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.
As usual feel free to forward this email to colleagues and they can get in touch with us if they wish to go on the list. If you would like to send anything out via the bulletin, and for all other enquiries about the Advice Dorset Partnership, contact Caroline Buxton on her Citizens Advice Central Dorset email: mailto:caroline.buxton
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Information updates
BENEFITS
Universal Credit migration: Just to confirm – Dorset IS on the list for managed migration from September, alongside Wilts, Hants and IoW…… see para 48 of the latest Govt / LA welfare bulletin. This will affect people receiving tax credits. They will receive a ‘Migration Notice’ and have 3 months in which to make a new claim for UC. A reminder will be sent if a claimant has not claimed within 7 weeks – a second reminder will be sent after 10 weeks. Under managed migration claimants will have ‘transitional protection’, so for example if they have savings over £16k they will still get UC for a year, or if their UC award is lower than their legacy benefits they get a ‘transitional element’. Transitional protection is not there if people voluntarily give up legacy benefits and claim UC, or they do not claim within the time period under managed migration.
The DWP also say they are continuing with a small-scale discovery phase with tax credit couples, learning and adapting to ensure couples can make a claim to Universal Credit effectively, before increasing numbers. From September they are planning to include other legacy benefit combinations in this discovery work to support preparation for moving households on different legacy combinations at scale in 2024/25.
The DWP have also launched a new advertising campaign which aims to raise awareness that tax credits are ending and help claimants prepare for a move to Universal Credit. Channels include paid search, social media, digital advertising and online video signposting to dedicated information pages on the Understanding Universal Credit website.
Universal Credit – DWP Virtual Agent: From late September 2023, the DWP will introduce a ‘Virtual Agent’ telephone system for Universal Credit. The DWP state this ‘…will transform the customer journey by replacing traditional interactive voice response call journeys with a voice led solution which will interact with customers in a way that mimics human conversation…If at any point during their interaction with the DWP Virtual Agent, the customer asks to speak to a person or indicates they are vulnerable they will be routed to a telephony agent.’ The DWP will try to ensure that ‘a customer will not become trapped in Conversational Platform’ and will be routed to telephony if ‘it’s not working for them.’ See para 38+ in the LA Welfare Direct Bulletin, here.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) light touch reviews: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed that the first light-touch reviews start in August and will involve a short form to check whether anything has changed; in most cases an assessment with a health professional will not be required. However they DWP has also confirmed to stakeholders that failing to return a PIP light touch review form will not result in a disallowance where the claimant has been identified as needing additional support. In these cases, the DWP says that a claimant will instead be invited to have an assessment with an assessment provider. For more information see the Personal Independence Payment toolkit.
Bereaved parents – reminder to check their eligibility for financial support: A 7 August press release is reminding bereaved parents, who were not married or in a civil partnership, to apply for backdated bereavement benefits before the deadline of 8 February 2024 in order to get all the payments they’re entitled to.
EMPLOYMENT
Insolvency and redundancy: According to the latest monthly statistics from the Insolvency Service, the number of company insolvencies in June 2023 was 27% more than in June 2022 and the highest since 2009. Citizens Advice has information on what to do in these situations, including getting paid, rights if laid off or put on short-time working, and checking rights on redundancy, including choosing voluntary redundancy. Also see ACAS on redundancy and TUPE if an employer is insolvent.
Employment and training – support: The Govt’s Skills for Life campaign toolkits have been updated here for stakeholders and colleagues to use, and include key messages, brand guidelines, assets, templates and suggested content. There are three toolkits, covering young people, adults and employers.
OTHER
Scam messages warning: The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) has warned that scam messages pretending to be from family members are on the rise again. The messages usually look like they are from a son or daughter who has had to change their mobile number. The potential victim is asked to save the new number and begin to engage with it – scammers use this to persuade people to part with personal and financial information. Read more here.
LOCAL
Energy Unit Dorset & BCP: This service, operated by Citizens Advice, offers energy advice for households across the Dorset and BCP Council areas who may be experiencing difficulties with their energy supplier or who are struggling to afford their energy costs. The Unit can:
- advise on how to best use heating and hot water systems, or other fuels used to heat homes.
