Improving benefit take-up in Colchester
Essex councils share practice on benefits and work together on promotions. To promote benefit take-up during the recession, the cross-council partnership ran a specific day of activity across the county in March 2009. This maximised publicity while giving individual district councils the opportunity to deliver something specific for each area. The County Council coordinated county-wide publicity, which included newspapers, council magazines and advertising on all local radio stations.
Most districts ran events in conjunction with County Council colleagues and other organisations. Colchester organised a ‘Welfare Market’ - a street market which included stalls from 20 local welfare agencies. It attracted much public interest, generating hundreds of enquiries. The nature of the event made it difficult to link it directly to any subsequent specific increase in take-up. However, the links established between the different agencies involved have led to other joint initiatives, including a multi-cultural day in the local Castle Park.