se
ssio
n pe
r for
tnig
ht
26 x
£44
= £
1,14
4
Famil
y, Ho
using
&
Socia
l Car
e
#9 N
ick
Healt
hCr
imeD
rugs &
Al
cohol
Supp
ort
Tota
ls (W
hat w
e’ve
sav
ed)
Bene
fits
(wha
t w
e’ve
pre
vent
ed b
y pr
ovid
ing
supp
ort)
Cost
s (w
hat
we’
ve s
pent
on
supp
ort)
Tota
l = £
242
Tota
l = £
24,2
53To
tal =
£4,
004
Tota
l = N
ATo
tal =
£ 1
8,51
4.37
Not
app
licab
le in
thi
s ca
se•
2 A
rres
ts
2 x
£2,5
00 =
£5,
000
• C
row
n C
ourt
pr
ocee
ding
s £2
,043
•
5 m
onth
s se
rved
in
pris
on
150
days
x £
112
= £1
6,80
0 •
Off
ende
r Man
ager
£4
10
• N
HS
dent
ist
2
visi
ts x
£12
1 =
£242
Nic
k ha
d a
seri
ous
off
endi
ng h
isto
ry b
ut h
ad m
aint
aine
d a
tena
ncy
for s
om
e ti
me
afte
r a p
revi
ous
pri
son
sent
ence
bef
ore
he
retu
rned
to
dru
g de
alin
g to
sup
port
his
sub
stan
tial
add
icti
on.
He
ende
d up
in p
riso
n ag
ain
and,
on
rele
ase,
dec
ided
to e
ngag
e w
ith
supp
ort
fro
m
The
Wal
lich
wit
h th
e ul
tim
ate
aim
of fi
ndin
g w
ork
. He
now
live
s in
a p
riva
tely
rent
ed p
rope
rty
and
is m
akin
g co
ncer
ted
effo
rts
to re
-en
ter t
he w
orl
d o
f em
ploy
men
t.
Bene
fits
Cost
s
£
vs.
£18,
514.
37£9
,98
4.63
Savin
gs =
£46,
895
Note
s:T
he c
ost
s o
f the
Off
ende
r M
anag
er c
om
e fr
om
a
diff
eren
t co
stin
g to
ol (
see
‘met
hodo
logy
’ sec
tio
n).
£0£1
0k£2
0k£3
0k£4
0k£5
0k£6
0k£7
0k£8
0k£9
0k£1
00k
£21,
151
Ben
efits
: £2
8,49
9 - C
osts
: £1
8,51
4.37
=
Sa
ving
s:
£9,9
84.
63
----
----
----
----
----
----
- B
enefi
t-co
st ra
tio
1.54
£4,0
04
• W
allic
h R
esid
enti
al
Supp
ort
£1
5,8
41.3
7 •
9 m
onth
met
hado
ne
scri
pt
39 w
eeks
x £
55 =
£2,
145
• 1
year
dru
gs w
orke
r @ 1
se
ssio
n pe
r mon
th
12 s
essi
ons
x £4
4 =
£528
£242
• 1
year
met
hado
ne
pres
crip
tion
52
wee
ks x
£55
=
£2,8
60
• 1
year
dru
gs w
orke
r @
1 se
ssio
n pe
r for
tnig
ht
26 s
essi
ons
x £4
4 =
£1,1
44
Famil
y, Ho
using
&
Socia
l Car
e
27
Support that Saves
Other initiatives at The WallichThe Wallich runs various initiatives aimed at service users with specific goals or needs. One of these initiatives is the Working in Sustainable Employment (WISE) programme, a series of work placements and skills sessions to help prepare service users for employment. Another initiative, the Residents and Service Users Volunteering Programme (RSVP), provides opportunities for our service users to volunteer within departments at The Wallich. Again, the goal here is to bolster the CVs of our clients and provide them with meaningful experiences of professional environments.
Some of our residential projects focus on clients with specific needs. One, for example, houses vulnerable women. Others support dual- or multiple-diagnosis clients with complex needs. Several projects focus on clients with alcohol misuse issues, and others on substance misuse. Some residential projects house clients whose ultimate goal is to find paid work or volunteering. These are just a few examples of the client-focused residential support we offer.