- advise on electrical items – how to minimise the cost as much as possible.
- contact suppliers to resolve issues, dealing with meter complaints, checking for back-billing issues and raising concerns with our local and national offices to any injustices our clients are experiencing.
- offer free Carbon Monoxide [CO] monitors and raise awareness of carbon monoxide poisoning signs and symptoms.
You can refer yourself for support or a third party (with their consent):
Email: [email protected] or call: 01929 775500 and leave an answerphone message.
Energy Advice Tip of The Week: Time to defrost your freezer? With the increase build up of ice, your freezer has to work harder to keep food frozen, which costs more in electricity.
Digital switchover toolkit and posters: The Local Government Association (LGA) has recently launched a toolkit for partners to use to raise awareness of the digital switchover for their residents and communities. The telecommunications industry is replacing all old copper telephone lines in the UK, and they hope to upgrade to a fully digital internet-based service by 2025. Devices such as personal alarms and health monitoring systems, as well as plug-in telephones could be affected. The toolkit contains resources to use on social media, plus draft copy for websites and bulletins. The toolkit is here.
Events
Citizens Advice – September Cost of Living Briefing: Thursday 14 September 12-1. Book via eventbrite.
Rural Services Network – Conference – 18-21 September: This is series of free online events including:
- Affordable Housing: Tuesday 19th September. Having a place to call home is probably top on the list of priorities for everyone across the UK, however in rural England, low wages, along with high house prices and rents mean that there is a lack of affordable housing options available to all. We’re featuring a story this week in the bulletin about the huge increase on numbers of people on the social housing register.
- Focus on Rural Transport. Thursday 21 September. It is vital that rural communities can access employment, training, education and services such as medical appointments. A lack of public transport options can make this more difficult. We’ve seen Government attempt to tackle transport policy in recent years with Bus Back Better and the competitive bidding for Bus Improvement Funds which has ultimately left many rural areas without public transport options.
To see the full prgramme and book, go to eventbrite. RSN has also produced a useful 2 page Rural Facts summary.
Sexual Trauma and Recovery Services [STARS]: One day, online workshops for practitioners working with people in the community, education and health services, in BCP and Dorset areas. It will look at how you can spot the signs and symptoms of trauma in the people you work with and how this can lead to challenging behaviours. It will highlight recent thinking about the links between our survival system (Fight/Flight/Freeze) responses at the point of trauma and how our brain can respond to things in the here and now as if we are in danger. How to look after yourselves will also be explored to ensure that you stay well whilst supporting others. There are a number of dates to choose from over the Autumn, the first on 19 September. There is a subsided rate of £55 per person, down from £125 per person. If you do a group booking of five people, the sixth person goes free! There are a limited number of tickets at this rate for each date so please book early if you are interested. You can do so by emailing Kyra at [email protected]
Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Cultural Awareness training: Provided by Dorset Nexus / Pan Dorset Children’s Safeguarding Panel, this is a free 3-hour Zoom session (…..unless you cancel!) which aims to improve professionals’ knowledge of and engagement with the GRT (Gypsy, Roma and Traveller) communities. It will be delivered by the Friends, Families and Travellers organisation with a community member sharing their experience. Various dates – the first is on 7 September, 10 – 1. More information here. And if you happen to be in London on Tuesday 21 September, at 5pm you can attend Suicide inequalities in Gypsy and Traveller communities. This is a joint APPG event, hosted by Liz Twist MP, Chair of the Suicide and Self-harm Prevention APPG and Mary Foy MP, Co-chair of the Gypsies, Travellers and Roma APPG. During this event, the panel of speakers will highlight the prevalence of suicide within Gypsy and Traveller communities, and discuss some of the underlying factors contributing to high suicide rates; book via eventbrite.
Research, reports, consultations
Government consultation on a ban on cold calls for financial products: The Government has launched an 8 week consultation on proposals to ban cold calls offering any financial products. This consultation is part of the Government’s fraud strategy – the proposed ban would mean that people would know that no legitimate firm would cold call them to market financial services or products. The consultation closes on 27 September. The consultation is here.
