Advice Dorset Partnership E news No 15: 16 November 2023

Welcome to this week’s E News on our new Citizens Advice Dorset website. Just a reminder that the Advice Dorset Partnership is a network of organisations providing advice and support to residents of Dorset and Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole. It is managed by Citizens Advice and is open to any organisation which provides information, advice and support/guidance to local residents.

The Advice Dorset Partnership E news is published fortnightly on a Thursday, BUT if there is something urgent in-between we will send out a short supplementary edition.

Please can you now subscribe to the newsletter (it is still FREE but in future you will get an automatic notification when it is published) – and do encourage colleagues to subscribe too. The Subscribe option is at the bottom of this page!  So far I can see that about 45 people have subscribed; if you haven’t done so already please do asap. From January you will not get the  link sent by email.

If you would like to send anything out via the bulletin, and for all other enquiries about the Advice Dorset Partnership, contact Caroline Buxton at Citizens Advice Central Dorset: [email protected]

ADP BRIEFING – Tuesday 28 November 2 – 4pm, aimed at frontline workers, with a focus on cost of living support and other useful updates.  Below is the confirmed Agenda which includes the Zoom link – you don’t need to  book, just join on the day.

AGENDA ADP Briefing 28 Nov 2023 .docx

Jobs

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Information updates

COST OF LIVING

DWP update on Cost  of Living payments: The payments are the second of up to three  totalling £900 in 2023/24 for those eligible.   Those eligible will continue to be paid automatically between now and 19 November. Read more from the DWP here.  Further information and eligibility criteria are here. 

£2 bus fares extended: The bus fare cap had been due to rise to £2.50 but will remain at £2 until the end of next year to help people make significant savings on their travel costs. The fare cap has helped cut bus fares in England outside London by 7.4% between June 2022 and June 2023, with even bigger savings in rural areas where fares have dropped by almost 11%.

BENEFITS

Urgent reminder for bereaved parents: Following a recent Supreme Court decision and High Court decision,  the Government has altered the law to allow bereaved cohabiting parents to claim bereavement benefits. This change to the law also gives eligible bereaved cohabiting parents retrospective entitlement back to the 30 August 2018. The deadline to claim this backdated entitlement ends on 9 February 2024. The Child Bereavement Network is encouraging take-up of these benefits but report that they are facing particular difficulties in reaching parents who were bereaved of their partner some time ago. Families who were bereaved from 2001 may still be eligible for payments of widowed parents allowance and this group needs to be identified and encouraged to make a claim. The charity has asked that benefit advisers share details of the scheme as much as possible on platforms that might reach eligible claimants for the next three months up to the claim deadline of 9 February 2024. Read more here.

Notifying the DWP  via the Tell Us Once service when a claimant dies: New directions have been issued by the Work and Pensions Secretary that update the relevant benefits that can be notified through the online Tell Us Once service when someone dies. From the end of November , the directions add Universal Credit [UC] and Maternity Allowance [MA] to the benefits that can be notified electronically following a death. Read more about the Tell Us Once service on the Govt website here.

TAX

Marriage Allowance: Couples who are married or in a civil partnership may be able to claim the Marriage Allowance (up to £252 a year) if they are eligible. Couples who may be unaware that they could claim include those where one partner is working and the other has income less than their personal allowance of £12,570, including those who have retired, given up work to care for children or elderly relatives, are unable to work because of long term health conditions, or have part time or low paid jobs. By using HMRC’s online Marriage Allowance calculator couples can find out instantly if they are eligible.

HOUSING

Council Tax and House in Multiple Occupation (HMOs): A reminder that from 1 December 2023, council tax legislation will adopt the Housing Act 2004 (HA 2004) definition of HMOs, found at section 254 of the HA 2004. The effect of this will be that:

• HMOs will attract council tax
• the HMO owner will be liable for the council tax
• the definition of an HMO will be much clearer for councils and tribunals

There are some exemptions eg converted blocks of flats, properties where the owner lives etc. Read the Regulations here.

EMPLOYMENT

Holiday pay: In further changes arising from the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 (“REUL”) and a public consultation, the Government published draft new regulations under The Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023. The regulations retain certain EU derived rules around holiday pay (in accordance with the REUL), but also propose various changes to UK rules for holiday pay, many of which will take effect from 1 January 2024.

