Sedgemoor Disability Forum Notes from the meeting held on 15 th November 2011 The Princess Hall, Burnham on Sea Arranged by Compass Disability Services Compass Disability Network Project Welcome and Introductions Mandy Seaman welcomed everyone in attendance and informed the group that following the last meeting feedback had been received from The Post Office and First Great Western on some points raised (details supplied at the end of the report). Item 1: Benefits Information Martin Giles and Alison Holman from Sedgemoor District Council. Alison and Martin explained the role of the Benefits Service at Sedgemoor District Council. The Council can be contacted for information on Housing and Council Tax benefit. A leaflet was made available to the group which is available form the Council titled Guide to benefit Entitlement 2011/12. The leaflet provides advice on the help you may be able to get. They informed the group that Universal Credit will become effective in 2013 to bring together a range of working aged benefits into a single streamed payment. The Sedgemoor Benefits Team can be contacted on 0845 408 2542 (Monday to Friday 8.00am until 6.00pm) for Benefits Service, or 0845 408 2541 for the Council Tax enquiries. You can visit Bridgwater house to make enquiries from 8:45am until 5:00pm Monday to Friday and every Wednesday at The Princess hall, Burnham on Sea from 9.30am 4.30pm. Copies of original documents such as Payslips, Birth Certificates, Bank or Passbooks etc. are requested when making a claim for benefit; these can be taken into the office and copies taken. The team are currently taking 5 days to process a claim; this has reduced from 18-20 days previously. An officer can visit an individual in their home if necessary. The process of how payments are made was explained and what happens if a private landlord is involved. In such an instance, the housing benefit would go direct to the tenant. The landlord would only be paid directly in certain cases such as in the case of vulnerable adults. 1
The importance of notifying them of any changes to your circumstances was explained. An example of this could be where someone extra joins your household. www.sedgemoor.gov.uk contains useful information under the Housing & Benefits section. A question was asked about reporting changes and what to do if you won the lottery; For working age individuals, the first 6000 in savings is disregarded. For Pension aged customer the first 10000 is disregarded. The capital limit is 16000, for more than 16,000 you would not qualify unless you are a pensioner in receipt of guaranteed pension credit. However Alison again said that is important to report any change in circumstances so that you can be advised accordingly. Fiona Penny - Jobcentre Plus Fiona explained about the services provided by Jobcentre Plus and how they support people of working age from welfare into work. Advisors in the area provide support to claimants in receipt of Employment Support Allowance (ESA), Jobseekers allowance and support people in receipt of Disability Living Allowance with regard to work. A national contact centre is provided for benefits advice, details can be found on the enclosed information sheet. Fiona explained about the Work Programme which can help you prepare for, find and stay in work. For Disability Living Allowance, Jobcentre Plus does not administer this but will point you in the direction of other agencies that can help. Age UK can provide a visiting service to support people with benefit forms etc. they can be contacted on 01823 345610 The Disability and Carers Service apologies were sent by Carol Harmon from The Disability and Carers Service. Leaflets were provided together with the following information; 2
The Disability and Carers Service provides financial support for customers claiming disability benefits and their carers. Following the Spending Review in 2010, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and Local Authority (Somerset County Council) decided that the Somerset FAB (Financial Assessment and Benefit) Team could not continue to offer the Joint Working Service it provided. This means that the Visiting Officers employed by Somerset County Council will now only visit customers who receive packages of Care provided by SCC. These visits can be requested by telephoning Somerset Direct on 0845 359 9133. They are known as the FAB Team as they do financial assessments for SCC to determine how much customers need to contribute towards the cost of their care. They will also complete benefit claim forms for those customers. All other customers over are dealt with by DWP. Due to limited resources the DWP Visiting Team can only visit the most vulnerable customers who are unable to access their Benefit entitlements any other way. Claims to State Pension can now be made on line or by telephone. Claims to Pension Credit can be made by telephone. Claim forms for Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and Carers Allowance can be requested from the Benefit Enquiry Line. They can also assist with