Questions and answers - reporting outcomes

Reporting outcomes

Archive: This document has been retained for archival purposes; it has not been updated since the 2016 BFC service design was completed.

How do we quantify the number of sessions we deliver? Do we count the hours we spend on each client case (both face-to-face time and non-contact work), and then divide the total by three to get the number of sessions?

A session is a face-to-face (or Skype) encounter – either one client in a financial mentor setting or with multiple clients in a MoneyMates group.

Sessions should be counted by the number of face-to-face (or Skype) meetings a financial mentor has with clients.

A session has been represented by an indicative three hour time period. This acknowledges the time providers spend doing back-office coordination and administrative functions which enable the face-to-face client meetings.

As the three hour time period is just an indication, it is not necessary to count the total number of hours. Instead, the number of face-to-face meetings with clients should be counted.

How do Total Money Management (TMM) clients fit with either financial mentors or MoneyMates sessions? How should they be counted?

Through the co-design process, we identified a group of clients who might benefit from money management services either on a short-term or long-term basis.

We are now investigating different approaches to supporting vulnerable clients to safely and effectively manage their money over time, onto a pathway of independence where possible.

In the meantime, providers delivering TMM to clients through the transition may use either approach.

If we have clients on our books who do not have a start date recorded, how do we report on this?

Count your clients from 1 November 2016, when the new Building Financial Capability services started.

Please refer to the Building Financial Capability guidelines, particularly the section called “How will financial mentors work with people” on page 17 for more information about duration of service delivery and keeping records.

The guidelines note:

The provider will deliver services at a frequency and for the duration needed to achieve the client’s goals.

The provider will document and review with the client, any service duration that exceeds 12 months of on-going intervention.

If we have an existing client who gets married or acquires a partner, how does that work for start date and reporting?

If an existing client attends with a new spouse or partner and you work together on one set of finances, you should count them as one client, and use the start date of the original person.

If the new partner wishes to work with a financial mentor about their finances separately, they can be counted as a new client in their own right.

When is a client considered to be ‘closed’? And why is this important?

A client should be recorded as ‘closed’ when

• they have completed their plan / achieved the goals they set with their financial mentor, and they no longer require support, or
• they have completed a MoneyMates group and no longer require further support , or
• they have failed to turn up for a period of time, and the provider considers it appropriate to close their file.

Recording client closure is important because the reporting measures in your Outcome Agreement and guidelines asks providers to report against the client result measures, for closed clients only.

How do we count a client who moves between financial mentoring and MoneyMates and back? Do they get counted each time they change service?

If the client are accessing the different types of sessions continuously, ie. they have not been ‘closed’ then count them as a client just once until they ‘close’ (ie. they no longer need support or have failed to show up over a period of time).

You will be recording the number and type of sessions (financial mentoring or MoneyMates) they are attending separately, as per the reporting measures in your Outcome Agreement and guidelines.

How do we count clients when there is a gap between accessing service? For example, if the client had financial mentoring in December and then came back in May for MoneyMates or further mentoring?

We would expect that you closed the client off after they either achieved their goals or failed to return, back in December / January. When they came back in May you would record them as a new client, so count them twice.