IntroductionHi all,
Welcome to the 2nd COVID-19 special edition of Inform & Advise. We will be sending out newsletters on a frequent but irregular basis as we have guidance and information to share with you.
Thank you to those of you that have provided us with information on the more common enquiries that you are getting about COVID-19 and the implications of self-isolation. We are combining this with data from our national Advice line on the enquiries that they are receiving and working on template answers/responses to these questions. We hope to be able to share these with you soon. In this issue of Inform & Advise you will see that we have produced some guidance around the changes to funerals that have been introduced and that we are working on a Coronavirus information guide for the public. Please continue to send information about the enquiries you are getting into your I&A Development Adviser.
Also in this issue is the guidance that we trialled in the previous Inform & Advise helping you to support your clients with claiming Attendance Allowance via video conferencing or by providing ‘self-help’ guidance. We also have some very welcome news from the DWP, updates from the TASOs about changes to regulation, information about scams that have been identified in relation to Coronavirus, details of training courses we’ve unfortunately had to cancel, information about I&A resources for the new financial year and some guidance around home working (as we suspect that lots of you are having to get to grips with the challenges of being based at home).
Once again thank you for all of your dedication and hard work supporting older people in these challenging and worrying times.
Mark Tomlinson, Senior I&A Development Adviser Please note: some items in the Briefings are not relevant for partners in Wales; these are marked up in the Briefings.
In this issue- Attendance Allowance – how you can use video conferencing to support a client to make a claim
- Attendance Allowance self-help guidance for the general public
- Information from the DWP on Attendance Allowance
- TASO briefings and interesting email enquiry
- Information guide update
- Unfortunately we've had to postpone three face to face training courses
- Working from home and supporting home workers
- Age Co update
- Rightnet's COVID-19 tools for advice sector practitioners
- Reminder about the Turn2Us website
- COVID-19 Scams
Attendance Allowance – how you can use video conferencing to support a client to make a claim As mentioned in the previous edition of Inform & Advise we’ve been working on some guidance on how you can use video-conferencing as a replacement for home visits to support older people with the completion of AA forms while they are self-isolating. The guidance can be found in our I&A COVID-19 resources on the loop, along with a template letter that can be sent to clients to support
them with the process. We looked at a number of video-conferencing applications and identified ZOOM as being probably the best fit for what we wanted. We’ve done some limited testing of ZOOM and it seemed to work well, but in not wanting to delay getting the guidance out to you, you’ll also be testing it for us. So please let us know what you think and if you have any problems (particularly if you also work out a solution) and we’ll update the guidance with your feedback and suggestions.
Attendance Allowance self-help guidance for the general publicAs mentioned in the previous edition of Inform & Advise we’ve had a look at some of the self-help resources for members of the public making claims for disability benefits. We would not ordinarily recommend that people complete the application themselves but this may be unavoidable over the coming months. In our I&A COVID-19 resources you will find some analysis of the resources we’ve looked at with some
suggestions on how they could be used by local Age UKs, where they can’t directly support the clients. If you are aware of any other good resources, please feel free to share them with us and we'll add them to this document. Contact your I&A Development Adviser, Mark, Mark or Jan.
Information from the DWP on Attendance AllowanceIn response to our questions about relaxing the rules around the 6 week limitation on date of claim for AA the DWP have responded to say that:
“With regards to the return of Attendance Allowance claim forms, we have introduced an immediate easement, to support flexibility on dates for returning claim forms. This will ensure no customer will be disadvantaged due to self-isolation guidance. To support us in delivering this change, we would appreciate if you could note the claim form advising there has been a delay in its return due to Covid-19, this will support and speed up the decision making process.”
Please see the highlighted section of the text above and inform all of your advisers of this guidance. The DWP have also confirmed to us that all new awards of Attendance Allowance will be indefinite awards and any renewals due to on existing AA claims will be identified by DWP and will "have their entitlement 'knocked on' i.e. awarded for an indefinite period without the requirement to complete/send a claim form". The DWP have confirmed that these changes are for a temporary period to deal with the challenges of COVID-19.
Thanks to Sally West, our Policy Manager for Income & Poverty for arranging this with the DWP.
TASO briefings and interesting email enquiryLottie, our Technical Advice Support Officer for Housing, has updated the Housing and Energy Briefing that she produced last week in response to the Coronovirus situation. The briefing contains an update on measures to protect renters and vulnerable energy customers.
Liam, our Technical Advice Support Officer for Money & Benefits has also updated his guidance on issues affecting benefits related to Covid-19 which contains a general update and updates on Universal Credit, New Style Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Statutory Sick Pay.
