Joining the Social Mobility Awards Roll of Honour 2020
13 October 2020 - We are proud to feature on the Social Mobility Awards Roll of Honour for The Social Welfare Workshop – a collaboration to give vital welfare support, between Hogan Lovells International LLP, BNY Mellon and Community Links, a Newham-based charity with an ethos founded on finding new solutions to old problems and delivering them to the whole community.
During COVID-19, we switched our existing pro bono clinic to being entirely remote, and increased our capacity exponentially. In June, we received 55 referrals for assistance – an increase of 450% since the pre-Lockdown average of those helped in January and February.
Hogan Lovells and BNY Mellon volunteers assist individuals with various Social Welfare Benefit forms, alongside Community Links. Through the collaboration and rapid response to COVID-19, we have been able to support some of the most vulnerable people in crisis by being innovative and agile in our response activities, and reaching people in their homes with the right support. For sustainable, long-term, successful social mobility, this is crucial. COVID-19 and the subsequent Lockdown placed many people in a perilous position. Without addressing the acute underlying crisis many people are facing, making long-term change happen is an upwards battle.
By providing wraparound advice support, to complement Community Link's core offering of emergency provisions, access to expert guidance on debt, legal challenges, tribunals and welfare, the Social Welfare Workshop is able to support people on the road to recovery and resilience, improving their prospects and helping them to explore new horizons.
COVID-19 has impacted our community greatly and has left many individuals and families needing to make impossible choices. From food poverty to welfare challenges, some of the underlying inequalities in the borough have manifested to a critical situation for many people. The Social Welfare Workshop provides vital support for social mobility.