form completion by telephone. Those vulnerable customers who can not deal by telephone or on line can ask family members or a third party organisation to assist them. If they cannot manage any other way then they can request a visit from a DWP visiting officer by telephoning either the Pension Centre or the Disability Benefits Centre. Other authorised Partner organisations such as Social Workers, Carer Support Workers, Alzheimer s Society etc. can also refer customers to the DWP Visiting Team. Customers under Pension Age need to access their benefits through the Job Centre Plus. DWP visits to customers under Pension Age can only be referred by the Job Centre or other authorised Partners. Other information can be found by visiting; www.direct.gov.uk www.dwp.gov.uk These web sites are also the best place to keep track of the various changes to the benefit system such as the introduction of Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment. 3
Isabel Lodge Sedgemoor Citizens Advice Bureau Isabel explained the support that is available from them to assist people to complete benefit entitlement forms, help with tribunals and other advice such as debt advice etc. Citizens Advice have outreach services at Cheddar Medical Centre on Mondays from 9.30am until 12.30pm, Manor House Gardens Burnham on Sea on Tuesdays from 9.30 12.30pm, and Hope Baptist Church, Highbridge on Thursdays from 9.30am until 12.30pm. Citizens Advice offices in Bridgwater at The Lions suffered flooding on Friday 4th November and can not be accessed by the public for the foreseeable future. Telephone advice is available by telephoning 01278 455236 Monday to Friday. A reduced service will be available in the offices of Sedgemoor District Council from 10am until 2pm, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Individuals shared their experiences of trying to obtain certain benefits such as Attendance Allowance and Isabel explained about the appeal process that you can go through and how Citizens Advice can help. Item 2: Andrew Turner Somerset County Councils Highways Department Andrew explained about a new leaflet they have published Your Guide to Winter Services in Somerset 2011. The leaflet contains useful information on; Highways responsibilities, advice about clearing snow yourself and Waste Services in Winter. Somerset County Council salts over 1,400km (870 miles) of its roads in anticipation of frost, snow and ice. This is approximately 21% of its entire road network. The M5, A303 and the A36 are maintained and treated by the Highways Agency. The Council have been working with Town and Parish Councils to discuss gritting. Parish Councils can give some assistance and have collected grit in some areas. A question was asked about snow clearance and what can be done individually? There is no law stopping you from clearing ice and snow on the pavement outside your home or from public spaces. It s unlikely you ll be sued or held legally responsible for any injuries sustained if you have cleared snow carefully. The snow code should be followed when clearing ice and snow safely; If you clear snow and ice yourself, be careful don t make the pathways more dangerous by causing them to refreeze. Clear the snow and ice early in the day. Use salt or sand not water Take care when you move the snow Offer to clear your neighbour s path More information is detailed in the leaflet. 4
Some members said about the problems they have had as a wheelchair user when snow hasn t been cleared properly. Individuals were encouraged to ring Highways to report any problems areas (details below). The group shared their thoughts on things such as using individuals on community service for snow clearance. Andrew explained that if staff are unable to carry out waste collections in the snow, this resource has been directed to snow clearance in the past. Places to obtain Salt were discussed such as supermarkets and hardware stores. Andrew explained that in rural areas assistance from Farmers is provided for snow clearance. Highways have some funding available until the end of this financial year (March 2012). 10,000 is available for the installation of dropped crossings in the area. The group were encouraged to let Highways know of any locations people think would benefit from this and contribute views on locations already identified. You can also forward information to Compass and we will feedback to Highways any information received. We have enclosed a copy of the proposed dropped crossings. Each crossing costs between 2-3,000. Abingdon Street in Burnham on Sea was mentioned as a location that is felt that the kerbs are not dropped enough. Andrew explained that if you contact Highways and advise any problem locations they can add them to a list to assist discussions and future planning. Parking across kerbs and on pavements was discussed and the problems this causes for access. The Police should be contacted with details of the locations. If damage to the footways is caused Highways can take action. The Partners and Community Together (PACT) meetings that take place in your local areas are a good way of getting in touch with you local police. You can find out where your nearest meeting is by telephoning 101 (Contact for nonemergencies). There are plans in the future to also introduce Civil Parking Officers who will be responsible for enforcement. 5