All of the examples above provide opportunities to our clients, who can then continue to rebuild their lives. Again, this can result in savings as crime- and health-related costs, as well as costs to the welfare system, are reduced.
This report includes one case study from an initiative which focuses on ex-offenders. The Building Opportunities, Skills and Success (BOSS) Project works on two fronts: first, The Wallich’s staff works with businesses in order to educate employers about the benefits of employing ex-offenders and to tackle the negative stigma attached to having an offending history.
Secondly, staff directly support clients, both before and after their release from prison. Through the programme, clients develop their skills with individual, targeted support to help them achieve their employment goals.
The following BOSS case study in this report has been formatted in a similar way to the others, but there are some key differences in the way the BOSS initiative works. BOSS is funded by the Big Lottery Fund. While this money does technically come from the public, it will only be people who play the lottery, in contrast to Supporting People funding, which comes from all taxpayers in Wales. As such, it is difficult to call this ‘public money’ in the same way as we can for the other case studies.
Why we’re including the BOSS case studyDespite the differences in funding, there are several reasons for including the BOSS case study. First, it demonstrates the value for money inherent to the different initiatives we carry out. Compared to some of the other initiatives mentioned in the previous section, the costing data in BOSS is clear and quantifiable. It is, currently, harder to quantify the benefits that come from the WISE and RSVP programmes, although both programmes have shown considerable success when it comes to getting people back into work. In fact, several WISE participants now work in various roles at The Wallich. (Work is being done at the organisation to make WISE easier to analyse and assess.) In the case of BOSS, it is relatively easy to demonstrate some of the savings this kind of project can generate.
32For a range of discussions on this topic, see Winnett, Robert, “Third of unemployed are convicted criminals”, The Daily Telegraph, accessed August 22, 2017, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8979769/Third-of-unemployed-are-convicted-criminals.html; Forrest, Adam, “Exclude criminal records from job applications, companies urged”, The Guardian, accessed August 22, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/oct/15/exclude-criminal-records-from-job-applications-companies-urged; Nacro, “Disclosing criminal records to employers”, accessed August 22, 2017, https://www.nacro.org.uk/resettlement-advice-service/support-for-individuals/disclosing-criminal-records/disclosing-criminal-records-employers/
28
Additionally, the BOSS case study shows the kinds of savings potential. By focusing on a group of people who might struggle to find employment, the benefits of helping them secure a future in which they contribute and live meaningful, positive lives could be substantial. 32
In this report’s introduction, we also mentioned that The Wallich does not see its work purely represented by numbers and costs. By referencing the BOSS Project, we are showing some of the different kinds of changes we can make to people’s lives. Therefore, to some extent, we are removing some of the cold or clinical aspects of cost-benefit exercises.
The BOSS case study has been presented as similarly as possible to the others. However, ‘support’ in this case is made up of different aspects of support which we provided to the client. As such, many of these costings were not taken from costings tools and databases but by financial records within The Wallich itself.
Finally, it is worth noting that in this case study, our decision not to take the benefits system into account (as detailed in section one) works against The Wallich. The BOSS Project helps ex-offenders into employment – which likely involves a transition from benefits into paid work. This would result in longer-term savings that might well be larger than is reflected in these calculations.
Char
lie
Healt
hCr
imeD
rugs &
Al
cohol
Famil
y, Ho
using
&
Socia
l Car
eSu
pport
Tota
ls (W
hat w
e’ve
sav
ed)
Bene
fits
(wha
t w
e’ve
pre
vent
ed b
y pr
ovid
ing
supp
ort)
Cost
s (w
hat
we’
ve s
pent
on
supp
ort)
• 24
.5 h
ours
@
£10.
84
per h
our
£265
.58
• V
ario
us q
ualifi
cati
ons,
do
cum
ents
and
wor
k-
suit
able
clo
thin
g £1
01.7
4
Tota
l = N
ATo
tal =
£61
,137
Tota
l = £
6,03
6To
tal =
£36
7.32
• C
hild
bei
ng t
aken
into
fo
ster
car
e £6
,036
• 21
1 da
ys s
erve
d in
pri
son
211
x £1
12 =
£23
,632
• O
ffen
der M
anag
er to
su
perv
ise
prob
atio
n
£410
• In
tens
ive
supe
rvis
ion
cost
£3
7,09
5
Not
app
licab
le in
thi
s ca
se
Cha
rlie
was
a p
rolifi
c o
ffen
der,
in a
nd o
ut o
f pri
son
fro
m a
yo
ung
age.
