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. This is the last edition of 2023, the next one will be on 4 January 2024, so meanwhile have a good break!
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 over 60 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]
Jobs
Citizens Advice Central Dorset has been awarded funding from The National Lottery Community Fund to provide an advocacy service for Gypsy Roma and Traveller communities in Dorset and BCP. We are recruiting for:
- Project Manager: 15 hours/week. Actual salary £13,176pa. More information here.
- Advocacy Workers, variable hours. £14.96 per hour. Details will be posted shortly.
For an informal conversation about these roles, contact [email protected]
Information updates
COST OF LIVING
December Quick Links Fact Sheet:
DEC 2023 Cost-of-Living-Crisis-factsheet
LOCAL SUPPORT
Dorset Council area – Alternative Fuel Grant: There are available to people on a low incomes in one of the following categories:
- those who are not on mains gas, ie they heat their homes with oil, bottled gas, wood/coal etc.
- People who identify as Gypsy Roma or Traveller.
They are administered through the Dorset Citizens Advice offices. More information below.
No Mains Gas Fuel Grant Poster
Community Support this Winter: #HelpAndKindness now have a new Winter 2023 directory on their website, here. This includes lots of opportunities for people to meet up with others, take part in activities, share a meal, get some advice, or take part in outdoor activities.
BENEFITS
UC housing costs element shortfall: The way the DWP calculates monthly rent for the UC housing costs element isn’t fully accurate if rent is due weekly, as is the case for most social tenants. In 2024/25 such tenants will have 53 weekly rent charging periods, so will face a shortfall. The DWP has confirmed that there will be no special arrangements to address this issue. The DWP states that Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) can cover shortfalls between housing support and actual rental costs, although note that the DWP’s DHP Guidance Manual on GOV.UK doesn’t specifically mention this issue. You can read the DWP Minister’s written answer about UC claimants with 53 weekly rent charging periods on parliament.uk.
Conversational Platform technology – Universal Credit (UC) telephony: On 30 November DWP introduced a new technology called Conversational Platform onto the Department’s telephony channels, starting with Universal Credit. This will replace traditional Interactive Voice Response options (press 1 for X, 2 for Y etc.) with a voice-led interactive solution. Conversational Platform will enable customers to speak naturally, securing better insight into why they are calling, and how best to respond to their enquiry. The Platform will provide self-serve instructions to simple enquiries, saving customers time spent waiting in a call queue and reducing call demand to agents. Where a further conversation with someone is required, Conversational Platform will help route the call to the right person first time. More details in this fact sheet:
EMPLOYMENT
HMRC guidance on employment agencies and umbrella companies: Clients may have problems associated with employment agencies and the use of umbrella companies, typically associated with deductions from pay, payroll fraud or simply working out who’s the employer. HMRC has published some new guidance: Responsibilities for employment businesses working with umbrella companies – here. The guidance is helpful in understanding how these relationships work in practice, reminds employment agencies of the consequences of failure to ensure supply chain compliance and provides practical steps to ensure that the umbrella company of choice isn’t cheating workers out of wages or defrauding HMRC. The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group also has a useful factsheet here.
Carer’s Leave Act: The Carer’s Leave Act 2023 (Commencement) Regulations 2023 (SI 2023/1283) have come into force (inserting new sections 80J to 80N into the Employment Rights Act 1996). This will give employees an entitlement to one week’s unpaid leave each year to provide or arrange care for a dependent with a long-term care need. However, the Secretary of State needs to make further regulations setting out more details about the right for employees to take carer’s leave, so it’s unlikely that employees can rely on this before (at the earliest) April 2024. Read more on Carers UK.
IMMIGRATION
Refugee/asylum seekers evictions: The ‘Big Issue’ has reported that the Home Office will be pausing evictions from asylum support accommodation from 23 December to 2 January.
CONSUMER
Check it Out Campaign with Office of Product Safety and Standards (OPSS): Citizens Advice has teamed up with OPSS to raise awareness of product safety during the busy shopping period. Part of the Check it Out campaign will focus on e-bike and e-scooter safety. Read more here.
