Cash-First Programme: final evaluation report

Appendix D: Case Studies

As part of the interim evaluation report, two case studies were presented. One on engaging people with lived experience, and another on strengthening local referral pathways. For this final report, two new case studies are introduced. The first is on ‘service user journeys’. The second explores wraparound support.

Case study 1: Service user journeys

This case study provides an understanding of service user journeys and how the Programme was accessed and navigated. Service user journeys describe the pathways an individual follows and the interactions they experience when seeking support. It covers the following key steps:

This case study draws on wider evaluation inputs and learning from Year 1 of the Programme, including Delivery Partner, stakeholder and service user interviews. It is broadly based on the approaches seen in Aberdeen City, Fife and North Lanarkshire.

Identifying Cash-First service users

“Cash-First” is ready access to emergency income when someone has no money for food. To prevent future hardship this should be delivered alongside welfare rights and income maximisation advice and support.

To target those who needed support at a local level, areas made use of a variety of data and evidence sources as well as screening processes. The Aberdeen City and Fife Delivery Partners used local data and evidence to decide on approaches to identify and reach those most in need whereas North Lanarkshire used screening processes to identify those who had no money for food or fuel:

• Aberdeen City used food bank data to understand who the biggest demographic in repeat use of food banks were. Data indicated that, alongside being the biggest repeat users of food banks, single men under 45 were particularly hard to reach and the demographic group most likely to be in deep-rooted poverty. Therefore, Aberdeen City decided to target single men under 45 years of age in receipt of Universal Credit. To be eligible for support, every individual had to be facing food insecurity.
• When individuals were identified according to these criteria, they may have been eligible for Cash-First support, and a network of seven trusted local core partners in the city then passed these details to the Delivery Partner as a referral. Wider referral partners could signpost eligible people to Cash-First support, but they would need to apply through these seven trusted local core partners. The referral form asked the same questions of everyone, and this was sent to the Delivery Partner, for initial assessment. This was then further assessed by a panel of partners to decide on the funding to be provided, if any, and identify what additional supports were needed. Panel decisions were made based on the in-depth application form completed at referral. If someone was considered ineligible for Cash-First support, partners signposted them to other sources of help, such as the Scottish Welfare Fund, and asked whether the person had contacted all other avenues of support, for example, the Financial Inclusion team at the local Council.
• Methods of distribution and the value of Cash-First payments, which varied depending on individual circumstances, and wider support options, were identified using a risk matrix applied to each application, to safeguard recipients. This further streamlined the journey for service users and ensured their needs were placed at the heart of the support they accessed. If a person had not provided enough information in their application, or if they were not currently eligible (e.g. if they had not yet received confirmation from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) that they would receive Universal Credit), decisions were deferred or delayed, or people could reapply. The trusted local core partner referral process also reduced the number of times individuals had to repeat their story, and helped to build trust and communication with the referring professional who would then refer them on to appropriate wraparound support.

