Invitation to Tender – Hard Up Communities in Fife: Welfare Reform and Equality

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FCE Invitation to Tender – Hard Up Communities in Fife – Welfare Reform and Equality 190328[39630]

Key Themes:
Welfare Reform, Poverty, Universal Credit, Equality Act 2010, Protected Characteristics

This invitation to tender is to undertake investigative research to better understand the barriers experienced by communities of protected characteristics that are affected by poverty in Fife. The research aims to deepen practitioners’ understanding of multiple barriers experienced by people in their day to day living and also help to ensure that the most vulnerable to poverty are not further disadvantaged because of their protected characteristics.

The project requires:

• A short literature review of recent (post financial crisis / austerity: 2008 to now) research on the experiences of poverty for people with protected characteristics;

• Scoping the organisations operating in Fife which are working with people who are experiencing poverty; with a breakdown of their service users by protected characteristics;

• Organising and leading on a minimum of 3 focus groups, spread across Fife’s localities to record experiences of people with protected characteristics currently experiencing poverty.

FIFE CENTRE FOR EQUALITIES

New Volunteer House, 16 East Fergus Place, Kirkcaldy KY1 1XT
(T) 01592 645 310
(E) [email protected]
(W) www.centreforequalities.org.uk

Fife Centre for Equalities is a Company Limited by Guarantee, registered in Scotland No.536028 and registered Scottish Charity No.SC046683

Project Guidelines / Timetable: Timescale 5 months; 6 May 2019 to 30 September 2019

Budget:  Please provide your pricing / cost plan
Contact: [email protected]
Please email Nina Munday for any queries by 17 April 2019.

Please note that we are not able to discuss existing proposals in the interests of fairness and equality. However, please do not hesitate to contact us for more information.

Deadline for tender responses: 22 April 2019
Notification of decision / invite to interview: 26 April 2019
Interviews to be held: w/c 29 April 2019
Project Start / Induction meeting: w/c 6 May 2019
Update Meetings:  Literature review w/c 20 May 2019
Scoping review w/c 8 July 2019
Focus Groups insights: w/c 2 September 2019
Final Report: 30 September 2019

*Fife Centre for Equalities reserves the right to amend those dates.

Required documents
The submission must contain:

1) Proposal Outline
2) CVs
3) Outline Budget

Fife Centre for Equalities welcomes submissions from diverse applicants, we will judge proposals solely on how clearly the proposals address the following clearly:

• Background
• Aims
• Policy and practice relevance
• Project design and methods
• Analysis
• Ethical Issues
• Work-plan
• Staffing
• Risk
• Other support

Please note:
The maximum length of the proposal is 2500 words, excluding CVs or references.
Please make sure all text is readable in Arial – size 12.

Any attached CVs should be a maximum of two sides A4 per person and should include links to relevant publications, project work or outputs. In line with our procurement policy, we may ask for further information at a later date e.g. accounts from your organisation.

References and Referees
We will request that you provide the names and contact details for referees, which should be contactable and from organisations you have worked with in the recent past (e.g. within the last five years) willing and able to discuss your skills and experience. Project outputs should either be in the public domain or available at time of review.

About FCE

Fife Centre for Equalities (FCE), funded by Fife Council, started in 2014 with the vision to inspire and enable everyone we work with to take action that makes Fife a more equal, fairer place to live, work and study.

FCE’s mission is to develop a harmonised approach to build a collective voice to champion equality, diversity, inclusion and social justice.

Our values are to work with honesty, integrity, respect and transparency, and strive to demonstrate a fully inclusive approach in everything we do. We want everyone we work with to share these values in the belief that they will help make Fife a fairer and more equal place.

Hard Up Communities in Fife: Welfare Reform and Equality

FCE is commissioning this study to ensure ‘hard up’ communities are not being disadvantaged further because of their characteristics in relation to anti-poverty measures. The themes covered in this research will be: Welfare Reform, Poverty, Universal Credit, Equality Act 2010, Protected Characteristics.

Working in parallel to our ‘Equality in Fife’ research, this qualitative research project will assist in making Fife Council services have a better understanding of the barriers experienced by communities of protected characteristics who are affected by poverty including the roll-out of Universal Credit.

The research will inform and update our understanding of how anti-poverty measures, welfare reform (particularly Universal Credit) is experienced by various equality groups. We want to understand the barriers faced by people with protected characteristics in accessing or making use of anti-poverty measures and services currently in place.

