Portsmouth Advice Service

Description

Portsmouth City Council ('the council') has selected a preferred bidder to provide an open access social welfare advice service for adults in Portsmouth. The service will provide specialist and generalist advice to residents and improve outcomes for anyone living or working within the boundaries of the city and also be accessible by Portsmouth City Council (Portsmouth Homes) tenants accommodated outside of the city. Service background The purpose of the Service is to: "Provide the right advice and appropriate support to help me solve my problem". The Service will provide expert advice on housing, welfare benefits, debt, income maximisation, employment rights, general family issues, and consumer issues, and general advice on other queries, such as access to services and support. The service will hold registration with the Financial Conduct Authority for specialist debt counselling, and employ or have volunteers that are approved intermediaries for Debt Relief Orders. All advice provided must be completely free of charge, confidential and impartial. The Service will be accessible in-person from a central location(s) within Portsmouth, as well as by telephone, email, and other channels that meet customers' needs. Home visits will also be offered where deemed necessary and appropriate. The key outcomes for the service are centred around; financial wellbeing, housing stability, access to rights and entitlements, family and social stability, health and wellbeing, digital and self-advocacy, and service/system level outcomes. The service will aim to provide early help to prevent customers reaching crisis point, and for those customers in crisis, it will help them to find solutions and address the underlying root causes to reduce the risk of future crisis. In 2024/25, 14,288 people accessed the service with 13,666 receiving direct support. The service assists approximately 1,150 people per month and around 265 per week. The highest areas of demand currently are: welfare benefits, debt, housing, consumer issues, and other issues including family and employment rights. Contract value The contract is being funded via two sources. The council's internal department budget will be used to fund the core contract at a value of £295,000 per annum and £1,475,000 over the maximum 5-year term. External funding via the Crisis and Resilience Fund (which runs for 3-years, 1 April 2026 31 March 2029) will be used to supplement the core contract for the purpose of providing outreach and community-based provision with the aim of increasing accessibility. This funding totals £241,666 over the initial 3-year contract term.