Charity slams Hackney council staff: rude, lazy, unhelpful

I haven't checked out any of this but it looks pretty damning: http://piliontrust.blogspot.com/2010/08/borough-of-hackney.html

Pilion is a charity that works with Islington Council and seems to have recently won more funding from it.

The author of the Pilion charity's blog clearly hasn't had a happy time dealing with Hackney. He or she says: "Over the past two months my teams have been trying to support and advocate for a number of vulnerable people. I mean a young man with mental health and learning difficulties who is fleeing two youth gangs that want to kill him; A young 20 year old woman, fleeing domestic violence and pregnant; An old age pensioner who is illiterate and is being evicted by the Council for rent arrears, when her pension and benefits pay directly to the Council's Housing benefit department."

The author says Pilion staff had dealt with the Housing Department, Mental Health Team, East London NHS, The Homerton and Learning Disabilities saying: "All staff in all departments have similarities in so much as they are rude, abrupt, refuse to give information and are lazy unthinking, uncaring brainless fodder."

The blog posting also complains that managers were not interested in dealing with the complaints and politicians were no better: "All turn a blind eye and don't want to look at the problems being caused by the Public Servants they employ."

Hopefully this was just a bad day. If not then all Hackney residents should beware of lingering in the borough too long: "as all you will find are brain dead "Job Lotters" sucking the life blood out of those who cannot get out."

Other news - The Daily Mail reports that Hackney Council is on the verge of signing a deal with the US for use of London Fields Lido for the Olympics. The Mail said: "A source said: ‘The US team toured London and were surprised by the lack of quality pools. ‘Right away they recognised London Fields as best for training and were very keen. The British tried to get involved but it looks like they’re too late."

Religious charity anomaly in Tower Hamlets

It is odd that just 7% of charities based in Tower Hamlets claim to be faith-based organisations. The figure seems low not just because Tower Hamlets has a large and active Muslim population but also because it is a great deal lower than both its neighbours. In Newham 23% of charities claim to be primarily faith-based. In Hackney the figure is 22%.

(Figures in this story come from Cabinet Office of the Third Sector's National Survey of Third Sector Organisations)

The low level of faith-based charities in Tower Hamlets looks even more peculiar in the context of the main beneficiaries of their services. In Tower Hamlets 7% of charities say their main role is faith-based. Meanwhile 9% of charities in Tower Hamlets say that the main beneficiaries of their services are faith communities.

So there are more charities in Tower Hamlets that serve faith communities than there are faith-based charities.

The opposite is true in Newham and Hackney.

In Newham 23% of charities are faith-based. However, proportionately fewer - 15% - of Newham charities claim that faith communities are the main beneficiaries of their services.

In Hackney 22% of charities say they are faith-based but, again, proportionately fewer - 12% - of Hackney charities say that faith communities are the main beneficiaries of their services.

So, in Tower Hamlets, there are charities that claim not to be faith-based that serve faith communities. While in Newham and Hackney there are charities that claim to be faith-based but don't serve faith communities.

Is this discrepancy because charities in Tower Hamlets believe that if they describe themselves as faith-based they will not be eligible for public funding? Or is there a less sinister explanation for these differences?

The table below shows the answers given to the question "What are the main roles your organisation undertakes?"

Tower Hamlets -The first column is the answer to the question, the second column is the national average (as a percentage of 48,939 respondents nationally), the third column is the response of the borough's charities as a percentage of 281 respondents.

Q6 Community development and mutual aid	17	20
Q6 Delivery of public services (e.g. social housing, health care, day centre, counselling, community safety)	14	21
Q6 Delivery of other services (e.g. business services, financial services, leisure, retail, manufacturing, community support)	16	18
Q6 Buildings and/or facilities (e.g. community centres, village halls, religious buildings but NOT social housing)	15	10
Q6 Advocacy, campaigning, representation, information or research	10	24
Q6 Capacity building and other support to third sector organisations (e.g. acts as a coordinating or resource body)	4	11
Q6 Grant makers (e.g. make grants to individuals or organisations)	11	11
Q6 Provides other finance	4	1
Q6 Provides advice to individuals	10	16
Q6 Helps people to access services or benefits	6	9
Q6 Provides staff and/or volunteers	8	5
Q6 Advancing religion and / or spiritual welfare by supporting religious or spiritual practice	10	7
Q6 Advancing cultural awareness	7	13
Q6 Other	13	11
Q6 Cannot say	3	1
Q6 No answer given	9	9
Number of respondents	48939	281

Compare this to Hackney: The first column is the answer to the question, the second column is the national average (as a percentage of 48,939 respondents nationally), the third column is the response of the borough's charities as a percentage of 285 respondents.

Q6 Community development and mutual aid	17	17
Q6 Delivery of public services (e.g. social housing, health care, day centre, counselling, community safety)	14	21
Q6 Delivery of other services (e.g. business services, financial services, leisure, retail, manufacturing, community support)	16	14
Q6 Buildings and/or facilities (e.g. community centres, village halls, religious buildings but NOT social housing)	15	7
Q6 Advocacy, campaigning, representation, information or research	10	18
Q6 Capacity building and other support to third sector organisations (e.g. acts as a coordinating or resource body)	4	6
Q6 Grant makers (e.g. make grants to individuals or organisations)	11	12
Q6 Provides other finance	4	1
Q6 Provides advice to individuals	10	18
Q6 Helps people to access services or benefits	6	9
Q6 Provides staff and/or volunteers	8	6
Q6 Advancing religion and / or spiritual welfare by supporting religious or spiritual practice	10	22
Q6 Advancing cultural awareness	7	14
Q6 Other	13	7
Q6 Cannot say	3	1
Q6 No answer given	9	7
Number of respondents	48939	285

And compare it to Newham: The first column is the answer to the question, the second column is the national average (as a percentage of 48,939 respondents nationally), the third column is the response of the borough's charities as a percentage of 246 respondents.

Q6 Community development and mutual aid	17	26
Q6 Delivery of public services (e.g. social housing, health care, day centre, counselling, community safety)	14	17
Q6 Delivery of other services (e.g. business services, financial services, leisure, retail, manufacturing, community support)	16	10
Q6 Buildings and/or facilities (e.g. community centres, village halls, religious buildings but NOT social housing)	15	11
Q6 Advocacy, campaigning, representation, information or research	10	14
Q6 Capacity building and other support to third sector organisations (e.g. acts as a coordinating or resource body)	4	12
Q6 Grant makers (e.g. make grants to individuals or organisations)	11	6
Q6 Provides other finance	4	1
Q6 Provides advice to individuals	10	21
Q6 Helps people to access services or benefits	6	11
Q6 Provides staff and/or volunteers	8	8
Q6 Advancing religion and / or spiritual welfare by supporting religious or spiritual practice	10	23
Q6 Advancing cultural awareness	7	16
Q6 Other	13	10
Q6 Cannot say	3	2
Q6 No answer given	9	7
Number of respondents	48939	246