A real home advantage through wider energy efficiency: Citizens Advice recently asked specialist energy consultancy, Baringa Partners, to do an in-depth energy efficiency analysis. We wanted to assess the benefits of upgrading homes in Great Britain to a higher energy efficiency level known as EPC C. We published the results in our report Home Advantage: Unlocking the Benefits of Energy Efficiency. In our blog we explain the 3 ways in which energy efficiency can benefit society and the economy.
Citizens Advice blog on the FCA’s new Consumer Duty: The promise of the Consumer Duty is a wholesale shift in the culture of financial services firms, placing good outcomes for consumes alongside the bottom line. It also marks a shift in how the FCA will approach regulation, focusing on whether firms have taken reasonable steps to protect consumers from foreseeable harm, rather than checking against a tick-list of rules. There are three areas where Citizens Advice will be tracking progress:
- Tackling the ethnicity penalty
- Creating better online consumer journeys
- Effective communication of forbearance support
Read more here.
CPAG’s judicial review project: This aims to educate, encourage and support the advice sector to use the judicial review pre-action protocol to resolve intractable welfare rights issues where the claimant has no right of appeal or the right of appeal is ineffective because the claimant’s need is urgent due to homelessness or destitution, or because their challenge represents an issue of wider public importance. Read more on using this process and access template letters here.
The British Sign Language (BSL) report 2022: This report details what the government is doing to promote and facilitate the use of British Sign Language (BSL) in its communications with the public. The report is here – either as a written report, or a link to youtube for a BSL version.
Funding news
Money Saving Expert (MSE) Charity: MSE Charity has a small number of grants for not-for-profit organisations for projects that relate to the delivery of financial skills to different defined groups. MSE Charity has announced the theme for the September 2023 grant round is ‘Life Changes’.
The new round is focused on funding groups working with adults who are specifically impacted by one of life changes (bereavement, retirement, relationship breakdown, homelessness, offenders or resettlement (migrants/refugees), to develop the personal financial life skills which are essential to navigate through the transition they are facing.
Grants of up to £8,000 will be available. Full project cost recovery will be considered, but costs must only relate to the project itself and not the organisation’s core funding.
The September application form questions and eligibility quiz are currently available to review, and groups should review them before the fund opens, as each grant round is limited to the first 40 accepted applications. Previous rounds have closed within a couple of weeks of opening. Applications will be accepted from 4 September to 29 September 2023. Read more here.
Postcode Local Trust – West of England: Reopens at 10am on 4 September. The funding aims to support smaller charities and good causes in the west of England to make a difference to their community for the benefit of people and planet.
The amount of grant depends on the type of not-for-profit legal structure: Applicants that are not formally registered as a charity with the Charity Commission can apply for between £500 and £2,500 in funding. Applicants that are registered with the Charity Commission and can provide a charity number can apply for between £500 and £25,000 in funding. The funding is for projects that have a clear alignment with one of the Trust’s themes:
- Improving mental wellbeing
- Enabling participation in physical activity
- Enabling community participation in the arts
- Preventing or reducing the impact of poverty
- Supporting marginalised groups and tackling inequality
- Improving biodiversity and responding to the climate emergency
- Improving green spaces and increasing access to the outdoors.
In 2023, both project funding and unrestricted funding will be provided. Applications will open at 10am on 4 September for a minimum of 24 hours. Applications will only be accepted during the above time periods and must be started and submitted within the submission window. Read more here.
Community Justice Fund – Improving Lives Through Advice Grants Programme: Funding for registered charities working in England to provide access to specialist welfare legal advice to the most marginalised communities in England, including people with disabilities, women fleeing abuse and families facing eviction.
The new £30 million, five-year Improving Lives Through Advice (ILTA) funding programmes is provided by the National Lottery Community Fund and delivered by the Access to Justice Foundation with support from the Community Justice Fund. The programme is designed to support the delivery of free legal advice to marginalised people and communities across England. There will be two funding rounds:
- Round one is focused on funding specialist legal advice organisations.
- Round two will prioritise funding to groups led by and for marginalised communities. These can be organisations delivering advice services, and/or those working closely with advice organisations to improve access for marginalised communities. Further information will be made available in Autumn 2023.
Expressions of Interest for Round 1 must be submitted by 15 September. Read more here.