Aft
er a
rece
nt re
leas
e,
his
pro
bati
on
offi
cer r
efer
red
him
to th
e B
OS
S p
roje
ct. A
fter
rece
ivin
g va
rio
us ty
pes
of
supp
ort
fro
m T
he W
allic
h, h
e is
now
in fu
ll-ti
me
empl
oym
ent a
nd e
nsur
ing
he ta
kes
care
of
his
child
.
Bene
fits
Cost
s
£
vs.
£367
.32
£66,
805.
68Sa
vings
=
Note
s:
£0£1
0k£2
0k£3
0k£4
0k£5
0k£6
0k£7
0k£8
0k£9
0k£1
00k
£61,
137
Ben
efits
: £6
7,17
3 - C
osts
: £3
67.3
2 =
Sa
ving
s:
£66,
805.
68
----
----
----
----
----
----
- B
enefi
t-co
st ra
tio
182.
87
£367
.32
BOSS
Cas
e Stud
y
Tota
l = N
A
Not
app
licab
le in
thi
s ca
se
The
‘sup
port
’ sec
tio
n ha
s be
en h
eavi
ly
ano
nym
ised
to p
reve
nt id
enti
ficat
ion.
The
co
sts
of t
he O
ffen
der M
anag
er
com
e fr
om
a d
iffer
ent c
ost
ing
too
l (se
e ‘m
etho
dolo
gy’ s
ecti
on)
.
The
re w
as a
hyp
othe
tica
l ris
k th
at C
harl
ie’s
ch
ild c
oul
d ha
ve b
een
take
n in
to c
are
if hi
s pa
tter
n o
f off
endi
ng c
ont
inue
d. T
he c
ost
fo
r thi
s ri
sk in
volv
es a
n in
itia
l sum
, £6,
036
and
then
£1,
898
per m
ont
h o
f the
chi
ld
bein
g in
fost
er c
are.
Thi
s ca
se s
tudy
has
not
co
nsid
ered
the
addi
tio
nal m
ont
hly
cost
s.
30
Section four : AnalysisA reminder: our conservative approachIn many instances, we have favoured a conservative approach, rather than taking a view which could paint The Wallich in a better light. As this report has already discussed, we make the argument that we have prevented the repetition of events that happened during the year before someone received support from The Wallich (visits to Accident and Emergency departments, for example). This, however, discounts the likely possibility that someone’s situation might have worsened without support, meaning that greater savings were possible or even probable.
While all the case studies are somewhat hypothetical, some are more hypothetical than others. In the BOSS Project case study, as well as Robert and Erica’s, some of the events surrounding the children of those involved were listed because we deemed their likelihood to be high. However, we could have taken a much more hypothetical approach to the whole exercise. For example, we could have speculated that a person’s issue with drugs or alcohol worsened; more overdoses and, therefore, more visits to Accident and Emergency departments would take place.
Similarly, although we have costed the number of days clients have spent in prison, we have not factored in the additional costs of transferring people between prisons. We decided not to do this, but the reader should bear in mind that the savings generated could, in fact, be much greater than those suggested in this report.
Presenting the dataIn addition to presenting the data in a table (Figure 4) for ease of comparison, we have presented the amounts saved, and the associated benefit-cost ratios, as circles. They have an area that is proportional to the number they represent. Note that the circles representing the amounts saved are not comparable to those that represent the benefit-cost ratios. The circles are only comparable to the others on the same page; each page uses a different scale, noted on the page itself.
We used circles, instead of a bar or line graph, because there are clusters of low numbers, and numbers that are much higher. Unless we generated very large graphs, the information they provided would be limited. The different sizes of the circles can more accurately represent the different amounts saved, the different benefit-cost ratios, and provide an idea of the range in the numbers presented - especially compared to the averages, which are also included.