Following the meeting Andrew has responded on some points raised concerning dropped kerbs in Bridgwater and the need for a sign at Capes Close; The request for dropped crossings has been added to the list. Chris Betty (Senior Traffic Engineer) raised the request for no through road sign with Sedgemoor DC. SDC will seek to amend the street name plates to include no through road. Although they do not have a timescale at the moment, they anticipate this taking around six months. How to contact Somerset County Council Highways Email: RoadsandTransportSD@somerset.gov.uk Telephone: 0845 345 9155 Other Issues Angela Farmer invited the group to give their views on the format of the Disability Forum in future. The group discussed having 3 longer forums per year instead of the current trial of 2 shorter meetings and 2 longer meetings. Angela will continue to review this with Compass and we plan to gather more feedback on this from members next year. Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is to be replaced with a new Personal Independence Payment (PIP) from 2013. The new benefit will remain a nonmeans tested, non-taxable cash benefit claimed by disabled people whether they are in or out of work. The group said they would like more information on this at future forums and would like to have a speaker from the Pensions Service. Volunteers working with the Police Requests for Volunteering with the Police have been sent to Roger Tolley at Avon and Somerset Police, no response has been received. Disabled parking pays in King Square for Sedgemoor District Council Angela explained that there are plans to put 2 bays in place in the next 12 months. Factsheets on benefits the groups would like to continue to receive this information at future forums. Marine Cove in Burnham on Sea has been refurbished but there are no litter bins or dog waste bins. Sedgemoor District Council has responded as follows; All requests for new dog waste bins should be referred to the relevant town/parish council for consideration as they now pay for them. Regarding Marine Cove, there were litter bins in place prior to the revamp. The question has been asked through the Friends Group and they would rather monitor the situation at present rather than install any bins. If dog fouling becomes an issue then they will reassess the situation. Currently there is a litter bin by the 6
entrance to the church from the gardens and 1 litter bin and two dog bins opposite Marine cove on the Esplanade. It is hoped that these will be sufficient. Problems with parking on pavements at the Artilery Arms to the Highbridge Hotel and West Hunstpill to Highbridge. A member had phoned the Police and had not received a response. Compass to send a copy of the report to Roger Tolley at the Police. New Parking Enforcement Officers invite speakers to a future meeting. Edf / Hinkley C involve in future forums and look into other areas for involvement. Age UK would like to know about the other service they can provide such as Equity Release. Disabled Facilities Grants Occupational Therapists visits seem to have a very long waiting time at the moment and they tend to send assistants? Query ref Disabled Facilities Grant and if there is any more left. Chris Trevalyan at Somerset West Private Sector Housing Partnership advised that there is a budget still available for this financial year and for more information on recommendations that have been received to contact Michelle Gould on 01278 435747. Further Info A response has been obtained from The Post Office reference a previous issue concerning accessibility to the Temporary Post office in Bridgwater, they have responded as follows; Whilst we acknowledge that access to the temporary Post Office service is limited we are restricted by the physical dimensions of the Post Office unit. If we have situations where multiple wheelchair users require service simultaneously, if staff are informed we will give them assistance and where possible remove the queue barrier to aid access. I appreciate the temporary service may cause difficulty for some customers and we are working towards finding a permanent solution. Also regarding the query concerning blue badge spaces only being available on one side of Bridgwater Rail Station although a ramp has been provided on the down side. First Great Western has advised as follows; The ramp was built to make Bridgwater more accessible and I appreciate your members point about the lack of disabled parking on the 'down' side but neither FGW or Network Rail owns any of the land on that side of the station. The Mobility and Inclusion Manager at First Great Western has expressed an interest in attending a future meeting of the Forum. 7
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