Welcome to OCAN, the Oldham borough wide partnership of public and voluntary organisation providing social welfare information, advice, and support. (‘Social welfare’ encompasses welfare benefits, money and debt, housing and homelessness, health, education, immigration and community support organisations.
OCAN provides a web-based referral platform that connects advice and community support providers, borough wide, to enable access to better support for professionals and their service users at risk of financial crisis.
OCAN can ensure that robust referrals between organisations and agencies meaning individuals and families experiencing, or at risk of, financial hardship and crisis receive accurate and timely advice and support.
Background and Vision
In 2019, The Children’s Society (TCS), piloted the Coordinated Community Support (CCS) Programme, working in partnership with the Oldham Poverty Action Network, facilitated by Action Together.
The Programme’s goal was to improve coordination of local services to reduce repeat instances of financial crisis by addressing underlying causes of crises, as well as the immediate crisis.
The Oldham Community Advice Network (OCAN), a sub group of the Poverty Network, was established to support this programme with a specific focus on seeking to ensure that robust referrals between organisations and agencies enable individuals and families experiencing, or at risk of, financial hardship and crisis receive accurate and timely advice and support.
Through OCAN, a digital web based referral system was launched, allowing Voluntary and statutory organisations to refer people to each other’s organisations.
Benefits for people needing advice & support:
- Being able to access a range of advice/support from a range of service providers, meaning “no wrong door” for those accessing support.
- OCAN can help people to navigate complex systems, giving them access to the best services that meet their needs
- Being able to access a more holistic response – connecting to advice and support for a range of issues that they may have.
- Referrers can make multiple referrals to different organisations using the same information, meaning people in crisis don’t have to relive or repeat their story
- If people need other help, organisations can refer them quickly, securely, and in a dignified way to others in the network. This isn’t just signposting, it is a “warm handover”.
- Through the service directory there is an increased awareness of services available that can offer different types of advice, help and support and ensure people access the right support at the right time for them.
How can OCAN benefit your organisation and team?
- Teams can have a greater awareness of the range of services available that can offer different types of advice, help and support.
- Provides a direct referral pathway to services/organisations providing social welfare support.
- The up to date OCAN service directory in the referral system saves professionals time in identifying the right service to refer their clients to.
- Opportunity to distribute the support needs across the range of organisation and services providing support.
- Services have the ability of turning off referrals when they are at full capacity, while having the confidence that any referrals could be passed onto other organisations providing the same support.
- It enables referring organisations to receive updates and feedback on the outcome of the referral.
- OCAN allows professionals to go beyond signposting individuals to support, giving staff the confidence that people have connected to the right support.
How can I register my organisation?
- OCAN is open to public sector services and community organisations providing free information, advice or support for those in or at risk of financial crisis. This can include support to address the underlying issues of crises, as well as the immediate crisis.
- All OCAN members commit to uphold the highest standards of transparency and integrity regarding accreditation and the levels of advice and guidance they are able to provide
To register your organisation please contact us at ocan@actiontogether.org.uk for more information.
Click here to download our Policy and Procedures for Use Document
How does it work?
Action Together have produced the following training video guides:
- The Dashboard click here
- Creating a referral click here
- What to do when you receive a referral click here
- How to make one referral to different agencies for different issues. click here
Click here to download our Policy and Procedures for Use Document
To contact the OCAN team, email ocan@actiontogether.org.uk
Privacy Notice
Click here to view the OCAN referral system privacy notice.
OCAN Login
To access the OCAN referral system click here
To access the OCAN service directory click here
Self-Referral
If you require immediate support, please contact Oldham Councils helpline on 0161 770 7007
If you are struggling through the cost of living crisis, either financially or with your wellbeing, you can call the council’s helpline for support between the hours of 9am and 5 pm, Monday to Friday, or visit the council’s website at www.oldham.gov.uk/wecanhelp.
Share your feedback
If you're interested in sharing your story to be used in a case study, click here
If you would like to leave feedback, click here
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