• In Fife, a number of small tests of change took place across the area, and this case study focuses on one of these. The approach of this particular test of change in Fife was very targeted. It identified individuals and communities who were facing specific barriers. Those targeted for support were selected because they were in remote locations with very limited access to services and amenities, including supermarkets, food banks and transport links. Participants were initially identified through various means, including referrals by schools, local pantries, and Welfare Support Assistants who were familiar with their circumstances. The recipients also had to live within specific areas and have previously accessed food support. Once identified, a panel of partners reviewed individuals’ circumstances and selected households that would benefit most from the support. Decisions were made based on levels of need, and openness to engagement. A panel-based approach helped minimise bias in the decision-making process and ensure the process was as equitable and fair as possible. People were invited to participate in a 6-month programme of support. This approach required a long lead time to develop the appropriate service relationships and identify and engage participants. This meant frontline staff had to maintain warm relationships with service users over an extended period, with the risk that they may disengage due to having a longer waiting period for wraparound and holistic support. Overall, ongoing staff contact and communication helped ensure people remained engaged.
• In North Lanarkshire, Cash-First approaches have been in place for over ten years (since 2014), helping to address, for instance, food poverty and fuel poverty. The Programme was embedded within the pre-existing Scottish Welfare Fund crisis support offer. It was available to anyone in crisis living in the Local Authority area.
• While Aberdeen City and Fife took a targeted approach based on the data, North Lanarkshire instead used the existing First Point of Contact Team to work with individuals in crisis. The First Point of Contact Team dealt with all welfare rights and debt issues and typically people could self-refer or be referred by agencies, such as social work or health services. A welfare rights or debt advisor would contact individuals within 3-5 working days, carrying out a benefit check and all other benefit support required. If the person then required ongoing support they would be referred to a different team for case work. However, if a referral was identified as “urgent”, that is, relating to food or fuel crisis, the individual would be called back on the same day.
• There was a two-step process to engaging someone in Cash-First services:
• Step 1. Listening and routing. Administrative staff team carried out an initial screening to identify if this was an urgent referral, which would therefore be routed for a call back on the same day; or if it was a referral that would be put in the mainstream service for the 3-5 day return. The screening used key words as triggers for support, and if a person stated they needed food or fuel, their situation was marked urgent and passed on to a team of Welfare Rights Officers and Income Maximisation Officers for Cash-First support and further triage. Individuals not triggering this were routed to other services appropriate to their need.
• Step 2. Triage by Welfare Rights or Income Maximisation Officers, who then carried out a more detailed assessment. A benefit check was completed to ensure income was fully maximised and the worker gave help to complete a crisis grant application and refer for any additional supports.
• In some cases, if situations were very complex, if a shortfall or entitlement to additional benefits had been identified, or it was not possible to resolve the crisis in the two steps detailed above, a person would be referred on for longer-term support from the appropriate Council team. However, the Delivery Partner stated that often when in crisis, short term help was what was needed most.

Use of screening processes

Delivery Partners generally operated a screening process for people seeking support from local Cash-First projects, including wraparound and holistic supports, to make sure they were eligible and to identify what other support would be beneficial to them.

The information-gathering stage of the engagement and interaction was crucial, and had to be done carefully and sensitively. How this was done could determine the subsequent pathway and outcomes for the service user. If done inappropriately, there was a risk people would disengage, or would not have the chance to share all of their concerns. There had to be sufficient time to do this properly and at the pace of the individual, rather than a pace set by the service.

Promoting awareness of, and facilitating access to, Cash-First approaches

The communication of Cash-First approaches and services in Delivery Partner areas was tailored to the characteristics of individuals targeted as well as local needs. This meant it could be closely targeted to these individuals and the services that work with them or promoted more broadly. It also meant that the communication strategy had to reach both potential service users, as well as those providing the services.

Reaching service providers

Awareness raising amongst service providers often involved a network of trusted partners who were already working in the area. For example, in North Lanarkshire, their Programme was not promoted publicly and instead promoted to internal partners such as Social Work Services and Education, to ensure all staff were fully aware of what could be offered, and by encouraging food banks to refer people on to the project for a cash intervention. The Aberdeen City Delivery Partner worked through its trusted local core partner network to raise awareness of the Programme. The Delivery Partner also conducted training and awareness raising with Third Sector Organisations, Social Work Teams, the Health and Social Care Partnership, the DWP and JobCentre Plus, and others, around the eligibility criteria, in order to minimise the potential for ineligible applicants.

Delivery Partners reported the value of developing clear communications and, in some cases, information or training sessions on the Programme, for stakeholders and partner organisations. This ensured wider stakeholders and partners understood what the Cash-First approach was, what the local project was aiming to achieve, and what the expectation and ask was of partners.

Promotion to service users

The Aberdeen City Delivery Partner initially promoted the Programme (known locally as the Cash-First Flexible Crisis Fund) through radio and social media. However, delivery staff were overwhelmed by the response this generated, including from people who were ineligible for this support. The target group was single men under 45 years of age on Universal Credit, but responses were received from women, men with families, and men that were not in receipt of Universal Credit. Individuals in need who were ineligible for Cash-First but had contacted the service as a result of the promotional campaign were signposted elsewhere for appropriate support. People who were eligible were assessed in line with the Cash-First eligibility process.

