5 Centrelink — Place Based Services Initiative

Summary

The Centrelink Place Based Services Initiative was introduced in July 2008. It was introduced in response to the Government’s commitment, outlined in its Social Inclusion Statement, to promoting social inclusion through a new approach to developing and implementing policy and programs requiring strong partnerships between all levels of government, business and community organisations.

The premise underlying the ‘place based’ approach is local level problem definition and response to address a set of circumstances endemic to a place or location for people most vulnerable to the impacts of social exclusion.

Accordingly, area level managers were invited to nominate projects to be operated as a series of discrete, self-managing local initiatives and six projects received funding for 2008–09:

• The Peachey Belt Community Service (northern Adelaide), to work with predominantly youth, single parents and Indigenous customers to increase their social and economic participation by providing place based integrated management;
• Morwell (Victoria), engaging with men aged 35–55 who have been unemployed for at least two years, to assist them by increasing the range of service options available and by addressing the personal issues that make it hard for them to secure and maintain a job;
• Shared Assessments in Logan (south-east Queensland), working with people experiencing domestic and family violence, young people leaving state care and/or people with unmet mental health needs services using a ‘person-centred planning process’ to increase their personal capacity and to connect them to appropriate services;
• Urban Indigenous Itinerants (NT), aimed at improving the connection of disengaged Indigenous urban homeless people with family, community, agencies and, where possible, assisting with accommodation options;
• Young Refugees (Broadmeadows and Fairfield), working with young refugee job seekers aged 16–24 who will work with a personal services coordinator to identify strengths and weaknesses and to develop goals that young refugees want to achieve via the initiative; and
• Cooma Young Carers (southern NSW), aimed at developing, in collaboration with local service delivery partners in the Cooma region, a referral program for young carers aged 16–25 to assist them to access support needed to remain connected to education, training and employment opportunities and to increase community awareness of their issues in the Cooma region.

The six initiatives are intended to test various practices of intervention that aim to improve customer outcomes through the development of collaborative models of service delivery within a community. They share a common strategy of placing the customer at the centre of the service delivery system and involve the collaborative design, delivery and review of a place based service response to address specific social inclusion challenges created by the place. The initiatives are informed by a participatory action research framework and underpinned by an outcomes-focussed program logic approach, with regular review points to monitor and measure outcomes and recalibrate approaches.

Overall, the place based approach is premised on a reformulation of the Centrelink service delivery model to focus on customer-centric service responses. A key element in delivering this is to define and pursue an appropriate role for Centrelink within an integrated, sustainable service delivery system that meets the customer’s holistic needs. Development of strategic partnerships between all levels of government and locally based business and community stakeholders is therefore integral to the place based approach.

Relevant chronology

November 2007 — Newly elected Government commitment to promoting social inclusion through a new approach to developing and implementing policy and programs requiring strong partnerships between all levels of government, business and community organisations, as outlined in its Social Inclusion Statement;

May 2008 — Funding provided in 2008–09 Human Services portfolio budget for Centrelink to improve services to Australians with a focus on innovation;

July 2008 — Decision taken that Centrelink should explore the use of a place based approach and senior Centrelink Network Managers invited to express their interest in sponsoring program initiatives to be operated as a series of discrete, self-managing local initiatives linked by a common planning and evaluation framework;

August 2008 — Funding provided for the establishment of the Peachey Belt Community Service in the John McVeity Community Centre in northern Adelaide to work with predominantly youth, single parents and Indigenous customers to increase their social and economic participation by providing place based integrated management of the participant and his/her family;

August 2008 — Seed funding provided for five other projects to develop formal business cases for funding under the program;

November 2008 — Funding provided for an initiative at Morwell, Victoria, aimed at engaging with men aged 35–55 years who have been unemployed for at least two years to assist them by increasing the range of service options available and by addressing the personal issues that make it hard for them to secure and maintain a job;

November 2008 — Funding provided for the Shared Assessments in Logan initiative (south-east Queensland), the objective of which is to work with people experiencing domestic and family violence, young people leaving state care and/or people with unmet mental health needs using a ‘person centred planning process’ to increase their personal capacity and promote social and economic participation by connecting them to the appropriate services;

November 2008 — Funding provided for the Urban Indigenous Itinerants in the Northern Territory initiative aimed at improving the connection of disengaged Indigenous urban homeless people with family, community and agencies (including by providing income support) and, where possible, assisting with accommodation options. It works closely with partner agencies through their existing connection and relationships with this participant group;

November 2008 — Funding provided for Young Refugees initiative to be taken forward in Broadmeadows (Melbourne) and Fairfield (Sydney). Participants in the initiative are young refugee job seekers aged 16-24 who will work with a Personal Services Coordinator to identify their strengths and challenges and to develop goals that youth refugees want to achieve via the initiative, and to allow them to establish clear pathways towards longer term social and economic participation;

December 2008 — Funding provided for the Cooma Young Carers initiative (southern NSW) aimed at developing, in collaboration with local service delivery partners in the Cooma region, a referral program for young carers aged 16–25 to assist them to access support needed to remain connected to education, training and employment opportunities and to increase awareness of their issues within the Cooma community;

April 2009 — Social Justice and Social Policy Research Centre, University of Western Sydney, engaged to conduct a program evaluation; and

October 2009 — The evaluators provided a draft evaluation report. The report showed that the initiatives have demonstrated proof of concept and that Centrelink can play a valuable role in supporting collaborative service delivery.

Key observations from case study

Major innovations

Exploration of approaches that could lead to improved outcomes in terms of social inclusion is being pursued via a range of place based initiatives aimed at addressing a set of circumstances that is endemic to a place or location. The initiatives under the program were nominated by area level managers within Centrelink on the basis of defining problems and potential responses at the local level. The initiatives are aimed at fostering the development of strategic partnerships with other relevant agencies and community stakeholders in order to generate sustainable action to address the problem identified.

Observations and lessons learned

• Innovation prompted by a need — the placed based services approach is intended to develop customer-centric service responses that more effectively target prominent areas of disadvantage in particular communities, thereby generating sustainable actions that can improve social inclusion outcomes;
• Importance of innovation champion — The place based services initiative is based on local level problem definition and response rather than the traditional, centralised determination of service delivery parameters;
• Cooperative partnerships — the place based initiative involves reformulation of the Centrelink service delivery model, with a focus on the development of strategic partnerships between all levels of government and locally-based businesses and community stakeholders, to establish integrated service delivery systems;
• Approach informed by relevant methodology — The program logic and action research framework supported the building of relationships and fostered trust by involving service delivery partners in shaping the work, giving a tangible focus for engagement with service delivery partners; and
• Devolved approach adopted to problem solving — The action research framework provides the basis for local level innovation through collaboration while enabling organisational consistency. By enabling the development of provisional solutions to address issues of great complexity (the so-called ‘wicked problems’), the initiatives are intended to use the knowledge, understanding and experience of specialised local service delivery practitioners to refine their approaches

 

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