No images? Click here Inform & Advise IntroductionWelcome to the June 2021 edition of the Inform and Advise newsletter for local Age UKs/Cymrus. Amongst the articles this month, we have one from the National Advice Line about how they cope with ‘vicarious trauma’, which I am sure will be of interest across the network, given the many difficult and sometimes upsetting situations clients tell us about in the course of our advice giving. Also this month, we are restarting the ‘Interesting Email Enquiry of the month’ section, with the Technical Advice Support Team sharing one of the many emails that the Email Enquiry Service receives. And we also have a review of the final stats from the past year, which show how things changed in that most unusual of years. John Edwards, Head of I&A Strategy If you have any questions about this bulletin, please contact Age UK on adviceunit@ageuk.org.uk Please note: some items in the Briefings are not relevant for partners in Wales; these are marked up in the Briefings. In this issue
Vicarious Trauma – managing the impact on Advisers Do you remember where you were and what you were doing on 11 September 2001? The chances are high that you do. I was in Paris on holiday and people were starting to gather in crowds, we saw a café with a large group of people watching a television where there seemed to be a skyscraper on fire. A few minutes later we entered Notre Dame where we saw American tourists talking and crying. We hurried back to our hotel where we watched in devastated shock as we saw people jumping from impossible heights and the eventual collapse of the twin towers. That day and the horror of what occurred is still vivid in my memory. If it is to you too, then like many of us you are suffering from vicarious trauma. We were not there, we did not smell the smoke, our lives were not in danger, but we were in some way elementally changed and hurt by what we witnessed. That is an extreme example, but I think it is useful in helping us to understand how we can be traumatised by events that did not actually happen to us. The trauma is real, but we experience it vicariously, meaning we were not a direct victim of the occurrence, but we felt the trauma anyway. So how does that affect us as a service giving advice and information to older people? It can have an impact in many ways for our advisers. We will often hear stories from our callers of their sadness or grief, or we will speak to someone who is being abused or concerned about an older person they know who is suffering abuse. Sometimes our callers will describe living in appalling conditions due to neglect, mental health conditions such as hoarding, or having reached a point where they are no longer able to keep things in any sort of order. Many times we are able to give great advice and move on, but sometimes, maybe later in the day, the thought will come back to you, and you may find yourself imagining that older person alone with their grief and unable to cope or navigating their way through piles of rubbish kept over many years that is no longer safe. You may remember their tears or fear and feel a knot of anxiety within you. These things are potentially signs of vicarious trauma and if unacknowledged and not dealt with they can lead to stress, depression and burn out. So how do we ensure we keep our advisers emotionally safe from vicarious trauma? On the in-depth (Level 2) national Advice Line we focus on a few key things. First advisers need to develop their own awareness so that they recognise signs of vicarious trauma, whether they explicitly see as vicarious trauma or not, it is good to develop a culture of advisers noticing when they have not been able to leave a particular situation behind them or they are unusually impacted by it. We then encourage advisers who have experienced this or have just taken a very emotional call to de-brief as soon as possible. This is often with a manager but the main criteria is that it is someone who can take the time to explore the advisers reaction and allow them to talk it through. This is often enough. We also hold regular Psychological First Aid (PFA) meetings where we get together in small groups every 6 weeks and talk through the things that have stayed with us and caused distress. Everyone gets a chance, and is encouraged, to talk and usually we all feel better at the end of it. Of course, there is also specialist training available on how to deal with vicarious trauma from organisations such as Helplines Partnership https://helplines.org/training-2/masterclasses/#anchor12 Keeping in mind that this is specifically for telephone helplines, but it deals very well with all the aspects of Vicarious Trauma. Ultimately it is about doing what we all do so well in AgeUK, which is looking out for and supporting each other. Noticing when someone is maybe not coping as well as they might normally and asking what you can do to help and support them. Being aware when they have dealt with a traumatic situation and encouraging them to talk it through. In short, doing what you all do best, caring for those that need it most. Lindsey Huggins, Advice & Quality Manager, Age UK Advice Line Annual statistics show big changes in I&A delivery due to COVID19 We have now