This document was produced in 2021 by the Corporate Strategy, Policy, Performance and Risk Management Team.

In 2016 the Council and its partners undertook a debt needs assessment to better understand our residents’ needs and to inform strategy development and service delivery. The council funds various advice and support services to help people address their debt related issues, both through internally provided services and some which are externally commissioned.

This 2021 refresh of the Needs Assessment comes at a particularly challenging time, where more of our residents than ever before are likely to be experiencing debt issues, perhaps for the first time, as a result of the social and economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Emerging evidence suggests that individuals and communities who were struggling with issues such as debt and poverty prior to the pandemic are most likely to have been adversely affected throughout 2020/21 and it will take time to fully evaluate the longer term impact of this. It is, however, anticipated that it could lead to pressures on other services who support those various issues that are prevalent amongst communities struggling with debt and poverty. These can include higher than average crime levels, high dependency on health providers, lower life expectancy, higher than average unemployment and/or lower than average income and economic participation.

Whilst the East Riding is a relatively affluent area, with low levels of unemployment, good educational attainment and relatively good health outcomes for most of its residents, there are areas where this is not the case. These areas of deprivation constitute the majority of public expenditure on health services, benefits costs, interventions and homelessness, for example. This needs assessment aims to identify the underlying determinants that influence a households likelihood to suffer debt issues, understand how much of an issue these determinants are for the area and identify interventions that could be put in place to help reduce the risk that they will lead to future debt-related advice needs. The needs assessment is broken in to five key themes: money, housing, work, benefits and services, each looking at the various likely determinants of poverty and debt under them.

Whilst traditionally the East Riding benefits from a lower proportion of its population struggling with these issues, the need is there and, if unsupported, could worsen, particularly in light of the pandemic. With the continuing need to manage limited resources effectively, it is essential that they are targeted at those in greatest need and to prevent further negative outcomes.

The document can be viewed and downloaded below.