Public promotion in Aberdeen City was scaled back in the second year of the Programme, reflecting a change in focus from awareness raising to delivery and support becoming available through other programmes such as Aberdeen City Council’s Anti-Poverty and Inequality Committee’s funding programme to support people with the cost-of-living crisis. This included increased provision of Scottish Welfare Fund and Community Care Grants, provision of fuel poverty vouchers, discretionary funding for housing payments, and wider awareness-raising activities.

In Fife, the trusted partner network was responsible for identifying potential service users and there was no direct promotion of the Programme to the wider public. Similarly, there was no public promotion of the Programme to service users in North Lanarkshire, and instead existing staff were upskilled and trained to recognise when this could be an effective intervention.

How Cash-First Approaches have supported positive service user journeys

Service user journeys are unique to each individual. When delivering the Programme, this was compounded by the different characteristics of each Delivery Partner area, the service landscape in each, and the range of approaches taken to delivering Cash-First support. However, some broad principles were applied to ensure that service users experienced a positive journey to support.

Using a “tell us once” approach

“Tell us once” means individuals only have to share details a single time, and, with consent, this information can be shared with other relevant organisations. However, this can create some challenges with data sharing between relevant organisations, including Third Sector organisations, as has been reported in the interim evaluation.

To support sustained engagement from Programme recipients, Delivery Partners were committed to, and focussed on, streamlining the experience for individuals. For example, approaches taken in Aberdeen City and North Lanarkshire, despite operating a different model, enabled people to engage with a range of services as a result of the initial interaction. The targeted referrals and streamlined assessment in each of these areas also meant that service users could be confident that a referral to the local Programme would give them access to support that was right for them.

Tailoring support to the individual

Tailored support is a key element of ensuring a positive service user journey and there are various examples of how to do this across the Delivery Partners.

In Fife, once individuals were identified, the support offered aimed to build individuals’ confidence, skills and resilience, as well as address food insecurity. Participation in the Programme gave them access to a range of coordinated services and support, including budgeting skills, cookery classes, and access to smoking cessation help. This delivery model exemplifies one way of ensuring a person-centred approach was embedded in delivery, bringing services around the person rather than sending the person through a network of services. This tailored support was intended to build resilience and support long term changes, and the Delivery Partner reports that since the end of this test of change in March 2025, none of the participants have presented again in crisis. Although some have had some minor contact with their key worker (such as the Welfare Support Assistant) since March 2025, none of the service users required a crisis intervention in that time.

This demonstrates that person-centred and holistic approaches can be an effective tool to help create sustained change, in the short to medium term.

Building strong partner relationships

Strong relationships between the Delivery Partner, local core partners, referral partners and support organisations are crucial for a positive service user journey and outcomes, and feedback shows that the Programme has had a positive impact on these relationships.

New referral pathways and relationships were developed, and Delivery Partners’ knowledge and awareness of the services that operate locally increased. This is reflected across all Delivery Partners and has also been highlighted in the Programme’s interim evaluation. Increased knowledge and awareness of services locally meant it was easier for Delivery Partners to identify appropriate wraparound and holistic support for people. The Aberdeen City Delivery Partner reported that this, in some cases, helped mitigate long waiting times for appointments. This way of working also supported the individual to have a better understanding and awareness of what services were available locally.

Building local knowledge of service offers and availability takes time and effort but is very valuable and can ultimately improve the experience of service users. It not only adds to staff knowledge and understanding, but helps to build important relationships that can provide a link to harder-to-reach people.

Case study 2: Cash-First approach, how wraparound and wider holistic support prevents future need

“Cash-First” is ready access to emergency income when someone has no money for food. To prevent future hardship this should be delivered alongside welfare rights and income maximisation advice and support. Throughout this case study we refer to the welfare rights and income maximisation advice and support element of Cash-First as ‘wraparound support’. “Holistic support” refers to a joined-up approach to delivering services across sectors that is centred around wellbeing, through meeting the whole needs of an individual or household. This includes services that meet financial, health, social, and cultural needs.