Bri
an
£41,
745
Cra
ig
£5,7
87.6
3
Tho
mas
£3
,879
.50
Mar
tin
£2,3
42.6
7
Bel
la
£3,5
66.1
7
Rob
ert
&
Eri
ca
£3,4
05.0
4
Man
dy
£67,
178.
27
Tany
a£5
0,45
1.64
Nic
k £9
,984
.63
Ave
rage
ex
clud
ing
BO
SS
£20,
926.
78
Cha
rlie
(BO
SS)
£66,
805.
68
Ave
rage
in
clud
ing
BO
SS
£25,
514.
60
Savin
gs
1cm
2 rep
rese
nts
£1,0
00
Se
e fig
ure
4 fo
r mor
e in
form
atio
n
1cm
2
= £1
000
Rat
ios
Bri
an2.
56
Cra
ig1.
3
Tho
mas
1.18 Mar
tin
1.08
Bel
la1.
1
Rob
ert
&
Eri
ca1.
25
Man
dy14
.4Ta
nya
2.46
Nic
k1.
54
Ave
rage
ex
clud
ing
BO
SS2.
99A
vera
ge
incl
udin
g B
OSS
20.9
7
10cm
2 repr
esen
ts 1
, so
1cm
2 repr
esen
ts 0
.1
The
BO
SS c
ase
stud
y, C
harli
e, h
as n
ot b
een
incl
uded
as
the
circ
le w
ould
be
too
larg
e, w
ith
a di
amet
er o
f 48.
25cm
and
an
area
of 1
,828
.7cm
2
See
figur
e 4
for m
ore
info
rmat
ion
1cm
2
= 0.
1
Support that Saves
33
Figure 4 – case study summary
Case study Amount saved
Benefit-cost ratio
#1 - Brian £41,745 2.56
#2 - Craig £5,787.63 1.30
#3 - Thomas £3,879.50 1.18
#4 - Martin £2,342.67 1.08
#5 - Bella £3,566.17 1.10
#6 – Robert & Erica
£3,405.04 1.25
#7 - Mandy £67,178.27 14.40
#8 - Tanya £50,451.64 2.46
#9 - Nick £9,984.63 1.54
BOSS – Charlie* £66,805.68 182.87
Average excluding BOSS
£20,926.78 2.99
Average including BOSS
£25,514.60 20.97
Area of saving circle (in cm²)
Area of benefit-cost ratio circle (in cm²)
41.75 25.6
5.74 13
3.88 11.8
2.34 10.8
3.57 11
3.40 12.5
67.18 144
50.45 24.6
9.99 15.4
66.81 1828.7
20.93 29.9
25.51 209.7
*Note that the benefit-cost ratio of the BOSS Project case study, Charlie, has not been included as a circle. It would be too big to fit on a page of this report, having a diameter of 48.25cm and an area of 1,828.7cm².
Savings
The range in amounts saved is quite wide. None of the case studies show losses.
The highest amount saved comes from case study seven, Mandy, with a saving of £67,178.27.
The lowest comes from case study four, Martin, which generated a saving of £2,342.67.
The mean average - excluding the BOSS Project case study as it has been considered separately - is £20,926.78. This is a considerable amount, especially given the current economic situation.
Including the BOSS Project, the mean average reaches £25,514.60.
10cm
2 repr
esen
ts 1
, so
1cm
2 repr
esen
ts 0
.1
The
BO
SS c
ase
stud
y, C
harli
e, h
as n
ot b
een
incl
uded
as
the
circ
le w
ould
be
too
larg
e, w
ith
a di
amet
er o
f 48.
25cm
and
an
area
of 1
,828
.7cm
2
See
figur
e 4
for m
ore
info
rmat
ion
1cm
2
= 0.
1
34
Benefit-cost ratiosDividing the ‘Benefits’ in each case study (the issues we have prevented) by the ‘Costs’ (what was spent on a client in the second year) gives us a benefit-cost ratio. This number is significant because it tells us how much we actually saved on each pound. A ratio higher than one means that there has been a saving. A ratio of 1.0 would mean that an intervention was cost-neutral.
For example, a benefit-cost ratio of 1.25 means that for every pound spent, £1.25 was saved. We have calculated these ratios to two decimal places, rounding up or down accordingly. This makes the ratio easy to understand in terms of pounds and pence.
