'Lies, damn lies, and statistics': Mark Twain attributed these words to Benjamin Disraeli and, in this business of dealing with pain and suffering, never was there a more apt description of the monitoring process. The addition of a number to a column in a spreadsheet does nothing to convey the pain and joy that is so often involved for both client and worker in managing even the smallest change in a person’s circumstances.

However, every organisation using other people’s money must justify how it spends those funds. Here in Bench Outreach,
we do that by recording our interventions. This helps us carry a picture of the client’s story in our heads – and hearts – and keeps us honest to our funders and ourselves. We meet once a week to review each client’s progress, and every six months we compare the facts against targets in the business plan.

So here is the story - in numbers – since July 2010:

New clients seen: 113 (90 male, 23 female) 10 more for Oct to March than estimated in the business plan
Average age: 37.9 years
Housed: 32
Referred to appropriate housing provider: 32*
Referred to rehab: 3
Advice and signposting: 29
Advocacy: 7
Resettlement Assistance Outside London: 2
Homeless Prevention: 9

* This covers people on waiting lists who will be housed imminently and others with no local connection referred to other boroughs. Sometimes we never get to know how things worked out in the end.
We are also involved with a further 22 clients as part of our ongoing support package. This usually involves long-term tenancy support and advocacy with other services – housing, primary care, mental health and benefits providers – when needed. Lastly two current clients and one ex-client died recently. We hope that their relationship with Bench Outreach was as beneficial to them as it was our privilege to be with them for part of their journey.