collated the statistics for the year 2020/21, which was of course an especially challenging year for I&A delivery, with face to face delivery becoming all but impossible for large parts of the year, some staff on furlough and many volunteers not able to work from home. Despite this, local partners were able to deal with 559,774 enquiries, which was only 11% down on the previous year. Benefit take-up work has traditionally been done face to face, often by home visit, so that has been affected by lockdown, but still, many partners were successful in starting to deliver this over the phone, and they supported older people to claim £110m during the year. While this is down 20% on the previous year, it is a huge achievement in the circumstances and will make a significant difference to the older people supported, particularly at the moment. In terms of channel of delivery, contact by phone unsurprisingly went up, from 59% in 19/20 to 75% in 20/21, with 9% by email and 2% by letters. Face to face contact was down to around 5%, for understandable reasons. COVID led to a significant change in enquiry topics too, with a 30% drop in benefit enquiries, and a 351% increase in enquiries about health conditions. On the Age UK Advice Line, 210,036 enquiries were handled (both Level 1 and Level 2), and we saw calls taking longer due to complexity – often having to give advice about the ‘normal’ rules and the changes brought about by coronavirus. On Level 2 (which handles the more complex enquiries) there was a marked shift to enquiries coming by email, with around half of enquiries now being dealt with through that channel. On the national website, there was a huge increase in the number of unique user sessions on our I&A pages, up 93% on 2019/20. We had 12.7m user sessions, with the Coronavirus hub being a particularly popular information resource. We shall see during this year whether the changes in I&A delivery we saw because of COVID will have a lasting impact. John Edwards, Head of I&A Strategy Email enquiries on access to NHS services and associated issues With effect from Friday 28 May 2021, the TASO team is unable to respond to email enquiries received through the Age UK Email Enquiry Service on access to NHS services and associated issues. Sheelagh Donovan, the Health and End of Life TASO, is leaving Age UK and we are in the process of recruiting her replacement for this role. We hope to appoint very soon and will let you know when we can deal with NHS health service enquiries again as soon as we can. Thanks for your understanding, if you need any further information, please contact Paul Treloar at paul.treloar@ageuk.org.uk Benefits, Housing and Health & Care BriefingsUpdated resources for advisers TASO Briefings This month’s Benefits briefing, produced by Liam Bradford, Technical Advice Support Officer – Money and Benefits Includes information about about telephone and face-to-face assessments for PIP, deductions to pay court fines reduced to 5% of the standard allowance for universal credit and the launch of the Debt Respite Scheme June’s Housing briefing, produced by Lottie Beauchamp, Technical Advice Support Officer – Housing, Includes information about the lifting of Covid19 restrictions on bailiff evictions and housing measures in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 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 an Initiative to accelerate NHS diagnostic and surgical waiting lists, the publication of a social care report by the Kings Fund and a case study showing a council at fault for failing to show a sufficient personal budget sufficient to meet care home need. Factsheet update The following factsheets have had an annual review for June 2021: FS8 Council and housing association housing FS49 The Social Fund, Advances of Benefit and Local Welfare Provision FS63 Finding private rented accommodation FS74 Challenging welfare benefit decisions FS91 Pension Freedom and benefits The Large Print versions of all factsheets are also available to download from the Age UK website here https://www.ageuk.org.uk/services/information-advice/guides-and-factsheets/age-uk-large-print-factsheets/ EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) - Upcoming Webinars The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) are running a series of webinars about supporting vulnerable EU/EEA citizens to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme. There are only a few weeks left now before the 30th June deadline, after which those EU citizens without pre or settled status could lose access to the NHS, employment, and continuing rights to benefits. The ADASS webinars will provide valuable guidance around how to support EUSS applications where mental capacity is an issue, and all webinars will cover information about the late application policy guidance. Immigration lawyers will be attending some sessions. A number of Home Office Grant Funded Organisations (GFOs) will attend, and who will all be able to either take direct applicant referrals or be able to signpost to others that will be able to assist. The webinars can be booked via www.adass.org.uk/euss. There are a number throughout June, and it’s likely that more will be run during July, August and September