Serious benefits - Citizens Advice

insulation fitted and had a stair
lift installed. “With all the
agencies working together,
we’ve become each other’s eyes
and ears, ” says Ruth “I don’t
feel so over-whelmed when I
have a client with lots of
problems that need solving. It’s
like ‘I can’t help you – but I
know a man who can!’”
“The income-raising part of
the scheme, with Luton CAB, is
definitely the most successful
aspect. The first year was funded
by £14,000 from the
Government’s Health Action
Zone grant and together we
raised £360,000 in increased
annual benefits for local people,
an impressive £25 for every £1
invested,” says Sarah Allen. “The
success has been such that, even
at a time when the council was
experiencing serious financial
constraints, the argument to
continue the work was so strong
that they committed to investing
funding of £30,000 a year so
Luton CAB can carry on with the
Affordable Warmth Scheme.”
Fair’s fair
From 2003, under the
Department of Health’s fairer
charging guidelines, local
authorities will have to ensure
that the contributions that older
clients and people with
disabilities are expected to make
towards the cost of their home
care and other non-residential
social services, are based on a
detailed financial assessment.
The guidelines also require that
a benefits check should be
offered to service users
whenever local councils make an
assessment of ability to pay.
Devon Welfare Rights Unit
(DWRU) is a Citizens Advice
project that, along with Devon
Citizens Advice Bureaux, has
been working on mainstreaming
welfare rights advice for a
number of years. As a result,
they have been invited by
Devon County Council to be part
of the Devon Finance and
Benefits (FAB) joint team, along
with the Pension Service homevisiting
section. To date, the FAB
team in Devon is the only one to
have been established with a
voluntary sector organisation as
a full partner. Nora Corkery of
DWRU says: “Initial results have
shown that CAB advisers have
been very effective in using the
home visit referrals to identify a
wide range of entitlements that
clients were missing out on.
These include income support
and disability living allowance,
eligibility for council tax and
council tax disability reductions
and valid claims for independent
living allowance, housing
benefit and invalid care
allowance.” The success of the
pilot scheme has led Devon
County Council to agree
additional funding for the
equivalent of 6.5 extra CAB
posts to fulfil the fairer charging
work in Devon.
Reaping benefits
Castle Morpeth CAB in
Northumberland serves a rural
community that includes farmers
and agricultural workers, many
of whom are self-employed.
Take-up of means-tested
benefits is very poor amongst
these groups, partly because
showing proof of income and
capital, when business and
personal assets are often
intertwined, is off-putting for
claimants. The CAB has received
£11,000 from the Department of
the Environment, Farming and
Rural Affairs (DEFRA) via the
Rural Stress Information Fund to
cover a nine-month take-up
campaign across the area, to
make sure that people are
getting their entitlements to the
new tax credits. “Important
differences with the new
working tax credit and child tax
credit are that capital is ignored
and estimates of income are
accepted, as errors will be
reconciled later through tax
assessments. The Inland Revenue
accepts applications from thirdparties
like us on behalf of
claimants, which should make
claiming much easier for them,”
says Brian Smith of Castle
Morpeth CAB. Leaflets will go
out to 25,000 households in the
area and the CAB will make an
initial assessment of entitlement
via a dedicated telephone line. If
it looks like the caller is entitled,
an on-line application can be
made on that person's behalf.
All step forward
When Basildon CAB asked their volunteers who would like to train
to specialise in advising on attendance allowance and disability
living allowance claims, they had no difficulty in finding volunteers.
“Because the volunteers have built up expertise, it allows the paid
social security experts in the bureau to concentrate on their other
case work,” says welfare rights adviser Nickie Kimber.
If you would like to volunteer to train as an adviser at your local
Citizens Advice Bureau, call 08451 264264 and you will be put in
touch with the CAB nearest to you that is looking for volunteers.
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