Some Delivery Partners have expanded on the Cash-First offer of a crisis payment and welfare rights and income maximisation advice by providing holistic services and support.

The purpose of this case study is to showcase good practice in delivering wraparound support and expanding the Programme to include additional holistic support, such as help with fuel insecurity, housing, whole family wellbeing support, substance dependency and access to essential goods. It draws on examples from three Delivery Partner areas:

• Edinburgh delivered a walk‑in service by skilled Council frontline staff. This was piloted in the South West and North East localities. The South West locality is the basis for this case study. Wraparound support was offered by the Council’s Advice Shop, with wider holistic referrals made to other council services.
• Orkney offered wraparound and holistic support through outreach services across the isles. Delivery was led by Voluntary Action Orkney, working through trusted community intermediaries and voluntary sector partners to spread reach.
• West Dunbartonshire collaborated with West Dunbartonshire Citizens Advice Bureau (WDCAB) and Working 4U, the Council’s Employability, Money and Adult Learning service, to deliver the wraparound support and refer people to holistic support services where needed.

How holistic support complements the Programme’s wraparound support

The Programme was designed to offer both crisis intervention and prevention of future hardship. Emergency income was intended to address initial food needs and the wraparound support aimed to prevent future need by maximising individuals’ incomes.

However, Delivery Partners recognised that food insecurity and financial hardship are often linked to multiple, interrelated challenges (e.g., fuel poverty, housing issues, health concerns). Delivery Partners found that identifying broader needs early and creating straightforward pathways into wider services helped achieve more sustained positive outcomes and complemented the wraparound support offered by the Cash-First approach.

Different ways to provide wraparound and holistic support

Different delivery methods were used. This included:

• Direct at the point of contact with co-located local core partners, for example council partners facilitating access to wider grant support in Edinburgh.
• Through referrals to organisations that sat outwith the formal Delivery Partner and local core partners, for example for substance dependency support in Orkney.
• Through a local core partner in the area, for example from West Dunbartonshire CAB or Working4U.

Approaches to Delivering Wraparound and Holistic Support

Edinburgh – Wraparound and holistic support at the point of contact

The Edinburgh Delivery Partner offered several different routes to accessing both wraparound and holistic support.

The Programme in Edinburgh led to the implementation of a new fast-tracked appointment option to receive wraparound support through the Edinburgh Advice Shop. The Advice Shop was a local core partner providing income maximisation and welfare rights advice. Individuals referred to the Advice Shop were fast-tracked and guaranteed to be seen within five working days instead of the usual 10, ensuring that wraparound support needs were addressed quickly.

People reporting food or fuel poverty were initially signposted to the South West Local Office, where the Council staff were located so that they could be assessed for a Cash-First payment and wraparound support. Once the initial need was addressed through a cash payment and income maximisation advice, these staff were trained to hold open, sensitive conversations to understand the full extent of individuals’ needs. With consent from the individuals seeking support, staff accessed internal Council systems. The information helped them better understand people’s wider circumstances, confirm which services were already involved and identify any gaps in support that could be addressed. This wider understanding enabled frontline workers to make personalised referrals based on need to support with, for example, fuel insecurity, housing issues, and social care.

Face-to-face support allowed Edinburgh to reduce barriers, improve service users’ understanding of available services, and personalise both the support offered and the approach taken to addressing individuals’ needs.

The Edinburgh Delivery Partner also supported people to sign up to Lightning Reach, a free online portal that provides access to financial help, including grants from charities, support from the Council, and help with the cost of utilities. This fulfilled two key functions:

• It gave people access to information and practical help and advice.
• It empowered individuals, by giving them the tools to access support.

Working alongside the Delivery Partner, individuals were supported to grow in confidence and knowledge, and to navigate services in their own way and at their own pace.

Orkney – Building trusted relationships with intermediaries to offer wraparound and holistic support

The Orkney Delivery Partner reported that person-to-person communication tended to be the most effective way of raising awareness in the isles and reaching those who may benefit from support. As many island residents were widely dispersed and had limited or no contact with statutory services the Orkney Delivery Partner relied on a range of trusted intermediaries, including outreach workers employed by local voluntary organisations, as a key resource to inform and support people.

