Karen Carrick, Evaluation Manager at the Improvement Service, gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Social Justice and Social Security Committee on 19 May as part of its inquiry into low income and debt problems.
Working with public and third sector partners the IS have produced a 'guide to collaborative council tax collection' which seeks to provide a framework for organisations to work together to support people with council tax debts. This type of partnership approach could also be applied to other types of public sector debt.
The session also highlighted the importance of access to good quality advice, to help people maximise their incomes and manage their debts. One current IS project is analysing and evaluating the impact of offering advice in community-based settings such as schools and GP practices. Some local authorities are already employing this kind of community-based advice service, and these examples were shared with committee members.
Having delivered a programme of work to improve outcomes in money advice for the last seven years, the IS was ideally placed to be able to share data and intelligence that could be used to inform policy decisions.