No images? Click here Inform & Advise IntroductionHi all Firstly a thanks to all of you that were able to attend the virtual regional network meetings earlier this month. It was great to catch up with people, to hear how you’ve all been getting on and to start our collective thinking about how we progress with our I&A delivery through the remainder of the pandemic. Most of all, it was just lovely to see people’s face. While working from home certainly has its advantages you miss the face-to-face interaction and the network meetings were a timely reminder to the Development Adviser team of the importance of keeping in touch with you all and the value of video-conferencing over a telephone call. As we mentioned at the network meetings, to help Age UK save money during the pandemic and to also help us plan around the uncertainty that it has and will cause in the future, all of this year’s (20/21) remaining regional I&A network meetings and our I&A training programme will be delivered virtually. Recently we sent around an I&A training analysis survey to help us with planning the format of our upcoming training. If you’ve not completed the survey yet please do. Here’s a link to the survey. As things appear to have settled down and we are all returning to something-like-normal the need for constantly updated I&A resources on COVID-19 is reducing. In response to this we’re making some changes to the resources we produce. We are retiring the template I&A responses on the I&A wiki site and the TASO team are returning to producing their regular monthly briefings. Although the TASO team will keep updating their COVID-19 briefings as required. You can read more about these changes in the article below. As we return to something-like-normal local Age UKs that were either preparing for or being assessed against the Age UK I&A Quality Programme (IAQP) will likely be starting to plan how they pick this work up again. In this issue of Inform & Advise there is important information about the restarting of assessments. And finally, just to prove that things must be getting back to normal, there’s an update in this edition of Inform & Advise on the latest plans to restart telephone integration. It appears that we’ve cleared all of the gremlins from the system and the process is working correctly. So hopefully we’ll soon be able to re-integrate all of the Age UKs that were previously involved in the scheme and start the process with those that were not, providing a much improved and joined-up response to our telephone clients. 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
Updated resources for advisers including the TASO briefings and the retiring of the template I&A responsesRetiring the template responses to common COVID-19 enquiries As of Wednesday the 29th of July will we be retiring the template responses to common COVID-19 enquiries on the I&A wiki. We are doing this as the use of the templates by both the national Advice line and local Age UKs has reduced significantly as the nature of I&A enquiries shifts back to our more usual business. In addition the templates have become more difficult to keep-up-to-date with the ending of the Government’s daily Coronavirus briefings. Advisers visiting the wiki will be directed to the Coronavirus Information Hub on the Age UK website. The information on the hub duplicates a lot of that which was in the templates. We have also made the content of the templates on funerals and accessing cash into COVID-19 briefings and these can be found on the COVID-19 I&A Hub and in the Essential Adviser Briefings and Guidance section of the loop with the TASO subject briefings. The templates have been archived and if you have any queries or wish to access the content from the templates please contact mark.tomlinson@ageuk.org.uk. TASO Briefings The TASOs are continuing to update the COVID-19 briefings as and when required but have also reinstated their regular monthly subject briefings. The COVID-19 briefing on hospital discharge and other health service matters has been updated to include new NHS complaints procedures and details of the extending of the NHS Volunteer Responder scheme. The COVID-19 funerals briefing has been updated to include a new section on managing a funeral during the Coronavirus pandemic, reflecting new Government guidance. The COVID-19 briefing on changes to the care act under the Coronavirus act has been updated to reflect new Government guidance on care home visits. This month’s Benefits briefing, produced by Liam Bradford, Technical Advice Support Officer – Money & Benefits, includes mention of the end of the TV licence concession for over 75s, the resuming of renewals and reviews for PIP and DLA and run-on payments for legacy benefit claimants moving to Universal Credit. August’s Housing briefing, produced by Lottie Beauchamp, Technical Advice Support Officer – Housing, includes reference to changes to rules on electrical safety checks in private rented properties and a ‘No DSS’ blanket policy being declared unlawful in a potentially landmark court hearing. This month’s Health and Care briefing, produced by David Broome, Technical Advice Support Officer – Social Care and Sheelagh Donovan, Technical Advice Support Officer – Health & End of Life, includes information about limited NHS dentistry interventions due to the pandemic and the OPG has launched a new digital service, enabling donors and attorneys to show organisations, such as a banks, an online summary of a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA). Integration of local I&A lines with the national Advice LineIntroduction A key element of our I&A Strategy is to make our delivery more seamless, and to reduce the need for older people (and those enquiring on their behalf) to repeat themselves when we refer them from national to local services and vice versa. To this end, we have been working on a programme of Integration, through which the national Advice Line and local Age UK I&A services can work better together to deliver a more accessible and seamless service to people phoning Age UK for I&A. There are two elements to the integration programme:
Both elements of integration were working well with around 90 brand partners up until a couple of years ago, but then the adoption of a new CRM system nationally meant that the callback element no longer worked and had to be rebuilt. That rebuild has finally been completed, and we are now able to roll out the full integration programme again. With both elements working, it means that the Advice Line can effectively triage callers diverted from local Age UK I&A lines, giving information and signposting to most, but booking callbacks for the local I&A service to make for those callers who need it. How the new system works The secure messages to enable callbacks are delivered through the new Brand Partner Portal system, which partners are being introduced to and which will increasingly be the method by which partners and national Age UK of share information with each other, especially about services. Once they have checked that the relevant local Age UK is integrated and can accept callback requests, Advice Line staff can record on the CRM system that a callback is needed, and this triggers an email to the local Age UK I&A service, asking them to make the callback within 2-5 working days. A local I&A worker can then log on to the Portal to see the details of the case, including contact details, make the callback, and record on the Portal that this action has been taken. How your I&A service can integrate with the national Advice Line We are working with local partners depending on the level of support needed to set them up. We have worked first with those who were previously integrated before the CRM change and where there have been no major changes in staffing and systems. Around 18 local partners are now live on the system, and we are confident that it works well. The next group of partners we are working with are those who were integrated but where there has since been a new I&A Manager. Development Advisers are currently in the process of contacting the relevant I&A Managers to check they are still keen to go ahead, and to gather necessary information. The aim is to integrate these partners by mid or end of September. Then from September we will work with partners who were previously integrated but may need a bit more support, given significant changes in their service delivery, and consider with them if and how integration can be best used to support their service. And then finally, we will contact the remaining Age UKs to discuss if and how they can be integrated, with the aim of integrating all partners who wish to, to be integrated by December. If you have not yet heard from us about when you might be integrated, please contact integrationcustenquiries@ageuk.org.uk to register your interest. Is integration for everyone? Yes, but not all local partners will feel that now is the right time to proceed with this. Changes to local working practices brought about by the pandemic may have an impact on a local Age UK’s capacity to support/engage with integration. If you feel the time is not right for your Age UK to be integrated, the Admin Team can work with you to decide when is the best time. What support will national Age UK provide in setting this up? The Admin Team at the national Advice Line are the lead contact for local partners in setting up integration, and any enquiries or issues should be directed to them at integrationcustenquiries@ageuk.org.uk. The Admin team consists of Allison Brown (Team Leader), Janet Connors, Trina Bailey-Wood and Nikki Evans. The Admin team have already successfully reintegrated 18 Local Age UKs. They will be supported by the Development Advisers in rolling it out further. I&A Quality Programme (IAQP) updateCurrent certificate holders As previously reported, assessment has been temporarily paused due to the pandemic response and furloughing, with extensions in place to certificates expiring between March 2020 and March 21. We are currently planning for when we can resume assessments, which in the short term will be done remotely through phone and video calls, and desktop/online review of documents. The team are contacting all partners that this affects in July / August to confirm new dates and deadlines. Contact IAQP@ageuk.org.uk if you have any questions or haven’t heard from us by September. For those who have not yet gone through the IAQP For those who were planning to go through the programme for the first time this year, we will be consulting with the Age England Association on how best to prioritise assessments for those who have not yet achieved the standard, and we will keep you updated. Changes to the DWP complaints procedureWe’ve been contacted by the DWP to say that it is changing the way it handles complaints with the aim of making it simpler. The change will hopefully result in the DWP being able to prioritise the most urgent issues and those involving vulnerable claimants. What’s changing
What’s staying the same
For more information about this new process please take a look at GOV.UK Liberty Protection Safeguards delayedThe Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) will be replacing the current Deprivation of Living Safeguards. Originally it was planned for LPS to come into force on 1 October 2020. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic it is now clear that successful implementation is not possible by this October. A new timetable has been proposed for full implementation of LPS by April 2022. Some provisions, covering new roles and training, will come into force ahead of that date. The Government is aiming to undertake a public consultation on the draft regulations and Code of Practice for LPS in 2021. The public consultation will run for 12 weeks, allowing for all those that are affected, including those with learning disabilities, to engage and have their voices heard. These responses will be considered carefully, and a formal response will be published. After consideration of the responses to the consultation, the updated Code and regulations will be laid in Parliament. This needs to happen well in advance of the target implementation date to allow for the legislative timetable for scrutiny of the Code and regulations and to ensure sufficient lead-in time for the regulations that need to come into force earlier. Crucially, the health and social care sector will need time following the publication of the final Code and regulations to prepare for implementation. Working backwards from implementation date, the ambition is to accommodate a 6-month period to do this. Online shopping slots available via Age UK AdviceAge UK has been working in partnership with DEFRA to arrange online shopping slots for older people who may otherwise not be able to access food. These slots have been set aside especially for vulnerable people and can be accessed by calling Age UK Advice on 0800 169 65 65. We recognise that many older people are not online, and therefore this is not a suitable option for those people, but trust it will be helpful for some older people. You can find more information about accessing food on the Age UK website here - https://www.ageuk.org.uk/services/in-your-area/shopping/ 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. |