A staged approach was taken in Orkney involving the following steps:

• Address the immediate financial crisis and offer wraparound support
• Build trust through ongoing engagement with the individual
• Gradually building up a comprehensive picture of their wider holistic needs at their own pace.

All engagement was based on a trust-first, person-centred approach to respect individual’s needs. Weekly partnership meetings brought together insights about the circumstances people were facing and helped identify the most appropriate pathways for support. In situations where a risk to the individual was flagged by, for example, Social Work Services, or the NHS, these wider views were used to inform the type of support required.

In Orkney a specific gap was identified around substance dependency support. By working with the local Alcohol and Drugs Partnership (ADP), the Delivery Partner was able to overcome this issue. A new drop-in service was developed by the ADP and this provided an opportunity to create a new referral pathway to support for Cash-First service users.

West Dunbartonshire – Using WDCAB wraparound support as the primary identification point for further holistic intervention

In West Dunbartonshire, when service users received a Cash-First payment, this triggered a referral to the West Dunbartonshire Citizen Advice Bureau (WDCAB). WDCAB advisors then contacted the individual to undertake a Financial Capability Assessment. They also discussed individuals’ wider circumstances to identify any unmet holistic needs.

Holistic needs were most commonly related to: housing insecurity, fuel poverty and family or health‑related concerns. Where needs were identified, WDCAB referred people to appropriate support services. For some, this integrated model helped bring about significant changes, including securing stable housing.

Barriers to engagement

Delivery Partners identified a range of barriers for service users in engaging with both the wraparound and holistic support offered. The three Delivery Partners reported that, for some people, particularly those with complex needs, the emergency cash payment was the only support they wanted. As a result, some people resisted offers of follow-up support. The Delivery Partners in this case study suggested that this might be due to a lack of confidence, reluctance to engage with services, not wanting to tell their story again, or unfamiliarity with services. It could also be that service users did not feel that they needed additional support and were satisfied that their immediate need was met by the Cash-First payment. Proactively supporting service users to address these barriers was key to ensuring that they could engage with wider support.

The Edinburgh Delivery Partner supported service users to maintain engagement by ensuring that they were given appropriate information, briefed in advance about what to expect at the next meeting, and given preparatory materials as appropriate, for example, information on additional holistic support services. This helped to address some of the barriers and fears. This approach was highlighted as being particularly good practice in working with neurodivergent people. The Delivery Partner also reported that texting offered a new communication method for people who were anxious about face-to-face contact.

In Orkney, outreach workers were a key resource to overcome barriers, and most core partners in Orkney had outreach positions (not specific to the Orkney’s Programme) to ensure presence in more remote areas. Local “anchor individuals” - trusted community-based workers - had an important frontline function as the key trusted link to services and support for people who might otherwise not engage. This helped to address concerns that some people had about engaging with statutory systems.

West Dunbartonshire overcame barriers to engaging with support through the delivery model, which encouraged take-up of wider services. Receipt of the Cash-First payment was linked to service users engaging with WDCAB. This proved to be a successful way of incentivising engagement with the wraparound and other holistic support services, and enabled some individuals to make sustainable changes to their situation. For example, one person reported that they were supported out of homelessness.

Key facilitators of success

The three Delivery Partners identified several key facilitators that can help overcome barriers to accessing wraparound and holistic support.

#1 - Strong Local Partnerships

Having the right mix of partners was a critical enabler to providing wraparound and holistic support and ensuring that the right range of support was in place.

• In Edinburgh, there were strong pre-existing relationships with relevant services such as welfare rights services, social care, and food banks. The strength of the partnerships in Edinburgh was also likely boosted by the co-location of the Programme with Council services within the Local Office, and frontline delivery by Council staff.
• In West Dunbartonshire the pre-existing organisational relationship between the Delivery Partner and core local partners (WDCAB and Working 4U) allowed them to build on the Programme to provide holistic support.
• The Orkney Programme’s voluntary-sector led model created strong community based networks. The availability of Cash-First funding and resource enabled core partners to dedicate time to partnership and development activities.

