Community hubs and food pantry

Why we set up community hubs

Before July 2020, our customers needed to visit a council help desk to ask for help, for example with rent and Council Tax arrears. A Customer Support Officer would direct them to the self-service kiosk to sort the Council Tax issue and give them the contact details for the housing team to solve the rent issue.

Since July 2020, we have reformed this service into our new community hubs. When customers visit the community hubs to ask for help, they receive a wider range of support than they did from the old service. Our Community Engagement Ambassadors ask about the circumstances that brought them to the hubs and find solutions to the root causes, such as employment and skills support.

Customer quotes

Our Community Engagement Ambassadors have received great feedback. 99% of comments received between December 2020 and December 2021 had a satisfaction level of 5 (very satisfied):

“Very friendly and efficiently pointed us to the right services. Understood what processes were required. Managed to register for housing services immediately”
“Rajiv was so helpful and patient during my problems.”
“Helped me so much. Thank you. Great service and lovely staff”
“Listened to my query and solved my issue and communicated well. Very happy and service with a smile.”
“I am a School Governor and I want to thank the lovely officer who helped me, giving excellent customer service but also to Enfield Council for opening and supporting our vulnerable customers.”

If you have visited one of our community hubs, we would like to ask for your feedback.

Case studies

Universal Credit

When Mr X’s Universal Credit (UC) payment was stopped, he began to struggle financially, and everything became very difficult for him and his family.

When Mr X came in to ask for support, he was referred to the Housing Advisory Service Prevention team, who worked with the Welfare Advice Debt Support team to find a solution. At the same time, Community Engagement Ambassadors organised support from the food pantry so that Mr X could feed his family while his issue was resolved. The ambassadors offered support throughout the process.

Mr X visited the Community Hubs team again to inform the ambassadors that his UC claim had been settled and that payments had resumed.

Mr X was very grateful for all the help and support he received, commenting that he and his family were shown a love and kindness he will not forget. The food pantry was an invaluable source that allowed him to put food on the table for his family.

Jobless

Mr and Mrs P came into Edmonton Green Community Hub with a few problems, including rent arrears and problems with their UC payments. They also wanted to be referred to the pantry as they had to cut back on the amount of money they spent on food shopping. Mr P lost his job when the company went bankrupt, and even though he has been actively looking for work, it’s been hard for him.

The Community Engagement Ambassadors completed a referral to the Welfare Advice and Debt Support team to solve Mr and Mrs P’s rent arrears, and to allow them to start accessing the food pantry.

To support Mr P back to work, the Community Engagement Ambassadors:

discussed different options, such as work agencies that offer temporary, permanent or flexible work
advised about the free classes available at Barnet and Southgate College in maths and English
provided English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) leaflets and numbers for agencies

Mr and Mrs P were also provided with leaflets about basic reading, writing, and computer skills courses, as well as general community support.

Abusive partner

Mrs L visited the community hubs and spoke to the Community Engagement Ambassadors about how she was suffering from domestic abuse. The resident had two children and needed somewhere safe to live. Mrs L’s husband had control of the finances and refused to pay for food or clothes. Mrs L and her children were also struggling with their mental health and had spoken to her child’s school as one of the children is self-harming.

The Community Engagement Ambassadors provided information about Enfield Women's Centre and Solace Women's Aid. They also made referrals to the Homelessness Prevention team and the Welfare Advice and Debt Support team, as well as issuing a voucher for a food bank.