Welcome to this week’s E News on the 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 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!
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: Advice Session Supervisor for the Dorchester office, 15 Hours per week. Salary: £15.56 p/h. Closing Date: 10th March 2025. Read more here.
Information updates
BENEFITS
Transitional Protection: Transitional Protection is a complex area, and the Low Income Tax Reform Group have a good overview here. TP is designed to ease the transition for claimants moving from tax credits and other legacy benefits to universal credit under the formal managed migration exercise. A similar transitional protection is available for tax credit claimants moving to pension credit on receipt of a tax credit closure notice. There will be some changes to the rules in the summer for people still getting housing benefit who then move and claim the UC housing element – more info nearer the time!
HOUSING
Awaab’s Law: The law will initially focus on damp and mould but will gradually expand to cover a broader range of hazards by 2027. From October 2025, social landlords will be required to address damp and mould hazards that pose a significant risk to tenants within fixed timescales. Read the Govt press release here.
EMPLOYMENT
Health and Care Worker Visas: Citizens Advice has useful information for migrant workers experiencing problems – here . There are 15 regional partners who can provide help for migrant care workers facing difficulties with employers or cancelled visas – the contact list is below. See also a new Unison report on this topic under Reports section below.
Regional email addresses for public bodies
IMMIGRATION
Home office videos; New videos have been published to help with creating, using and updating a UKVI account for use with eVisas, and on how to travel with an eVisa. You can view the videos on youtube, for example, What is an eVisa – here – and How to travel with your eVisa – here.
RELATIONSHIPS
Step by step divorce guide: A guide called ‘Get a divorce: Step by Step’ has been published by the Govt – here – which sets out the various steps to help a client access support or information on divorce, following the breakdown of a relationship.
SCAMS
Court bailiff scam warning: HMCTS has put out a message on social media, warning about scammers contacting members of the public and posing as bailiffs and enforcement officers to demand money. People who suspect they have experienced a form of fraudulent communication should not offer any payment and can refer to HMCTS guidance on how to recognise and handle suspicious phone calls, emails, and text messages. The HMCTS guidance is here.
Romance fraud: Criminals make contact with victims online, often through a dating app. They begin a relationship and then take the communication onto another messaging platform. Once they’ve gained the victim’s trust they ask for financial help for an emergency, or say that they have a great investment opportunity and invite the victim to transfer money into fake investment accounts. These frauds can be carried out over a very long period. The Take Five to Stop Fraud website – here – has information on how to protect yourself from romance fraud.
Job scams and employment fraud: Fraudsters and scammers use Whatsapp and other forms of social media to directly contact people with fictitious employment opportunities or recruitment exercises. These scams typically involve clients having to pay for equipment or other employment costs on recruitment, paying scammers fees for recruitment services or handing over valuable personal information and other data that can expose them to hacking or financial fraud. Read more from Which?
Events
Citizens Advice – Data Insights reminder: Tuesday 25 February 2-3pm. Debt – barriers to recovery Book via eventbrite.
Space Youth Project training sessions: This project supports *LGBT+ people up to the age of 25 and offers training to enable you to do the same. There are three online sessions during March (3rd, 14th & 19th) 2025 called ‘How to Support Gender Diverse Young People’. Book via eventbrite.
Unpredictable earnings – The volatility of pay packets and its impact on living standards: This Resolution foundation webinar is on Tuesday 4th March, 9.30-10.45am. This on line event will look at how many – and what type of – workers are subject to volatile earnings, what are the wider living standards consequences for families, and what can policy makers do to mitigate the impacts of unpredictable earnings. Register here.
Reports, research, consultations etc
Dorset Community Foundation’s Hidden Dorset report: DCF has just published it’s latest report, which highlights need and disadvantage in the county. Hidden Dorset was first published as a printed document in 2015 and again in 2018 to inform, encourage collaborative action and conversations and to inspire philanthropy and local giving to address the issues identified within it. The latest report is digital. The site is broken down into five areas of need – Work, Education and Training; Loneliness and Isolation; Health, Wellbeing and Mental Health; Disadvantage and Poverty, and Sustainability and Environment. Each section contains statistics that illustrate the challenges facing Dorset and conclude with the foundation’s own analysis of the need identified not just by the statistics but also groups and charities’ own experiences. Read more here.
