The Healthier Wealthier Families (HWF) initiative focuses on making it easy to refer families for welfare benefits and money advice in the same building as routine health and other appointments.
The programme is delivered by the Trust and a broad range of partners including the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, London Borough of Newham, University College London (UCL) and the ELFT Charity.
Partners hosted a ‘Healthier Wealthier Families in east London: Sharing findings and bringing together a movement of change’ learning event in Tower Hamlets Town Hall.
The event was hosted by ELFT’s Director of Population Health Laura Austin Croft.
Corporate Director of Adults, Health and Communities and Director of Public Health for Newham Council, Jason Strelitz, opened the event. A pre-recorded message from Professor Sir Michael Marmot from the Institute of Health Equity’s was then played and followed by comments from Tanya Carter, ELFT’s Chief People Office and ELFT Charity executive lead.
Presentations were then shared from researchers at UCL and SCYPS, the service which has helped pilot HWF within ELFT.
Key findings from evaluation of the HWF research include:
- Money advice in a familiar setting increases accessibility and reduces stress for families, as well as stigma
- Encouragement to access money advice from a trusted clinician or staff members makes people more comfortable with accessing support
- The increase in income as a result of money advice can help parents and children afford day to day necessities and feel more included in everyday life
Since April 2023 the total maximised in access to benefits families are entitled to at ELFT’s SCYPS service is £647,265.20.
“We are now using these findings to support other co-located benefit advice spaces at ELFT, such as the Claim the Max clinic in Mile End hospital, to set up similar models of working in other ELFT sites and share learning with partners to support more money advice support in trusted community settings,” said Laura Austin Croft.
The learning event was held on October 21, 2024.