The purpose of the outcomes workstream was to develop methods and resources that advice agencies can use to collect information about the outcomes of their work.
As part of the project a number of agencies held focus groups with their clients. This paper contains some of our favourite quotes from those sessions. We have collected them together in one document as they give a clear picture of the impact of advice on clients’ lives and we hope they will inspire other agencies to carry out their own outcomes projects. We have not altered clients’ words in any way.
We have grouped the quotes into themes.
“It’s like asking any one of us to go and perform open brain surgery – you have no experience, you have no contacts, you just don’t know what to do so I flailed out in all directions ringing everyone .I didn’t know what I should be concentrating on.
“The centre has helped me from 1997 till now, I can’t know all the laws and the centre has all those skills. Even where they haven’t they know how to get it. I have met social workers, benefit people and the centre organised all the people I needed to see. All that advice was very helpful, all my needs were met here, even now they help, every day life is not easy and something comes up and you can’t solve that problem. Even now when you send papers the benefits department claim you have not sent them, even where they have been sent recorded delivery. Your benefits are stopped and you have done everything, they are forcing you but you can’t force them. The centre protects us, the centre does everything for me, I cannot know the law and there is so much to get through.”
“Again unfortunately so many things these days it’s like well it has been you know go to your MP and because the normal channels and system doesn’t work. well there are forces at work to make sure the system doesn’t work.”
“And you know the system is setup to do that, to prevent people getting benefits they’re entitled to and everything, set up like that it’s hopeless.”
“You just don’t know. Even like, who am I entitled to go and see, wasting their time you know or whatever like that. And also if you are myself and when you do have periods where you are very badly ill physically and also I get mentally as well, um concentration and focusing problems and all these sorts of things and its sort of like a great fog and I’m just, it’s just difficult.”
“But I know that if I had gone in there on my own I would have concentrated on the wrong thing and we wouldn’t have got the decision we got.”
"I had no idea how to fight the system.”
“You are faced with a bureaucracy and you are one person and it doesn’t work – if you have a fulltime job you cannot fight it. If your child has a broken tooth you take them to a specialist but this is like being up against a huge brick wall and you don’t know which brick to start picking away at or build on, it’s too big and with conflicting reasons, responses and views and there is also subterfuge.”
“I’m sorry I am angry, the system exploits the fact that people who are bad health. Are relatively you know less able to defend themselves and other people like that and it relies on that to make people safe in a way.”
“And Melanie is fantastic, I can’t talk kindly enough about her, she’s fantastic a star.”
“And I think she’s fantastic person and she just been fantastically competent and fantastically confidence inspiring. You know and whatever, so all praise to her… and in the situation.”
“I had been given the run around for nearly 3 years but when Suzanne wrote a letter within 7 – 10 working days they replied and accepted.”
To case worker “We need more of you – at least a dozen of you.”
“There were many times where I was hardly able to get up, periods where I could hardly get out of bed. And one feels so defenceless”
“Yeah it’s sometimes every little thing that I’m bad, really bad way particularly every little tiny thing that people take for granted er is a huge huge effort and there are many many people like that who are suffering like me or other conditions or whatever and I left all that behind closed doors.”
“These guys who said they could help us were charging £9 to 10k – I was up all night thinking I’ve got to get another job or sell the dog! You do whatever you’ve got to do because you are so desperate.”
Trouble is with anxiety is what might be a tiny problem to a lot of people…anxiety amplifies it, makes it 10, 100 times worse.”
“With anxiety that is one of the worse things because I lost my husband 2 and a half years ago and he dealt with everything, with the bills and…when you get letters and forms it could all be done on one page but you go through and through and It’s the same thing over and over again and I’ll be honest 4 months ago I did have a bit of a nervous breakdown and I went to see a psychiatrist it has eased off a bit but these are the things that I don’t know whether you cope with that or it’s just left to the person themselves.”
“I was very scared as well because I was getting threatening letters and phone calls, they were saying they were going to turn up at the door and I ended up getting to the point where I didn’t want to be at home, it didn’t feel like home to be in at all – it didn’t feel safe at all.”
“Oh yes yes yes, I think it’s improved my sense of confidence in not just those systems, but general speaking you know, one of the things again is you’re not alone, there are plenty of people having similar problems and that you know. and there are people there that can help support you and that you’re not alone and it’s not like I’m coming and sometimes you can feel I don’t know it depends on your personality and upbringing and things like that but sometimes can feel worthless, because they made you feel worthless, but it’s like you know this shouldn’t be happening, you should be able to make progress. And then as you go through a process if you, especially dealing with something like an idea with the DLA and all that you get endless setbacks but you know you have to keep dragging yourself up, I was so tired, I could so hardly you know but drag myself along, but at the end of the time well you think well I’ve made it through and that already is as you said confidence inspiring, so you know persistence you can know can be done. And you feel stronger for it going through though sorts of things, processes.”
“It does lead too personal change as well and it leads to increase in self-confidence etc whatever you like to phrase it. And you know personal growth, can put it that way or whatever.”
“I actually think because some people sort of, could even you know like not take it seriously but it’s like very very serious yes it can and it does save lives, literally, literally saves lives you know and I think that can’t be said often enough. It needs to be taken really seriously.”
My son is not wanting to kill himself anymore, he is happy. He is engaging in school and is proud of his work; he has made a cartoon that he can show to people.”
“Our son is happy now as he has the stability and the relief is enormous as before I was up till 1 am researching etc and we can get on with our life. There is no way we could have done it by ourselves – I know that, and now we have more time for our daughters and maybe a holiday which we haven’t had in 3 years.”
“The school is wary of you because as you have taken your child’s education seriously then they have to take you seriously.”
“I would like them to try and fine me for not taking my child to school because I know what to do now.”
“Anyway I told them this and you think you could never deal with people in that way…on the phone, you couldn’t see your self doing it and I suppose I did find it easier than before to talk to them…you can do it…I had more confidence than I had before.”
“Well ‘ecstatic’ is the word I would use…I had this problem with my ex before and I couldn’t manage my money…I didn’t know how but they…they didn’t just manage it for me… I feel they helped me…the told me what they were doing and helped me to do things….they taught me a everything. Before I didn’t know anything. They taught me how to manage money, how to open a bank account. I can do things for myself now that I couldn’t…compared to where I was there was such a difference…you can’t imagine.”
“Yeah, well I kept my flat so I was very happy! But really, dealing with those problems helped to ease off on the mental health side of things and the anxiety and that. It’s really helped me get on with everything else, focus on day to day life.”
“Much more positive…really made a difference. And with the anxiety, like I said it can magnify things that wouldn’t seem all that to other people. But don’t worry like I did because I know, if it comes to it, I’ve got {agency name} to back me up.”
