IntroductionHi all,
Welcome to the 3rd COVID-19 special edition of Inform & Advise. We are sending this edition of the newsletter out today, the 1st of April, but unfortunately COVID-19 isn’t an elaborate practical joke that got a bit out of hand. Adapting to the challenges that Coronavirus has placed on our clients, our organisations and our services has been and will continue to be an immense challenge. Myself and the other I&A Development Advisers are so impressed and proud of the way in which the network and its advisers have responded. Colleagues from across Age UK have expressed their admiration for the work you are doing. The TASO team and staff at the national Advice line have both asked us to pass on their admiration and best wishes. We hope that the resources and guidance that we are producing and circulating through the Inform & Advise
newsletter is of assistance to you in your efforts and please let us know if there are other resources that you would like us to develop.
In this issue of Inform & Advise you will find a selection of templates that have been produced to help you answer some of the more common Coronavirus enquiries; we explain how we will be providing I&A support to you over the period of the Coronavirus crisis; update you on the national Advice line and how you can support it and provide details of our updated resources including a new Information Guide about Coronavirus.
As stated previously we will be sending out newsletters on a frequent but irregular basis as we have guidance and information to share with you.
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- Information on how Age UK will support the network with its I&A work during the Coronavirus crisis
- Template responses for the most common Coronavirus enquiries
- Update on Age UK Advice Line
- New information guide about Coronavirus available
- Do you have questions around Attendance Allowance & COVID-19?
- Ten factsheets have annual review for April 2020
- Benefits, Housing and Health & Care Briefings
- TV Licencing – Coronavirus changes update
Information on how Age UK will support the network with its I&A work during the Coronavirus crisisWe have produced a short document entitled ‘How to Access I&A Support from Age UK about COVID-19’ which details the various communication channels that we will be using to provide support to local Age UK I&A services. Can you please make sure you read this guidance and use the requested channels. Doing so will ensure that we respond to your query in the most
appropriate and quickest way.
You may have noticed that in the document there is a reference to the Age UK COVID-19 Word Press site. We will soon be launching an I&A section on the Word Press site. We will include copies of all of the COVID-19 I&A resources on the site. We appreciate that this may be a more user-friendly resource than the loop, especially with most of you home working. We will be in touch soon with more information on this.
Template responses for the most common Coronavirus enquiriesBased on feedback from local Age UK advisers and the national Advice line we have developed a range of templates for helping us to respond to the most common enquiries that we are receiving. Currently we have templates on the following topics: - Food supplies
- Housing – rent, mortgage, energy and insurance
- Medical advice
- Older workers
- Self isolation
- Visiting or living with a vulnerable person
- Volunteering
And we are about to begin work on a template about accessing cash and how to pay if someone else is doing your shopping. The templates are available on the loop and soon via the Age UK COVID-19 Word Press site.
The templates are intended to provide information responses including linking to the best sources of official and/or independent information and practical tools and tips. Please be aware that they have been designed for use in both local Age UKs and on the national Advice line. You may want to add to them with local information and signposting specific to your Age UK.
We will be continually reviewing and updating the templates so please keep an eye on them on either the loop or the I&A page on our Word Press site to ensure you are using the most up-to-date version. NB the title of the template will include the date on which it was produced.
We’d like to say a big thanks to Rachel Freeman, from Level 2 at the Advice line, for all the hard work and expertise that she has put into producing the templates.
Update on Age UK Advice LineThe Age UK Advice Line remains open as normal from 8am to 7pm, but we are facing some challenges in delivering the service. Staff are now working from home – we have provided them with the kit to do that, and they are getting used to this new way of working. Despite that, and the other challenges the coronavirus crisis brings, we are managing to maintain and even slightly increase the number of calls we are answering.
However, we’ve had a massive increase in the number of people calling the Age UK Advice Line since the crisis started. Demand has almost doubled, so the result is that many callers are waiting for a very long time to get through, and some cannot get through at all. Many are calling about issues related to coronavirus, and we have developed some template answers to some of the most common enquiries we are getting, which are being shared with local Age UKs – please see the article in this issue of Inform & Advise. Given that we can’t meet the level of demand we are experiencing, we would appreciate your help in managing expectations. If you do signpost to the Age UK Advice Line, either directly or through an answerphone message, could you help by: - Encouraging those who can, to look at the information on the Age UK website first
- If giving the Advice Line number, tell people that we are extremely busy and they may have to wait a long time
- Consider giving alternative signposts if appropriate
In addition later this week we will be contacting you about completing a short online questionnaire to let us know how your I&A service is operating at the moment. This information will be used by the national line to ensure that we signpost correctly to local Age UKs.