OTHER LOCAL INFO
Mental Health Apps for young people: Public Health Dorset has launched a resource of trusted Mental Health Apps to young people in Dorset. These self-care and well-being apps have been carefully selected to support the mental and emotional health of young people. Research has shown that young people can find it difficult to know what to choose when looking for an app to support their mental health. Public Health Dorset and Our Dorset collaborated to collate a list of apps that are free to download and use, and meet with criteria including safety, quality, and variety. Read more here.
Events
Citizens Advice January Cost of Living Briefing: Monday 15 January 2pm, book via eventbrite.
Disability Services Advocacy Team: The Disability Services Advocacy Team support raising awareness of the different Disability Services benefits and grants available. These are Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB). They run awareness and upskilling sessions on these, and dates for January and February 2024 are below:
Monthly Sessions – Jan 2024 External Stakeholders
Monthly Sessions – Feb 2024 External Stakeholders
Research, reports, consultations
Citizens Advice – December Cost of Living data: The slides from today’s presentation are here, and the link to the recording is here.
Access to cash: The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has proposed new rules to make sure consumers and businesses have access to cash. Firms will need to take action if there are gaps in access, and take into account factors like transport in the local area. They’re running a consultation which is open until 8 February 2024, and aim to finalise rules by quarter 3 of 2024. Read more here.
Ofgem review into standing charges on energy bills: The review is open until 19 January 2024 and is asking for:
- views about standing charges that are added onto electricity and gas bills
- thoughts about their ideas on other ways to cover the costs of things standing charges pay for, if they were to be removed
Read more here.
Money and Pension Service (MaPS) reports: MaPS has published 2 reports:
- Motivations and barriers to seeking debt advice: This report aims to ‘better understand the barriers and drivers to people accessing debt advice.’ There are 11 barriers including low literacy, confidence and a bias towards quick-fixes. Recommendations include simplifying the process and educating on the benefits of advice. Read the report here.
- Debt advice in the post-pandemic landscape: This report finds a shift in profiles towards characteristics of vulnerability, complexity and negative budgets. There are also more middle-income clients who have not been in debt before. Read the report here.
Financial Ombudsman Service spotlight on economic and domestic abuse: The FOS have published guidance and case studies on complaints involving economic and domestic abuse. Read more here.
Funding news
Money Saving Expert (MSE) Charity: MSE has announced the theme for its January 2024 grant round is ‘Living with Long Term Challenges’. A small number of grants are available for not-for-profit organisations in the UK for projects that relate to the delivery of financial skills to different defined groups.
This grant round will offer grants of up to £8,000 to support projects focused on improving and delivering personal financial life skills to people living with Long Term Challenges, such as dementia, autism, caring reponsibilities, etc. Applications are usually invited twice a year: in winter and autumn. Please note that each grant round is limited to the first 40 accepted applications. Previous rounds have closed within a couple of weeks of opening. Applications are expected to open on 15 January 2024 and close on 16 February 2024. Read more here.
The BH Coastal Lottery Small Grants Scheme helps support voluntary and community groups. To apply for a grant of between £200 and £5,000, your project must benefit residents living in the BCP Council area and help contribute to developing a vibrant community. You can read more about the scheme, check your eligibility and apply via BCP Council’s website, here. The deadline for applications is 18 February 2024.
Dorset Community Foundation Neighbourhood Fund: Grants of up to £5,000 are available 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.
Read more about the priorities, whether you’re eligible and apply on their website here. The deadline for applications is 12 January 2024 (12:00).
VCSE Energy Efficiency Scheme: This is part of a package of over £100 million of support being delivered by the Government to help frontline delivery organisations with the increased cost of living. This scheme has two elements:
- Eligible organisations will be able to apply for the cost and delivery of an independent energy assessment. This will help them identify how to reduce their bills and where to get further support.
- Organisations with an energy assessment may then be eligible to apply for a capital grant to install recommended energy efficiency measures in their premises.
Organisations must be a voluntary, community, social enterprise (VCSE) sector organisation, deliver frontline services and not be suitable for blended finance or loan support through other schemes. Priority will be given to organisations for whom energy is the biggest concern and those directly supporting individuals and communities with critical needs, particularly those related to the rising cost of living. Read more here.