Under the new draft regulations, most of the existing Working Time Regulations (WTR) rules remain intact – for example, the distinction between Regulation 13 and 13A rights, but rolled-up holiday pay will become lawful for part-year and irregular hours workers, and there will be a simplification of annual leave and holiday pay calculations in the WTRs. The new regulations also revoke legislation introduced during the COVID pandemic allowing roll-over of holiday for two holiday years in specified circumstances, but workers will have until 31 March 2024 to use it up. The Regulations and an explanatory memorandum are here.

CONSUMER

Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL): The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) doesn’t have regulatory oversight over BNPL products, but it can use its powers under the Consumer Rights Act to secure changes to potentially unfair and unclear terms in this sector. As a result of FCA work in this area, PayPal and QVC have made their continuous payment authority terms easier to understand and PayPal has made terms relating to what happens when a consumer cancels the purchase funded by the loan fairer and clearer. Read more on the FCA website here.

Currys website scam: Which? has reported – here–  that there are 2 newly created Currys scam websites that are offering heavily discounted electrical goods. They are both being accessed via a Facebook page called Currys Used Clearance. Currys have confirmed that the 2 websites are fraudulent and advised consumers to get in touch with its customer service team directly, or use the official Currys website.

Events

Fue Poverty Events in Weymouth and Poole: Energy advisers from Citizens Advice will be on hand to give free advice to local residents at two Dorset events as part of #FuelPovertyAwarenessDay. The free events will both take place on Thursday 30  November in Poole and Weymouth, where advisers can help people who may be struggling with their energy costs, want energy saving advice or to check to see if they are eligible for grants or financial support. We will have information for residents to take away. There will also be free winter warmer giveaways. The events are as follows, and there are also  posters attached for you to display:

• Poole  – Delfino Lounge, Falkland Square, BH15 1ER, 30 November, 9.30am- 12pm
• Weymouth –  Nautico Lounge, St Thomas Street, DT4 8EL, 30 November, 9.30am – 12pm

The Dorset Energy Unit is also offering free energy advice training to frontline workers who work with people who are facing difficulty heating their homes. The online training course will provide simple energy saving tips and advice about available grants. Read more here.

Poole Fuel Poverty Day Poster (3) (1) (1) Weymouth Fuel Poverty Day Poster (6) (1) (1)

Citizens Advice Cost of Living Briefing – 14 December, 2pm: On-line event with guest speaker Martin Lewis  who will share his significant experience of tackling the cost-of-living crisis on-the-ground. In addition we’ll be analysing the latest frontline data and giving a real-time insight into the cost-of-living crisis with Citizens Advice Chief Executive, Dame Clare Moriarty and Chief Data Analyst, Tom MacInnes. Book via eventbrite.

Resolution Foundation briefing-  Thursday 23 November, 9 – 10.1am: The morning after the Autumn Statement, the Resolution Foundation is hosting an event to discuss these issues and more. Following a presentation from Foundation staff of their overnight analysis of the Autumn Statement, we will hear from experts including the chairs of both the Treasury Select Committee and the Office for Budget Responsibility. Read more and register here.

Reports, research,  calls for evidence, consultations,  etc

Open letter on rough sleeping: Although events have now moved on somewhat,  you may be interested to know that following the former Home  Secretary’s comment about rough sleepers, 15 organisations supporting those experiencing homelessness responded by sending an open letter,  strongly urging the Government to reconsider the proposals and focus on housing solutions and investment instead. Read the open letter on the Crisis website.

Citizens Advice November Cost of Living dashboards: Here.

Citizens Advice blog – How Gypsy, Roma and Traveller groups are a policy blindspot and why this needs to change: GRT groups face some of the sharpest inequalities in income, health, housing, employment and education. Post exclusion and digital exclusion are also significant barriers for people to access support.  This blog looks at the issues in getting data to make the case for policies which meet the needs of these groups.

Public Law Project – Call for evidence on legal aid shortage:  Have you had a client who could not access legal aid for their asylum or immigration case, despite being eligible? The Public Law Project has put out a Call for Evidence for examples of clients who qualify for legal aid but can’t find a representative. This might be an asylum seeker, a victim of domestic abuse or someone who got exceptional cases funding. If you have such a case, they’d like you to email them a one-and-a-half page case study template, which will support their litigation against the Lord Chancellor, arguing that he is in breach of his constitutional duty to make legal aid available for immigration and asylum issues. Read more here.

