Leeds homeless charity St George's Crypt praised for 'phenomenal' work by government minister Will Quince

Will Quince, Minister for Welfare Delivery, visited the St George's Crypt Care Centre yesterday to hear firsthand from service users about the barriers they face in accessing benefits and finding work.

The visit followed an announcement earlier this week that the Department for Work and Pensions is establishing a £3m fund for JobCentres across the UK to increase the support available for homeless people.

However, it is not yet clear whether any JobCentres in Leeds will be allocated a share of the money when it is released in 2020/21.

Mr Quince, a former chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Ending Homelessness, said: "It will initially be focused on areas where we have the largest prevalence of rough sleeping. Leeds could well be one of those."

He said that if the approach proved successful, then he planned to use the evidence to seek further funding to take this work out to a wider area.

With a focus on outreach work, the new funding aims to build on training already given to hundreds of JobCentre managers on how to best support homeless claimants.

It includes providing support in accessing benefits, opening bank accounts and finding new jobs.

"There are many reasons why people end up on the streets but it can be that at a some point in their life the system has failed them," Mr Quince said.

"Asking or expecting people to come into a JobCentre to get advice isn't always something they're going to do. As a result, there's a large part of the community not getting what they're entitled to."

St George's Crypt clients and staff told Mr Quince about the difference this kind of approach had made for them.

The charity already receives weekly visits from a member of JobCentre's social justice team, who works with people taking part in the Growing Rooms rehabilitation programme.

Christine Lane, head of health and wellbeing at the Crypt, told the minister: "I can't tell you how valuable that's been. We had so many problems at Growing Rooms with Universal Credit.

"When I spoke to someone at the social justice team, she said 'let me give you someone to come in once a week'. At Christmas, the service users bought him a present to say thank you and he cried."

One service user, who had started a new job this week, talked about how the support given by the JobCentre worker had helped him to navigate the complexities of the Universal Credit process.

He had also been able to buy work boots and protective equipment through the flexible support fund, taking him a step closer to his goal of getting work as a roofer.

Along with others, he spoke about how taking part in the Growing Rooms programme had helped him to address substance abuse problems and find a new focus in life.

Praising the work done by the Crypt's staff and volunteers, Mr Quince said: "It's phenomenal what they're doing here. They are actually changing lives."

As he left to visit a local JobCentre and community housing project Canopy, the queue for the Crypt's free three-course lunches was already forming outside.

Speaking afterwards, Ms Lane said: "I think it's important [for the minister] to see how much more we're doing; that it isn't just a case of people sleeping rough but all of the consequences of that and the after-effects.

"Certainly for the Crypt, it's really important we see it's a journey. It's not a quick fix."