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Thank you for completing the Frontline Worker Survey 2019 

Thank you for completing the Frontline Worker Survey 2019 

Thank you for completing the Frontline Worker Survey 2019 

Monday, December 2, 2019

We would like to say a huge thank you to the 1433 frontline workers who completed this year's Frontline Worker Survey!

At the Frontline Network, it’s not about us. It’s about you as a frontline worker.

We fully appreciate how busy you are, and this is why it is so important to gather your ideas and expertise within our Frontline Worker Survey.

We wanted to know what challenges you face and the great work that you do to overcome some of these challenges.

From hostels to hospitals, night shelters to job centres, food banks to housing first services: your expert feedback has given us an insight into the working life of frontline workers across a range of settings.

We collected 3359 comments within our survey's open questions.  We hope this year's survey will highlight good practice and what works, but also be honest about the challenges faced. 

In the meantime, please read the key findings and impact of our Frontline Worker Survey 2018 here, and what we’ve done so far. 

Key Findings:

  • In the Frontline Worker 2018 survey, 82% of frontline workers found it overwhelmingly difficult to prevent homelessness.
     
  • 80% of all frontline workers found it difficult or very difficult to access accommodation within the Local Housing Allowance rate.
     
  • The survey also found that access to ‘mental health support and benefits support’ has got harder for frontline workers across every region in the UK.
     
  • While 98% of frontline workers felt ‘having enough time to do my job effectively’ was extremely or very important; only 42% of frontline workers felt they had enough time to do their job effectively.
     

Impact of the Frontline Worker Survey 2018

  • “My Policy Officials will make sure to feed the findings of this survey into our policy development, particularly on workforce capability” (Minister for Local Government and Homelessness, October 2019)
     
  • “We are grateful for your continued support and investment that ensures frontline workers are able to influence and shape national policy based on their expertise.” (Directorate for Housing and Social Justice: Scottish Government, October 2019)
     
  • The frontline worker difficulties expressed in finding accommodation within the LHA rate were highlighted within Crisis’ report: “Cover the Cost: Restoring Local Housing Allowance rates to prevent homelessness”.
     
  • We also presented the survey’s findings at the Homeless Link Policy Forum on the impact of the Homelessness Reduction Act on Single Homelessness in London. You can find our guest briefing for Homeless Link’s London Plus Project Newsletter here.
     
  • Homeless Link recently developed a webinar on Universal Credit, which was informed by feedback from this survey – addressing some of the key concerns raised by frontline workers.
     
  • We used the findings in this survey to support our recent evidence submission to the Government's consultation on repealing Section 21: the no-fault eviction notice. Our findings confirmed that frontline workers strongly believe landlords should no longer be able to evict tenants at short notice, and without good reason.
     

What We've Done So Far


Training Fund

In our 2018 survey, over 80% of frontline workers felt it would be useful for the Frontline Network to provide funding for training. We are now pleased to launch our 'Training Fund'.

Any frontline worker who has registered with the Frontline Network can apply. This enables any frontline worker to apply for funding to attend either existing training, or to commission bespoke training where there is a high enough need in their area.

Vicar’s Relief Fund grant

In 2017/18 the Vicar’s Relief Fund awarded 3981 grants to help people access accommodation, and 1646 grants to help prevent eviction. We will review how the VRF can best encourage further access to accommodation and support frontline workers in dealing with the challenges arising from new legislation.

Ideas Fund

We will continue to support innovation on the frontline through the Ideas Fund. The Ideas Fund can help you access funding to turn an idea that will improve the situation for people experiencing homelessness into reality. The funding ranges from £200 to £10,000, for ideas big and small. You can use it to develop creative solutions and new ways of working.

Thank you again for taking this year's survey. We look forward to presenting our findings from all 50 questions in our Frontline Worker Report - set to be released in Spring 2020.

 

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