Unite Community Centre Barnsley Annual Report
Introduction The community centre in Barnsley, during its first 12 months, (opened in June 2013) has truly embraced Unite s concept of building unity across the working class through its initiative in reaching out to the community. The services are not only for the people of Barnsley but to the wider community of South Yorkshire & beyond. Unite s primary objective is to ensure that: It s value of solidarity, dignity and respect are at the heart of community The Barnsley Centre has both echoed & implemented Unite s summer/autumn 2013 newsletter which set out this objective. It has developed an organisation that s is both confident and powerful enough to protect the vulnerable whilst winning on issues that are important to them & their communities.
Visits, Cooperation & involvement within the community We have had visits from other centres from different parts of the region as well as South Yorkshire. We facilitated visits from Durham, Sheffield, Leeds, Doncaster. Midlands, North West and Scotland. We discussed and shared experiences and best practice methods that have been carried out in the Barnsley centre with a view to helping to establish new community centres in other communities. We have been actively collaborating with other organisations, local community centres seeking to develop a more pro-active and solid relation with industrial branches to help and support the community as much as we can. We collaborate with the local food banks to help meet the needs of the people who are either being sanctioned by the Job Centre. We refer people to food banks and vice versa and discuss with them on why we need to ensure that food banks are no longer needed in the better future that we are trying to build for our children
Unite Community members have just completed their two days training on Welfare Rights, provided by the Child Poverty Action Group. This will help us continue our vital work in our communities, supporting people who are suffering under the Con-Dem s cruel and unnecessary welfare reform. Educate, Agitate, Organise! http://www.cpag.org.uk/ In house training at Barnsley on various subjects are offered on a regular basis
Welfare Benefits Unite is committed to serving the best interests of its members and will seek to improve their standard of living and the quality of their lives through the services we provide in the centre. We are pleased to report since starting the initiative we have dealt with many diverse issues and subjects affecting the people we represent. These include Closed Cases: 61 cases have been dealt with and been closed. 500 calls attended in relation to making Appointments and solving various problems for e.g. PIP forms, Council Tax Payment Settlement, Energy Bills Payment Plan Settlement, Solicitors Appointment etc.
Training The training was offered to whole of the Yorkshire area and attended by all range of members from the South Yorkshire community. In the training we made sure that all the aspects were covered. The training courses offered are as follows Welfare Reform Overview Universal Credit ESA The welfare advice training was held at Unite the Union s regional office in London. Volunteers from Unite community centre Barnsley, (Richard Vivian and M. Tariq), designed the training which lasted for two days. In the training we made sure that all the aspects of welfare rights and benefits were covered also with the emphases on what benefit advice is about, being a competent advisor and how the advice should be given. The core values, campaigning around benefits and protecting client s rights and advisor client privilege (Data Protection) was also explained. 16 people attended the training and the venue and the arrangements for the training were fantastic and state of the art equipment was offered for the IT support.
Unite Community activists have been out in the community spreading the message about the Community Support Centre. The Freezing weather didn t stop a dozen or so activists from leafleting around Peel Square in Barnsley, where members of the public told us of the difficulties either they, or their friends & families were experiencing because of welfare cuts and the hated bedroom tax. We encouraged people to join Unite and spread the word around so that we can be considerable force for change. The day was a great success, with our activities being reported in the Barnsley Chronicle, Dearne FM And Radio Sheffield. On the second day of activity, we took our message out to Worsbrough Common and Honeywell estates, delivering leaflets throughout the estates and arranging for posters to be displayed in a number of local shops, businesses and the local Workmen s Club.
Success Stories: Welfare Benefits We cannot win all the time but by taking a claimant through the process of claiming and appealing at Tribunals we are helping that person regain their dignity and showing that we do care. Here are a few of our many successes Mr C: was one of our first members seeking help on his Working Tax Credit we managed to recover a total of 4,795.68 from HMRC on behalf of Mr C Ms P : By successfully claiming Personal Independence Payment and Carers Allowance and also winning a Bedroom Tax appeal we increased her benefits by 184.80 per week. She joined Unite. Ms R: Successful tribunal hearing gained Ms R the points she needed for her ESA and increased her benefits by 28.45 per week
Learning Although the centre has been open for one year, we did not begin with computer training until the first computer class began on the 10 th July. Initially we were using lap top computers and had many problems with internet connection. We were using a mobile router which was not sufficient to support the 5 people we had at that time learning. Since then we have our own dedicated internet connection. Brian Rankin a unite ULR was very supportive in getting the computer course up and running. In total we have had 13 people on courses plus people who come in for one session for assistance in setting up an e-mail address and to help with writing a CV. We started people on the Learn My Way, Computer Basics which is good for people who have never used a computer or who are nervous and want help. Three people moved on to Learn with Unite ICT. Unfortunately most of our clients do not wish to do something as formal. We have two women who want to begin the ESOL course but this is taking a long time for us to get started, for various reasons. We believe that once the ESOL course is set up we can recruit more learners.
Campaigns Our campaigns have concentrated around the effects of Government cuts to working people. We have assisted and supported the local Barnsley campaign against the Bedroom Tax, joined protests by the Community and unwaged on Zero hours contracts and Workfare across South Yorkshire. We have also supported workers taking industrial action against their employer and the government in our own and other unions through South Yorkshire Unite Community Branch. We are now launching a campaign to encourage and assist benefit claimants to take up their rights to claim and receive Discretionary Housing Payments and Local Welfare Assistance in Barnsley.
Tribunals & Appeals WE can help claimants who are able to do so, prepare and conduct their own appeal. By enabling this to be done we are helping the claimant understand the benefits system and give them the confidence to take on the system when injustices and mistakes are made Claimant who are unable or have more complex appeals can have the support of the centre as above plus representation at the Tribunal. Advice, support and representation is not subject to Unite membership, however we encourage claimants to join Unite and join the fight against benefit cuts and legislation such as the bedroom tax