Fife is taking a proactive approach to tackling poverty and preventing crisis by embedding early advice and support into everyday services. Through the development of a new Fife Advice Framework, in partnership with Citizens Advice and Rights Fife (CARF), frontline staff across a wide range of community-based organisations are now better equipped to offer first-level advice and benefit checks.

This work is part of a broader shift towards a No Wrong Door approach, ensuring that wherever someone seeks help, they can be supported or connected to the right service without delay. The aim is to provide early intervention on issues such as housing, income, employment, and food or fuel insecurity, helping to break cycles of disadvantage before they escalate.

In 2024–25, over 500 staff and volunteers were trained in first-level advice giving. This has helped build confidence among staff and made advice more accessible in places where it wasn’t traditionally offered. Referral pathways have also been developed to support people with more complex needs, ensuring smoother transitions between services.

Fife is also one of the Scottish Government’s Fairer Futures Partnership pathfinder areas, working with local partners to explore how public services can be better joined up around communities. One example of this is the use of the Low-Income Family Tracker (LIFT) to identify and target support for households in debt to the Council.

This work supports Plan for Fife ambitions by acting early to prevent crisis, reducing poverty, and making services more responsive and joined up. By embedding advice into everyday interactions, Fife is helping more people get the support they need, when they need it, without being passed from service to service.