OCAY provides a free, confidential and independent advocacy service to older people in the City of York and its surrounding area in order to provide relief to older people in need.
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At OCAY, we help individuals over 50 who may be isolated due to poverty. Our team of 22 volunteers offer one-on-one advocacy support to assist those at risk of missing out on their rightful welfare benefits and descending into poverty. In 2023/24, we've seen a significant surge in client requests for assistance with accessing benefits and support during benefit assessments and appeals.
This project will enable people to access their right to welfare benefits and support people to be socially and financially included in their communities. People on low income tend to spend more locally so any increase in clients’ income will benefit their communities.
In 2020/21, we completed 290 cases for older people. Of these people 75 needed help with benefits which is 26%. To compare, in 2022/23, we supported 468 cases which is a 61% rise and of these, 41% (192 people) needed help with benefits which shows how the cost-of-living crisis is affecting people over the age of 50 in York.
In the last 6 months we have completed 308 cases and are looking to complete between 550 and 600 cases in the total 12 months. Our monitoring shows 51% of our cases are helping people access benefits. This shows our client numbers are increasing rapidly and there is much need for our service.
Clients need emotional and practical support when making benefit applications. OCAY provides emotional support to manage the stress induced by making claims, which can aggravate existing health difficulties at the root of these claims. We provide practical support to help with form filling and also at meetings such as assessments and tribunals. We have continued to support with telephone conference assessment and tribunals over the past year.
We want to achieve a position where all clients have advocacy support, and access to appropriate advice and support. We want to maintain timely responses for clients. These cases require bouts of intensive work with clients who are often highly distressed, so the fact we can provide emotional long-term support is crucial.