FCE Call for Proposals – Hard Up Communities in Fife – Welfare Reform and Equality 181009[37537]
Key Themes: Welfare Reform, Poverty, Universal Credit, Equality Act 2010, Protected Characteristics
This call is for a project to carry out investigative research to better understand the barriers experienced by communities of protected characteristics that are affected by poverty.
The research aims to deepen practitioners’ understanding of multiple barriers experienced by people in their day to day living and also help ensure that the most vulnerable to poverty are not further disadvantaged because of their protected characteristics.
The project requires:
• Collating 50 Personal Stories and accounts of people experiencing poverty and/or claiming Universal Credit for different protected characteristics;
• Explore and describe participants’ perception of poverty;
• Explore and describe the specific barriers faced by people from protected characteristics in accessing and/or making best use of anti-poverty measures or initiatives;
• Explore and describe whether protected characteristics play a contributory role in barriers experienced by participants.
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
Timescale – 6 months, November 2018 to May 2019
Budget – £5000 maximum (including VAT and expenses)
Contact – Nina Munday, Manager
[email protected]
Please email Nina any queries by 5pm, 19 October 2018.
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.
Call for proposals advertised – 5pm, 10 October 2018
Deadline for tender responses – 12 noon, 7 November 2018
Interviews to be held – 9 November 2018
Notification of decision – 12 November 2018
Project Induction – w/c 19 November 2018
Interim Report – 29 March 2019
Final Report – 31 May 2019
*Fife Centre for Equalities reserves the right to amend those dates.
Required documents
The submission must contain two attachments:
1) Proposal Outline Form (please use provided template)
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 & timeline
• 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.
Fife Centre for Equalities aims to build a collective voice to champion equality, diversity,
inclusion and social justice across Fife and beyond.
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 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. 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.