The highest benefit-cost ratio, excluding the BOSS Project case study, comes from case study seven: Mandy. The ratio is 14.40, which means that for every pound spent on supporting Mandy, public services saved £14.40.
The lowest ratio comes from case study four: Martin. The ratio of 1.08 means that for each pound spent, £1.08 was saved.
Excluding the BOSS Project case study, the average benefit-cost ratio is 2.99. As such, the Supporting People-funded support investigated in this report saved £2.99 for every pound spent.
The BOSS case study distorts this average significantly. Not only does it have a much higher benefit-cost ratio – 182.87 – it pushes the average up to 20.97. This means that, if we look at The Wallich’s broader programmes of support, we can conclude that savings of £20.97 for every pound spent are possible.
This highlights how different types of support – in this case, a programme specifically designed to help people who might struggle to find employment to enter or re-enter the world of work – can result in substantial savings.
Beyond the numbers: some qualitative quotesThe case studies we have used clearly prove that support from The Wallich can save money. However, it is important to remember that there are real people behind these numbers. The work our organisation does is not solely focused on cost-benefit analyses. We also understand how important it is for the general public, the media, and the policymakers to understand that our clients are individuals with their own stories and traits, as well as strengths and flaws.
To put the mathematics into a more human context, and to provide a more qualitative aspect to this report, we have gathered several quotes from The Wallich’s service users about the support they received.
Some of the testimonials come from the clients represented in this report’s case studies. Others are from other people The Wallich have supported – a number in excess of 5,000 each year. We are including these to highlight the fact that many of the people who are most familiar with our support are convinced that this support has genuinely helped them.
35
Support that Saves
“I became braver knowing that The Wallich were
there for me.”
“After my initial contact with The Wallich, I have
thoroughly enjoyed my work with them. It has given me my
self-respect back, and I hope to continue working
with the organisation.”
“[My support worker] was amazing. I’ve got to give it to the guy – he gave me great advice…I want to inspire people and make them feel like they can change and achieve whatever they want to.”
“My support worker was exceptional to say the least. He was aware of
previous issues with self-harm and suicide attempts and even put a plan
in place to check on my wellbeing without it being intrusive – he has
such a heart.”
“Without The Wallich, I’d be in jail, in a gutter
with a needle in my arm, or dead.”
“The BOSS Project… started to look for work for me. I started a job at the beginning of May 2017. I am happy in the job, get along well with my colleagues and am learning new things all the time. The BOSS Project has continued to stay in touch with me whilst I am in work. Thanks BOSS!”
“Thank you to The Wallich for allocating
me such a wonderful support worker and to your
organisation for probably saving my life.”
“My time being supported by The Wallich is the fastest recovery I have ever had…It feels as though I have a road to follow to recovery, which I never had before.”
£
Clearly, analysing what The Wallich does must
go beyond the numbers. Funding for the support we provide doesn’t just save money; according
to the people who engage with it, it can
save lives.
33See House of Commons Library, The Supporting People programme, accessed August 22, 2017, http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/RP12-40/RP12-40.pdf; Support Solutions, “Derby Council has confirmed that they have agreed the biggest cut ever made by a local authority to a Supporting People budget”, accessed
36
Section five : ConclusionThe case studies in Support that Saves speak volumes. Allowing for the scope defined in the introduction, we can conclude that support provided by The Wallich saves money, particularly in the short to medium term. The amounts vary, and we are not claiming that in the case of every client an immediate saving would be made. There are nine case studies in which clients have benefited from the Supporting People programme; they have yielded an average saving of £20,926.78. The average benefit-cost ratio was 2.99, meaning that for every pound spent by The Wallich on residential or floating support services, an average of £2.99 was saved – nearly three times the original investment.
We can conclude that in the cases of the most chaotic and vulnerable clients, with early and appropriate intervention, some level of saving can be expected. In some cases, these savings will be substantial - especially when compared to the amount that has been spent supporting a client (as the benefit-cost ratios demonstrate). We have discussed the likely possibility that longer-term savings might develop later in the support process. We have also made the case that a client could incur more costs to the public purse the longer it took for support to be provided; given that their situation would probably increase in complexity, rather than continue unchanged.