#2 - Clear and Proportionate Data Sharing

The development and implementation of data sharing protocols at an early stage was a key facilitator for collaboration.

• The Orkney Delivery Partner lacked appropriate data sharing protocols between services at the outset of the Programme, and this created barriers to ensuring service users could access the right support. The Delivery Partner worked with the project’s local core partners to put data sharing protocols in place. This meant that weekly partner meetings became a key forum for information sharing. It became clear that partners held different information, and by bringing this together a more complete picture of an individual’s circumstances could be obtained.
• Similarly, the Edinburgh Delivery Partner shared information between a range of services, using existing council systems. This was possible as the Edinburgh Advice Shop, who provided the wraparound support, and the frontline Cash-First service in Edinburgh were both council-run. No specific Cash-First project data sharing protocol was required and frontline staff had access to internal databases that could provide further information on particular circumstances, if the individual had given their consent for their data to be shared.
• Given the long-standing relationship between the West Dunbartonshire Delivery Partner and the key wraparound support services (delivered by WDCAB and Woking 4U), mechanisms for sharing data and information were already in place. This, coupled with the development of a delivery model that further embedded WDCAB support, made the delivery of wraparound and holistic support relatively straightforward. A Programme resulted in higher engagement rates with WDCAB than previous projects where a different model was in place.

#3 - Supporting staff knowledge and understanding of local support

All Delivery Partners recognised the critical importance of staff having the information, networks and relationships they need to develop tailored support packages and ensure a streamlined referral process.

During the earlier stages of delivery the Edinburgh Delivery Partner identified that there were some inconsistencies in understanding of Cash-First approaches, the Cash-First Programme, and how it operated locally. When misunderstanding was identified, which was often at the point of referral for an individual, the Delivery Partner proactively contacted the referring organisation to provide more accurate information about the Cash-First approach and the support offer available.

In Orkney, the Delivery Partner reported that staff needed some, but not extensive, training and/or support to implement the Programme. The approach was built into existing pathways, enhancing existing activity. Turnover of community-based workers on the isles and within partner organisations was identified as a challenge. When workers moved on to other roles or areas there was a loss of working relationships and this required ongoing engagement from local partners to sustain pathways.

In West Dunbartonshire, the positive working relationship between the Delivery Partner and WDCAB had been strengthened through a previous food insecurity pilot project that WDCAB delivered in 2023. This meant that the Delivery Partner and WDCAB already had a strong shared understanding of the Programme and how to support people presenting in crisis or hardship. The Delivery Partner recognised the importance of staff being fully informed and stated that, were they to run a similar programme in the future, they would place greater emphasis on communicating the wide range of support that they and local core partners provided.

Take away principles

Across three very different contexts, several consistent principles emerged:

1. Build two-way trust first — particularly where people are anxious about services and fear stigma or not being believed.

2. Make referral pathways fast, simple and predictable.

3. Invest early in information‑sharing and staff knowledge.

4. Use warm, supported referrals to prevent people disengaging.

5. Empower individuals by supporting them to access resources themselves, where appropriate.

6. Adapt delivery to local context — what works in a city may differ from island or rural settings.

Together, these approaches strengthened the Programme and helped people address the underlying causes of food insecurity, not just the immediate crisis .

How to access the background or source data

The following statement(s) indicate the availability of the data which underlie the results of this publication (tick all that apply):

• (No) Anonymised microdata (individual-level) are stored externally and availability is subject to their access procedures.
• (No) Anonymised microdata (individual-level) are openly available from the Scottish Government website.
• (No) Aggregate data are openly available from the Scottish Government website.
• (Yes) Aggregate data are provided within this publication or its annexes.
• (No) Data are held by Scottish Government and may be made available on request, subject to consideration of legal and ethical factors.
• (No) Data cannot be made available due to legal, ethical or security considerations.
• (No) Not applicable: This publication does not present any findings directly based on data.