New information guide about Coronavirus availableAge UK has produced a new guide about Coronavirus (Covid-19) that includes information about the symptoms of the virus, what people should be doing and how they can help keep themselves and others healthy and well. It includes a useful organisations section with helpful signposts to other sources of specialist information. The guide can be found on the Age UK website here It will soon be available as a
hard copy version to order from Age UK. Brand Partners are encouraged to share the guide with their staff and clients. It can support in the response to enquiries from the public. To get your free copies email orders@ageuk.co.uk or download them from the Age UK website. Please note that we anticipate stock to be delivered to the warehouse during week commencing 6 April. However, it may take longer than usual to fulfill orders due to fewer members of staff working at the warehouse at the moment. Thank you for your
patience. We’re keen to get your feedback on this guide. We’d be grateful if you could email Tim Sheaff to let him know what you think about the guide and how helpful it will be for you and your clients. This will help us to manage stock levels.
Do you have questions around Attendance Allowance & COVID-19?Many Age UKs will have questions around processes for claiming benefits as a result of COVID-19 and we know that some advisers have been raising issues with their local DWP contacts about Attendance Allowance. To ensure that you can get responses as quickly as possible, and enable us to share these with all Age UK advisers, it would be helpful if you forward any questions to Sally West in the Policy team so she can liaise with the DWP team that leads on Attendance Allowance. We will put questions and responses together in a Q&A document on the Loop/COVID-19 Partner Comms hub and keep this updated. Please email sally.west@ageuk.org.uk
Ten factsheets have annual review for April 2020The factsheets below have had an annual review for April. They and the Index are available to download from the Age UK website: - FS10 Paying for permanent residential care
- FS12 Planning your retirement:
money and tax
- FS17 Housing Benefit
- FS19 State Pension
- FS39 Paying for care in a care home if you have a partner
- FS48 Pension Credit
- FS56 Benefits for people under Pension Credit age
- FS72 Advance decisions, advance statements and living wills
- FS87 Personal Independence Payment and Disability Living Allowance
- FS92 Universal Credit
The large print versions of all factsheets are also available to download from the Age UK website.
Benefits, Housing and Health & Care BriefingsSince we sent out Inform & Advise last week, there have been updates to the Housing & Energy briefing, written by Lottie, our Technical Advice Support Officer for Housing.
There haven’t been any updates to the Benefits Briefing, written by Liam, our Technical Advice Support Officer for Money & Benefits, since the last Inform & Advise.
We now have a document called Changes to the Care Act 2014 under the Coronavirus 2020 written by David, our Technical Advice Support Officer for Social Care.
Sheelagh, our Technical Advice Support Officer for Health & End of Life has written two documents, one called COVID-19 Hospital Discharge Services requirements and COVID-19 & Funerals. Both are available on the Health & Care Briefings page.
TV Licencing – Coronavirus changes updateFrom Saturday 21st March we stopped TV Licensing visiting officer activity and we have also had to close our call centre to help prevent the spread of the virus. These measures will be reviewed in mid-April and we will continue to be guided by Government health advice.
We worked quickly to stop customer letters referring to potential visits, however should any of your clients have received a letter you can let them know that there will be no visits during this period. Recognising some people are experiencing financial difficulties, TV Licensing has also stopped all arrears letters going to those who have fallen behind on payments.
Given our call centre is closed, we would like to reassure people trying to pay that they will be able to pay retrospectively once the logistical challenges have been resolved. In the meantime customers can still pay using a debit or credit card on our website and using our 24/7 automated telephone service, and new licences can also be set up online. If customers are in financial hardship and urgently need to stop a Direct Debit payment while the TV Licensing call centre is closed they can cancel it with their bank and this can usually be done online.
Finally, you will be aware our Simple Payment Plan is due to launch to new customers on April 1. However due to the closure of the call centre unfortunately there will be a delay until you are able to start referring clients. We hope to provide you with an updated launch plan as soon as possible
Charity fundraising scamsIn light of the increase in COVID-19 Scams, Age UK has produced a document called Coronavirus information Charity Fundraising Scams. This outlines how Age UK carries out its fundraising, what it won’t do and key advice for the public on giving safely to registered charities. The document provides some information about scams including: - Key advice on avoiding scams
- If you receive a suspicious fundraising email or text message
- If you are on a suspicious charity website
- If you receive a suspicious fundraising letter
- If you’re approached at your doorstep by a fundraiser
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