Welfare Benefits Reform

This client is a Civic & Social Organisation dealing with the introduction of Welfare Reform including introduction of Bedroom Tax, Universal Credit and Benefits cap.

Their problems

1) Supporting vulnerable people affected by the Bedroom Tax
2) Sending marketing and communication publicity to specific groups of residents
3) Customer information events

What I did for them

1) I was the first point of contact for residents concerned about the welfare benefit changes
2) I became ‘Team Statto’ extracting information from their IT system producing spreadsheets including specific customer details depending on their needs
3) Created mail merges from these spreadsheets to send the marketing and communication materials to the right residents
4) I organised customer information events, booking venues, organising catering, emailing invites and tracking responses
5) Supported the Welfare Benefits Information Officer, performing any administrative tasks
6) I chased customer payments and negotiated payment agreements

How what I do helps them

As a Civic & Social Organisation the priority was to support customers as efficiently and effectively as possible

1) All vulnerable residents were contacted, options discussed and they were signposted to organisations that could help them
2) The reports extracted from their database allowed them to focus on specific customer groups who were affected by Welfare Reform
3) Customers were sent the information that was most useful to them, and vulnerable customers were invited to relevant customer information events
4) The Welfare Benefits Officer was freed up to focus on supporting vulnerable customers
5) I supported customers who were struggling with payments and was even featured in the company magazine in an article on how the team helped customers get things back on track

PS: I’ll be keeping all my clients details confidential as they’re not always comfortable with their customers knowing they sometimes use a little help!