Proposed changes to the work capability assessment: Citizens Advice have responded to the Government’s consultation on changes to the work capability assessment (WCA). The response was informed by evidence provided from advisers across the Citizens Advice network. It concluded that the WCA is the source of many issues for the people that Citizens Advice supports, but that the organisation has serious concerns that almost all the options under consideration ‘would do more harm than good’ if implemented, and risk undermining the longer term aims of the Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper. Read the full response here.

DWP responsibilities and priorities for April 2023 to March 2025: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for welfare, pensions and child maintenance policy. As the UK’s biggest public service department it administers the State Pension and a range of working age, disability and ill health benefits to around 20 million claimants and customers. It has published its  priorities here.

On the Cliff Edge –  Crisis Support 2022/2023:  This report from End Furniture Poverty looks at local authority spending on local welfare schemes and examines how they have spent their allocation of the Household Support Fund, (HSF).  The report shows that 37 English local authorities have now closed their local welfare scheme, while 62% of all local welfare spending came from the Household Support Fund – which is only set to run until March 2024. Read more here.

A perfect storm – pregnancy, new motherhood and the cost of living crisis: This report from Maternity Action outlines the impact on low income families of living in a time where they have to make choices between food and heating. A time where they have to choose to pay to go to postnatal parent and baby classes or to be isolated at a time when support from other new mums can be extremely valued, both physically and emotionally.  Recommendations include raising the basic rate of SMP and Maternity Allowance to the level of National Minimum Wage, and increasing Healthy Start Vouchers in line with inflation. Read more here.

Funding News

Dorset Community Foundation – Neighbourhood Fund: Grants are available to local voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations whose work addresses local issues, social problems, poverty and disadvantage in Dorset. The funding is intended to support grassroots community groups delivering local services and activities that address a broad range of social issues and help improve the lives of those most in need of support.  Groups with an annual income under £250k and who are supporting diverse communities, including communities who may be facing discrimination, are welcome to apply. Grants of up to £5,000 are available. Priority is currently given for:

• Services that support older people to lead more active, healthy and independent lives.
• Services that support people experiencing mental health issues, including those with diagnosed conditions and early intervention work.

The fund opens on 20 November and closes on 24 January 2024. Read more here.

• Rounds 1 and 2 – Disability, specifically employment and training for people living with disabilities to ensure better access.
• Rounds 3 and 4 – Food Poverty, with a focus on providing nutritious meals, food education, cooking skills, and eliminating food waste.

Round 1 will be open 1 to 29 February 2024. Read more here.

The Veterans’ Foundation: This has reopened to applications with an updated grant application process, including a new online platform, revised guidance, eligibility criteria and application form. The Foundation offers grants that provide support to those in need among serving Armed Forces personnel, veterans, operationally qualified seafarers and their immediate families.

A potential, qualified beneficiary “in need” is one or all of the following:

• At a disadvantage compared with non-armed forces citizens due to their service.
• Someone who is experiencing challenges such as the following: unemployment, homelessness, mental and physical ill-health, injuries, poor welfare, old age, a child’s loss of parent, or addiction.

The following grants are now available:

• Grants up to £30,000. This can be for one year or a multi-year grant for up to three years (eg, £10,000 per year over three years).
• Grants up to £50,000 (an increase from the previous £40,000) for the exclusive use of salary costs, over a two-year period may be awarded, (ie, £25,000 per year over two years).

The funding can be used to cover a range of costs directly related to projects covering a range of aspects of social care for the Armed Forces community.  Deadline 30 January 2024. Read more here.

Lloyds Bank Foundation Specialist Programme: The Foundation support charities that help people overcome complex issues that don’t have simple solutions, issues like homelessness, domestic abuse and addiction. These make life much harder for people; deepening trauma, impacting health and wellbeing, leading to poverty and destitution, and preventing people from being able to fulfil their potential.

The Foundation say: “Small, local, specialist charities play a unique role in helping people rebuild their lives. Their size, connection to their communities and deep understanding of the issues people face makes small charities best placed to reach, engage and support people. That’s why we support small charities with an annual income between £25,000 to £500,000 where the main focus of your charity is to provide support for one of the eight themes outlined below.” [Follow link below].

They want to ensure that the charities supported can thrive beyond the lifetime of their funding. That’s why they combine an unrestricted grant of £75,000 with a breadth of tailored support aimed at helping to strengthen charities and build the knowledge, skills and capabilities of staff and trustees.

The programme opened for applications on 1 November. Read more here.