Bridging the Gap

A recent report by the Legal Services Commission found that members of BME communities were much less likely to take-up mainstream advice services than white. In 2002, the Minority Ethnic Women’s Network Wales (MEWN Cymru) established the Communities and Advice Services Project, in order to try and redress this imbalance by improving access to legal advice and information to ethnic minorities in Wales. In April 2004 MEWN Cymru commissioned the University of Wales and the University of Glamorgan to conduct a research project to identify the reasons behind the problem and explore how support could be better provided to BME individuals in Wales. Whilst many of the factors that contribute to the disadvantage suffered by ethnic minorities in Wales such as racism, religious and cultural intolerance etc. are not unique to Wales, the geographical nature of the country does make the Welsh BME’s experience unique.
The research
The research aimed to identify:
• the problems that BME individuals typically
report as needing help with;

• knowledge of advice giving agencies within
the BME community;
• barriers that deter BME communities from
taking up advice and information services;
• the perceptions that service providers have of
the delivery of services and the support they
need to deliver a more effective service;
• examples of good practice across Wales

A number of strategies were used to elicit information from the target groups including a survey of around 200 BME individuals and groups and a survey of 90 service providers; focus groups with BME individuals; telephone interviews with both groups and semi-structured face-to-face interviews. Information was also obtained from related research reports and from development workers working with relevant BME communities.

Information was gathered on advice seeking in relation to the problems/disputes related to advocacy, welfare benefits, debt, immigration, consumer issues, education, cultural issues, housing and employment.

Findings and recommendations
Support networks and access to information for isolated ethnic minority individuals living in rural areas is very poor. In the north of Wales, for example, information about advice agencies can be difficult to access. This difficulty is compounded if individuals are not familiar with the British system (as many newcomers including seasonal workers, students and migrant workers are not). There is no central place to go for information about advice agencies. Many BME individuals rely on people from their own culture and community who have lived in the area for longer for advice. The BME community is relatively small so there are few social networks/organisations. The organisations that do provide support to BME individuals are often under funded and overstretched. This leaves many people isolated without knowing where to go for help and results in a double form of isolation, where they are cut off from both their own community as well as the white majority.

BME individuals with poor English or Welsh language skills have great difficulty obtaining quality advice and support. When translation services are available, there is often a lack of awareness among front line staff how to utilise these services and how to promote them to their clients. The report found that both individuals and service providers highlighted language as one of the main barriers to services. Awareness of BME individual’s needs is patchy among advice providers and issues specific to BME groups are often dealt with on an ad-hoc basis. Service providers would benefit from greater opportunities for interaction and coming together with ethnic minority organisations. Poor sign posting and follow-up makes the advice system feel complicated. BME respondents who tried and failed to get advice about their problem were more likely to subsequently do nothing rather than go onto handle their problem alone.

The ethnic monitoring and evaluation of both staff and the client base is crucial to an integrated service approach. In some areas, BME community groups have taken an entrenched position with assumptions that statutory, voluntary service providers, as well as private organisations, are only interested in ticking boxes. Service providers would do well from the outset to explain to community groups that on many occasions they are required by their funders to provide statistics on ethnicity, gender and faith as well as the number of individuals using their service. It is also important to highlight to individuals that these procedures are to ensure that the service is representative.

Evidence has shown that by establishing good relationships, service providers may better understand the needs of this section of their local community and, in turn, gain their trust and improve service uptake. Positive and visible approaches should be used in employing individuals from BME communities. This allows for the effective rebuilding of relationships between communities and service providers. Historical disadvantage and preconceptions regarding certain appointments sometimes prevent members of BME communities from considering themselves suitable for some roles. Proactive work regarding recruitment and retention of such individuals should be a priority. Organisations should also evaluate their current recruitment processes and working conditions to assess whether they are suitable for some individuals and should be prepared to revise these and make adaptations where required.

Many BME organisations in Wales feel they lose out on funding to their English counterparts and that this is partly due to the fact that Wales has a relatively small BME population. However, due to the limited support mechanisms that come with this, there is an argument that such support is all the more necessary. This issue could be resolved by ring-fencing funds from local authorities or the Welsh Assembly Government for BME communities and in particular smaller organisations that have day-to-day contact with their communities. It is therefore necessary that funding organisations should consider ways to create a level playing field between small BME organisations and large mainstream organisations that compete for the same funds.

It is very welcome that the Welsh Assembly Government has committed itself to a review of the Voluntary Sector Scheme and to develop a disadvantaged communities fund for BME voluntary and community groups. It has also initiated research into the capacity and effectiveness of BME community and voluntary organisations. However, whilst such a review is important, the Welsh Assembly Government needs also to introduce transitional arrangements around funding and capacity building.

Bridging the Gap (2005) can be downloaded for free from www.mewn-cymru.org.uk

Yolanda Sokirimunn is Director of MEWN Cymru.
Contact: E. info@mewn-cymru.org.uk
Edited - S. Simanowitztop