The bigger pictureThe Wallich can save money across the board; floating and residential support are both funded by the Supporting People programme, which is funded by the Welsh Government. The Building Opportunities, Skills and Success (BOSS) Project, represented by one case study in this report, receives money from the Big Lottery Fund, funded by the sales of National Lottery tickets. We have emphasised this difference in this report. While most of the interventions discussed here come from the Supporting People programme, BOSS teaches us that initiatives with a very specific focus – in this case, ex-offenders, who are likely to have particular needs and face particular barriers – substantial savings can still be realised, while lives are transformed.
In fact, given the reduced budgets allocated to public services, we are more dependent than ever on the support we receive from organisations, donors and fundraisers. This has led The Wallich to form strong links with industry and business across Wales. The BOSS Project itself works closely with Acorn Recruitment, which has successfully helped BOSS participants gain employment. ISG, a global construction firm whose Welsh arm has been a consistent supporter of what we do, funded the weekend operation of Cardiff’s Rough Sleepers Intervention Team for a year.
There are many more examples of The Wallich forging these kinds of links with other organisations. The focus of this report, however, is on the work that is funded by Supporting People – a programme that was cut in England but, as we have demonstrated, is so crucial for vulnerable people in Wales. England is now imitating Welsh legislation when it comes to homelessness. This is taking place after the English version of Supporting People was reduced for a large number of services and withdrawn entirely from many others. The ramifications of this are only now becoming clear33.
August 22, 2017, http://www.supportsolutions.co.uk/blog/funding/post/81_cut_to_supporting_people_funding_is_largest_ever.html 34The Wallich, “Rough Sleeping Statistics”, accessed August 22, 2017, https://thewallich.com/rough-sleepers-statistics/35Internal Wallich data36Ibid.37Ibid.38Cymorth Cymru, “Supporting People”, accessed August 22, 2017, http://www.cymorthcymru.org.uk/en/supporting-people/
Support that Saves
37
A problem and an opportunityThe introduction of this report highlighted the rise of rough sleeping across Wales. Some of the numbers of contacts gathered by The Wallich’s Rough Sleepers Intervention Teams (RSITs) have reached their highest recorded levels in recent months.
Data on The Wallich’s website shows an average of 30 contacts in Cardiff for May.34 However, one day, the team saw 60 people – the highest on record.35 Similarly, although the average number over the month of July is 30, one day had 56 contacts. This is not confined to the Welsh capital. One April morning in Newport, the RSIT team saw 37 people, even though the monthly average was 28.36
In Bridgend, numbers of contacts for the RSIT were decreasing until very recently. Unfortunately, as The Wallich’s website shows, averages of two or three are now rising to six and seven.37 It is no stretch of the imagination to consider the savings that could be made if The Wallich could intervene and provide support to more of these individuals. A larger budget for the Supporting People programme would allow this, turning the increasing numbers of homeless people from a problem into an opportunity.
In its introduction, this report also highlighted the rise in the number of households deemed as being at risk of homelessness. We can, therefore, conclude that larger savings could be made where Supporting People funds can be used to support families, not just individuals. The case study involving Robert, Erica, and their two young children is a particularly powerful indication of this.
We must also point out that The Wallich is not the only charity that makes use of Supporting People funds. The umbrella organisation Cymorth Cymru38 represents a varied group of bodies, including The Wallich, which has the ability to change and even transform the lives of Wales’ most vulnerable people. However, for the purposes of highlighting the crucial nature of the Supporting People programme, we can conclude that, from the case studies presented here, for every pound The Wallich spends on residential or floating support, an average of £2.99 is saved. It would be difficult to find a clearer affirmation of the importance of the Supporting People programme.
Getting people off the streets, keeping people off the streets, and providing opportunities As we have repeatedly made clear, there are real people behind these numbers: vulnerable people with flaws and strengths, who have their own stories to tell and who will benefit from different kinds of support. Not all The Wallich’s service users use or have used drugs, or have a criminal record: but in the cases where they do, or have, effective intervention can save money and save lives. The Wallich believes in supporting homeless people no matter what their story, while still respecting them as individuals. Without the Supporting People programme, The Wallich would be unable to get people off the streets, keep people off the streets, and provide them with the opportunities they need.
38
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