Open Justice – evidence: In 2023 the Ministry of Justice issued a Call for Evidence on Open Justice; they have now published their response – here. There were questions on the principles around open justice and transparency, as well as specific areas of the justice system, particularly those that have undergone a period of rapid change over the last decade.
Migrant Care worker report: Unison, the trade union, has published a new report, Caring at a Cost, highlighting the continued exploitation and poor treatment of migrant care workers in the UK. Some 3000 migrant care workers took part in the survey. The report identifies that beyond extortionate recruitment and immigration costs of up to £20,000, non-existent jobs or other forms of exploitation, care workers face often similar employment rights problems to UK workers, but with a very different level of jeopardy compared to UK workers, i.e. the threat of deportation if they try to enforce their rights (eg. to be paid the NMW). The press release and link to report are here.
Civil Legal Aid consultation launched: This consultation considers increases to civil legal aid fees for Housing and Debt work, and Immigration and Asylum work, and also seeks further evidence on potential changes to some aspects of contractual requirements. This consultation is the first step in the Govt’s response to the evidence gathered during the Review of Civil Legal Aid (RoCLA). Read the press release here, which has a link to the consultation itself.
Health Transformation Programme (HTP): The HTP is modernising health and disability benefit services to deliver better value for money and a better experience for claimants. The programme is developing a new Health Assessment Service and transforming the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) service. The Govt;s Business Case has recently been published – here – and demonstrates the economic case for HTP transformation; improving claimant experience, providing better value, and creating a platform through which future reforms can be delivered.
Evaluation of the Household Support Fund 4: This report – here– provides findings from the evaluation of the Household Support Fund 4 (HSF4), conducted by Ipsos on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The evaluation was conducted between September 2023 and August 2024. One conclusion notes that While the flexibility in the HSF4 design was welcomed by ……. stakeholders, some felt that the strategic focus of HSF had diluted to some extent following variations over successive iterations, and considered there may be value in revisiting its key purpose/strategic intent.
Capped and trapped – why the benefit cap must go: This CPAG blog notes that the two-child limit may have had a higher profile, but the benefit cap is the other significant austerity policy that breaks the link between the support families need and the support they receive in our social security system. The benefit cap has had a significant impact on the families affected by it. As the UK government prepares to publish its child poverty strategy, what is the evidence on the impact of the benefit cap on children and families in poverty? In particular, how do high housing costs affect experiences of the cap and people’s ability to escape it? And why is it so important that the government scraps the policy? Read more here.
Funding news
BCP Council – Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) – Neighbourhood Portion: This is a fund generated from new housing developments for reinvestment back into improving local community facilities. We have completed five rounds of allocating monies to projects with £1,550,031 awarded to 123 projects across Bournemouth and Poole through this fund.
We invite residents, businesses and community groups to discuss with us any ideas they have for local projects which will improve, benefit and shape the development of their community for the future. Round 6 is open from 14 January to 24 March 2025 with awards made in July 2025. Read more here.
‘Innovation for Good’ grants: Kilburn & Strode LLP is a leading practice firm of intellectual property attorneys. with a charitable foundation which makes a small number of grants available to registered charities to deliver projects which use innovative and creative solutions to benefit local communities in the UK. Grants of £10,000, £20,000 and £30,000 are available for activities that meet the Fund’s grant making theme of ‘Innovation for good’ with an objective ‘through innovation, to sustainably provide benefit for those in need’.
Successful applicants will be selected by employee vote. Deadline for applications is 31 March 2025. Read more here.
Lloyds Bank Foundation – funding for collaborations: Through this fund, which will open soon, Lloyds Bank Foundation will award grants to 15 collaborations across England and Wales looking to influence change around one of three themes:
- accommodation
- social security
- support for refugees and asylum seekers
Collaborations can apply for £100k over 2 years. Read more here.