Some news from the Information & Advice (I&A) team at Age UK Wiltshire that may be helpful to older residents across Easterton Parish:
- Age UK are supporting clients to apply for the Wiltshire Surviving Winter Grant this year (in partnership with Wiltshire Community Foundation and Wiltshire Warm & Safe) which, if applying through Age UK Wiltshire, is a one-off grant of £150 (up to £250 for some clients). They can support clients who meet all the following criteria:
- over pension age (client and/or partner)
- have household income (excluding disability benefits) less than £16,190 pa OR in receipt of a means-tested benefit
- considered to be in fuel poverty by AUKW– e.g. high heating costs, struggling to afford to heat their home adequately, hard-to-heat homes, significantly under using heating.
- able to provide evidence of their means-tested benefit and a suitable bank account to pay the money into
- Age UK continue to take applications for our free telephone befriending service and are branching out into other things like telephone book groups, although they now have a short waiting list. They can also refer into free Age UK national telephone befriending.
- They are still supporting clients with Attendance Allowance/DLA application forms which is now done through free telephone appointments and turnaround time for us contacting and completing the appointment is around 2 weeks or less (with it being backdated to the date of referral to them)
- They continue to offer telephone and email advice and support in the usual areas of advice like welfare benefits for older people, housing options and issues and care and support options.
All of the above can be arranged through Age UK Information & Advice team by calling on 0808 196 2424 or emailing enquiries@ageukwiltshire.org.uk. You can read about their other services on our website here: https://www.ageuk.org.uk/wiltshire/