We’ve put together an interesting email enquiry for this version of Inform & Advise on the issue of whether someone can ask their lodger to leave due to their doctor advising the client that he would be at high risk of catching coronavirus. The response outlines the housing law position and what action the client may be able to take.
COVID-19 ScamsSadly the current Coronavirus crisis has revealed both the best and worst of human nature. Action Fraud have shared with us their latest intelligence on scams that are being perpetrated in relation to COVID-19. A briefing from Action for Scams is included in our I&A COVID-19 resources on the loop.
Information guide updateWe have updated the benefits guides as usual, and hopefully these should be available to order from the warehouse week commencing 13th April.
As usual at this time of year we will be sending updated welfare benefit rates posters and booklets for advisers. These should arrive at your local Age UK later in April.
We are also in the process of producing a Coronavirus information guide (IG59). We hope to have this guide available to order within the next couple of weeks.
We have produced a designated Coronavirus hub on our website with the latest information and guidance - https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/coronavirus . We have recently added information about the changes that have been introduced for those having to plan a funeral. This guidance has also been added to the Health & Care briefing page.
Unfortunately we've had to postpone 3 face to face training coursesThe following I&A training courses have been postponed due to the Coronavirus situation: - Introduction to Housing Advice – London (19 May 20)
- Introduction to Benefits – Bristol (2 June 2020)
- Introduction to Benefits – Manchester (16 July 20)
We will let you know as
soon as we can when the new training courses will be held.
If you have already booked on one of the courses above you will get priority for the new dates.
Please remember you can still access e-learning courses. If you need to be set up contact adviceunit@ageuk.org.uk
Our list of training opportunities and e-learning courses is available on the loop
Working from home and supporting home workersMany of you will now be working from home, possibly for the first time in your careers. The transition to home working can be a challenge when it takes place in a planned way, and not at a time of such uncertainty, so we appreciate how difficult this will be for many of you. It will be particularly challenging for a lot of our advisers as it may well not suit their personalities and they will miss the social interaction that comes with the role. This is also the case for a lot of our colleagues who work for (national) Age UK at Tavis House. To help them with settling into their new
working environment the Quality Team at Age UK; a bunch of misfits and loners (including the I&A Development Advisers) who predominantly work at home; have produced a short survival guide to working at home which we thought some of you might also find useful and can be found in the I&A COVID-19 resources on the loop.
We’ve also updated the “COVID-19 issues for I&A managers to consider” guidance document with some ideas and tips on how to manager your team if they are home working. This too can be found in the COVID-19 resources on the loop.
Age Co updateIn case you are contacted by clients that have had issues with contacting Age Co here is an update from Ageas, the company that provide the Age Co products:
Yesterday (the 24th of March) we temporarily closed our offices and customer facing phone lines while we put our established business continuity plans into action.
From the 25th of March our phone lines will be open as follows:
Claims lines: Our claims lines will be operating reduced hours or shift patterns over the coming days so wait times may be a little longer than usual.
We’ve introduced a new online facility where customers can report their claims to us 24/7. Please direct your customers to https://www.ageas.co.uk/make-a-claim/ to make an online claim. Sales & Service: 8.30am-6pm Monday to Friday and 9am-1pm Saturday
Our priority at this time is the continuation of services to our existing customers.
We are working in close contact with our suppliers to ensure that we can continue to meet customer needs as best as possible. In terms of claims, a number of our motor solution centres have confirmed that they will complete current work, while our home suppliers continue to carry out site visits where they can. Suppliers will also respond to emergency escape of water claims to carry out repairs.
Thank you for your understanding at this unprecedented time for everyone. We hope that you and your families stay well.
Rightsnet's COVID-19 tools for advice sector practitionersRightsnet have devised some tools for advice sector practitioners to help them manage the current situation. Visit their website: https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/ to find their page for daily updates on social welfare law, their online casework support forum, a page for coronavirus related news stories and a social forum for like-minded people working in the sector.
Reminder about the Turn2Us websiteAs many of you will be working from home and thus having to (re)build your adviser resources this is just a quick reminder of the Grant Search facility on the Turn2Us website which is a useful resource if you are looking for grants for individuals to support clients in financial difficulty.
Control what you get from Age UK communicationsSign up: You can subscribe to newsletters for local Age UKs using our online sign-up. Control what you receive: You can update your existing subscription and details online. Unsubscribe: To unsubscribe, please email signpost@ageuk.org.uk. If you click the unsubscribe link in the footer you'll unsubscribe from all Age UK newsletters.
|