Welzijnszorg Kempen

Non-take-up

25% to 50% of people entitled to local social assistance do not use it! We call this form of exclusion from services 'non-take-up of rights’.

Local customisation

A lot of research has already been conducted on causes and solutions of non-take-up. The challenge lies in translating that knowledge into local practice. In this project, we applied the techniques of service design to discover the local causes of non-take-up tailored to each municipality and in close contact with citizens. We then devised appropriate solutions together.

Discovering the causes of non-take-up throughout the client journey

A first step in each municipality consisted of identifying barriers that citizens encounter in order to obtain allowances such as housing benefits. We examined the entire client journey: from discovering that an allowance exists, to applying for it and actually obtaining it. We mapped these thresholds through:

• interviews with (potential) beneficiaries

• interviews with social housing staff and partners

• expert reviews: evaluating the accessibility and user-friendliness of the service provision process from our knowledge and expertise as service designers

Creating appropriate solutions together

In a second step, we brought municipal employees, aldermen and citizens together to work out effective solutions for the most pressing thresholds. For this, the group could draw on inspiration from scientific and official experts in non-take-up who were questioned at the start of the project.

Reaching vulnerable citizens with an online survey

Giving citizens a voice was an important goal in itself in this project. Together with the municipalities, we distributed an online survey to better understand what stops citizens from taking the step to the OCMW. Stepping over the physical threshold of the OCMW proves to be one of the biggest barriers for take-up. Citizens experience shame because asking for help from the OCMW feels like begging rather than claiming your rights. Some recommendations for reaching vulnerable citizens with an online survey are:

• be present in locations where citizens feel safe

• invite citizens personally to participate and explain why their opinions matter

• provide free wifi, a tablet and assistance in scanning the QR code and filling in the survey

Municipalities can take action at various levels to address non-take-up.

We present this as a staircase of solutions, ranging from proactively informing people and proactive identification to automatic allocation of rights. See drawing below:

Each municipality prepared an action plan by selecting from all proposed solutions those that are impactful and feasible in the short and medium term. The municipalities received the following as working tools:

• a presentation of the identified thresholds and proposed solutions

• a visualisation of the current client journey, showing the thresholds that beneficiaries encounter

• solution sheets with concrete tools to improve their service

Some examples of concrete solutions:

• The municipality of Balen is investigating the possibility of automatically granting the discount on out-of-school childcare thanks to a cooperation with the Flemish Agency responsible for payment of allowances in the context of family policy (VUTG).

• The municipality of Ravels is investigating the possibility to identify and proactively inform those entitled to the rent allowance by cooperating with the regional housing company, which has insight into which Ravels residents are on the waiting list for social housing.

• The Rijkevorsel municipality converts the education voucher letters to clearer language and already clarifies on the envelope that it contains good news so that vulnerable citizens are not afraid to open a letter from the municipality.

Get started with these solutions in your municipality/organisation. You can find the presentations and solution sheets on the project website at Welzijnszorg Kempen (in Dutch).