We are looking for clear descriptions of the barriers faced and their impact, described in a meaningful way that will serve in enhancing the ongoing work of Plan for Fife.

Context
The recent years have seen large-scale changes to the welfare system, in terms or levels of provision or process. This includes the recent introduction of Universal Credit, which was rolled out in Fife on 6th December 2018. While this had the aim of making claims simpler, and encourage more people into work, by replacing some benefits with a single monthly payment, several issues have been recorded, including the disproportionate impact on people with disability or lone parents.

Poverty impacts whole families in Fife and children from low income households often miss school or face bullying because of a lack of money for clothes and food. Research from Fife Council recently suggested that at least 24,000 adults are living in food-insecure households in Fife and it is also thought that this is an underestimate. Previous research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation also highlighted the specific barriers of minority ethnic communities in Fife faced 2011.

As our contribution to Challenge Poverty Week and in line with the new Plan for Fife that puts fairness at the heart of all services, Fife Centre for Equalities is therefore commissioning this investigative qualitative research to explore the following:

• The experience of poverty from different perspectives of people from different protected characteristics

• The barriers faced by people from different protected characteristics in accessing of making use of anti-poverty measures

• The additional disadvantages that experienced by people from different protected characteristics who are living in poverty and/or claiming Universal Credit.

Work Packages / Milestones
Fife Centre for Equalities requires the successful applicant(s) to undertake the following work packages:

1. Literature Review: Poverty and Protected Characteristics

Task: To undertake a short literature review (3000 words) of recent research on the experiences of poverty by people with protected characteristics.

We are particularly interested in reviewing research applying to the Scottish context and a mixture of urban and semi-rural / accessible rural areas, which would be most relevant to Fife. Sources can include a range of academic, public, private and third sector research, but should be published within the austerity climate (from the 2008 financial crisis to now).
 Milestone: Review meeting: w/c 20 May 2019

2. Organisation Scoping: Anti-poverty services in Fife

Task: To conduct a scoping exercise to the organisations operating in Fife working with people who are experiencing poverty. This should include a snapshot of current user profiles with respect to protected characteristics.
 Milestone: Review meeting: w/c 8 July 2019

3. Focus Groups: Insights into barriers faced in accessing support services

Task: To conduct 3 focus groups, spread across Fife’s West, Central and North East Fife Centre for Equalities aims to build a collective voice to champion equality, diversity, inclusion and social justice across Fife and beyond. Regions to record experiences of people with protected characteristics currently experiencing poverty.

The focus group discussion should explore the types of barriers faced in accessing services due to their users having, or appearing to have, specific protected characteristics.

• Age – across Young People, Working Age and Older People
• Disability – including Learning Disability, Physical and Sensory Impairment
• Gender Reassignment – including Male to Female and Female to Male trans
• Marital or Civil Partnership status – particularly Civil Partnership status
• Pregnancy and Maternity – including women having experienced poverty while
pregnant, or on maternity leave
• Race (Ethnicity) – with a focus on minority ethnic groups
• Religion – with a focus on minority religions
• Sex (Gender) – approximating a 50:50 gender ratio
• Sexual orientation – fair representation of heterosexual and lesbian, gay, bisexual

We are also interested to hear about the barriers faced by further groups of people known to be at disadvantage:
• People who are carers, homeless or at risk of homelessness or looked-after.
• People with refugee or migrant status (including EU Nationals).
 Milestone: Focus Group Insights meeting by 2 September 2019

4. Final Report

The final report should contain:
1. Literature Review
2. Findings from the scoping exercise
3. Detailed insights gained from the focus groups
4. Recommendations for services
 Milestone: Final report due by 30 September 2019

Additional Information

Applicants are encouraged to suggest alternative approaches or methodologies where these are known to improve the quality of the literature review, mapping and insights exercise. In terms of our priorities, we suggest the following workload weighting model:

10%: review
40%: mapping
50%: focus groups

Success Criteria

The key criteria against which proposals will be judged are:

1. Clarity of project plan.

2. Knowledge and skills in researching poverty and protected characteristics.

3. Capacity to deliver outputs within the specified timescale.

Proposals should include:

1. Methodology, including approach to mapping organisations and recruitment of participants for focus groups.

2. Any proposed sub-contracting or partnership agreements recruitment or work with local organisations.

3. Track record in participatory research with people in poverty and/or protected characteristics.

4. Risk Assessment.

5. Ethical, data protection and accessibility considerations.

6. Detailed budget.