Author: Clerk

Please see the below from Great Yarmouth Police:

Great Yarmouth currently has two incredibly active and strong community alcohol partnerships within the Borough with our work recently being recognised at The Houses of Commons.  These partnerships include the Police, Borough Council, Licencing Teams, The Matthew Project, CGL, Schools, several charities and a number of businesses. 

We are keen to understand the views of alcohol consumption within the Borough and the impacts this may have on the community and would really appreciate if you could take 5 minutes of your day to complete the short questionnaire on the below link.  The results from this questionnaire will be used to shape our work and even used to feedback to policy makers.

Take the survey

If you would like some more advice on dealing with those tricky situations of young people asking to consume alcohol please feel free to use to link below for some help and advice from Alcohol Change UK

Alcohol and parenting | Alcohol Change UK

If you are struggling with substance misuse or just to reduce your own alcohol consumption please feel free to look at some of the information in the below link from CGL who have offices within the Borough.

https://www.changegrowlive.org/alcohol-drug-behaviour-change-norfolk/hubs

School Rd, South Walsham, Norwich NR13 6DZ

Wednesday August 17th 11am – 2.30pm

Booking essential by August 14th. Contact us for a booking at:

monument@norfolk.gov.uk

or call 01603 303378 or 01603 223146

These are the cost of living payments provided by central government that people may be eligible to receive:

1. Energy Bills Support Scheme – £400 per household
   1. All households will be eligible to receive this. Individuals in residential care will not receive any funds through the Energy Bills Support Scheme
   2. This amount will be paid via energy suppliers over 6 months from October 2022. Direct debit and credit customers will have money credited to their account. People with a prepayment meter will have the amount applied to their meter or paid via a voucher.
   3. Where people live in households where rent includes utility costs, landlords should be responsible to pass on any payments received.
       
2. Pensioner Cost of Living Payment – £300 per household
   1. You must be over State Pension age (aged 66 or above) as at week ending 25^th Sep. 2022 and be receiving the Winter Fuel Payment.
   2. Payment will be automatic as a top-up to their annual Winter Fuel Payment in November/ December 2022. For most pensioner households, this will be paid by direct debit.
   3. Eligible individuals include:
      1. People in hospital receiving free treatment for more than a year
      2. People who require permission to enter the UK and whose granted leave states they cannot claim public funds
      3. People in prison for the whole week from 19 to 25 Sep. 22
      4. People who lived in a care home for the whole time from 27 Jun. to 25 Sep. 22 and received Pension Credit. This only applies to residential care as people who live in supported living or housing with care and meet the criteria will receive the payment. However, if people live in residential care and receive a state retirement pension without pension credit, they can receive a winter fuel payment. Further information can be found here: 
         
         Winter Fuel Payment Eligibility
          
3. Cost of Living Payment – £650 per household (paid in 2 instalments of £325)
   1. People receiving certain means-tested benefits are eligible for these payments. This will automatically paid by the DWP in 2 instalments , the first in July 2022 and the second in Autumn 2022.
   2. Eligible benefits include: Universal Credit or Income Based JSA, Income Related ESA, Income Support, Working Tax Credit/Child Tax Credits or Pension Credit.
   3. People in residential care are eligible provided they receive one of the eligible benefits
       
4. Disability Cost of Living Payment £150 per claimant Claimants on DLA/ PIP/ AA/Armed Forces Independence Payment/ Constant Attendance Allowance/ War Pension Mobility Supplement at 25/5/2022. Automatically in September 2022. Nothing has been seen to suggest that people in residential care will not get the payment.  Information from the DWP is awaited but again it is suspected  there will be no guidance.  Supported living people should have no issues with getting the payments as they do not have benefit suspended.
    
5. Council Tax Rebate £150 per household in England in Council Tax bands A-D. Those who pay Council Tax by direct debit will be paid automatically into their bank accounts from April 2022. People in residential care will not have a payment unless they have a council tax liability. The same for those in supported living they would only receive it if they have a council tax liability. Usually people in support living do not have a council tax liability so the majority will not get the payment. There is a discretionary scheme run by districts where you can apply if you live in a property above a band D. 

Council Tax Rebate

The impact of Coronavirus on education meant that thousands of children didn’t have the opportunity to practice reading during lockdown.

Estimates suggest that many primary school children have fallen further behind in reading, with the most disadvantaged pupils now 7 months behind their peers. Children who struggle with reading are more likely to live in poverty and be unemployed as adults.

Schoolreaders needs more volunteers in your area to support children’s reading in primary schools and help them catch up on their lost education.

No qualifications are needed; just a love of reading; some spare time each week and a willingness to go where the children need you most. The process to become a Schoolreader takes a few weeks, so please apply now so you can be ready to start as soon as it can be arranged.

If you want to make a difference to a child’s life, apply to become a Schoolreader:

www.schoolreaders.org or call 01234 924111 for further information.