directly focused on the late application processes. Alternatively, you can access the slides from a session run on 26th May on Mental Capacity and the EUSS – see the link here: https://www.airecentre.org/euss-workshops Supporting small advice organisations working with London’s ethnically diverse communities The Advice Services Alliance has published a report that looks at small advice organisations that work with Black, Asian, and ethnic minority communities. The research was done in London, but its recommendations may have wider relevance. Some of the key recommendations include: All advice organisations should reassess their relationship to groups working with diverse communities, recognising the critical role the latter play in providing access to justice for people facing the greatest impacts from austerity and Covid-19. Relationships must extend beyond ‘sub-contractor’ or ‘trusted intermediary’ to one of mutual respect and understanding for different approaches and complementary skills. Consider examining referral routes and local networks that provide a mutual exchange of knowledge and information between local advice providers; larger organisations should share expertise in areas such as digital skills or raising funding, while organisations working with diverse communities should share knowledge of language and cultural issues. The Advice Services Alliance should examine the role of the Advice Quality Standard in excluding some advice services and investigate whether the development of a ‘scaffold’ quality assurance mechanism will enable more organisations working with diverse communities to access recognised standards. The report can be accessed here – https://asauk.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Working-with-diverse-communities-ASA-May-2021-1.pdf Interesting email enquiry of the monthWhat happens to my client’s Universal Credit award when she reaches State Pension age? Enquiry - I have the following query for a client. She has had various answers from different organisations, benefit check forms that she has done on-line, even varying answers from the Citizens Advice Bureau, so I think we were her last resort in desperation! Client is coming up to State Pension age which she will receive in July of this year, 2021. She is currently receiving Universal Credit with the Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity element (she is undergoing kidney dialysis treatment at present). Her partner is of working age and receives a salary from his job. She would like to know what she will be receiving in July as well as her state pension. She has conflicting answers from saying she will lose all her benefits to she will keep them. Thank you for your help in this matter. Response - You asked about a client who reaches State Pension age in July 2021 who is currently claiming Universal Credit (UC) with her partner. She is querying what she will be entitled to when she reaches State Pension age, apart from her State Pension. She has had conflicting advice about this previously. When your client reaches State Pension age, she will then be a mixed-age couple (i.e. one member of the couple is over State Pension age and the other is under). We mention this briefly in factsheet 92 Universal Credit in section 2.3: A mixed age couple is where one person is over State Pension age and the other person is under. Couples making a new claim for benefit must claim UC rather than Pension Credit or Housing Benefit, until both members of the couple reach State Pension age. They can therefore remain on UC until they have both reached State Pension age, at which point they can move to pension age benefits (see section 2.2). However, when she starts to receive her State Pension, this will be considered as income for their UC award as we outline in section 7.1 of the factsheet, along with other types of income she may start to receive, such as any private or occupational pension. Note that if she becomes entitled to access any private or occupational pension on reaching State Pension age, these would be counted as income even if she chooses not to access them. If this is applicable see factsheet 91 Pension freedom and benefits in section 7.2. Obviously, she should make sure the DWP are aware of any such income, including her State Pension to avoid any overpayment issues, so she can add a note in her UC online journal about this just to make sure. If the above income, when added to their existing income (such as her partner’s earnings), exceeds their current UC award, then the award will terminate. If it does not exceed their current UC award, then UC will remain in payment. The best way to check this is by using our benefit calculator and inputting their existing circumstances along with any additional income she will receive on reaching State Pension age. This will then give an estimate of what their UC entitlement will be with this additional income factored in. If she does not know what her State Pension entitlement will be yet, she can request a forecast from the Pension Service. We also have information about State Pension, including how to make a claim, in factsheet 19 State Pension which she may find useful. 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. |