Big Lottery Fund Grant – Reaching Communities
The following was published on the Big Lottery Fund website on 22nd October:
A new project by The Ipswich Disabled Advice Bureau (IDAB) will support disabled people to reduce their levels of isolation and improve their health and wellbeing. The £263,838 grant will support individuals to develop their money management, IT, cooking and other life skills. This will develop their confidence and increase their chances of entering education, training, employment and volunteering. At least 1,000 disabled people from Ipswich and surrounding areas will benefit, including Kesgrave, the Shotley peninsula and Hadleigh.
The project aims to reduce anxiety in coping with financial welfare reforms through debt and money management sessions, including basic IT training and managing universal credit accounts. There will also be group sessions on loan sharks, legal advice, mobility cars and access to work. Healthy lifestyle activities will include healthy eating workshops, gentle exercise classes and swimming clubs. The project will also provide social group activities, peer support lunches, relationship advice sessions and home visits to reduce isolation.
Big Lottery Fund spokesperson Jonathan Clarke said: “Today’s funding will help projects to give vulnerable older people and people with disabilities the support to help them build a comfortable and positive future for themselves.”
£465,892.07
Income generated for our clients in the last quarter!
AGM 2013 Photos
2013 Annual General Meeting.
You are cordially invited to our 40th Annual General Meeting to be held on Wednesday 14th August 2013 at 7pm at the Manor Ballroom, 4 St Margarets Green, Ipswich IP1 2BP (Entrance in Cobbold Road). RSVP By 11th August 2013 to Ipswich Disabled Advice Bureau, 19 Tower Street, Ipswich IP1 3BE ~ 01473 217313.
Changes to Social Fund from April 2013
From April 2013, community care grants and crisis loans from the social fund will no longer exist. The Government will give money which used to pay for these schemes to local authorities. Local authorities may choose to run a replacement scheme, but they won’t have to and they won’t have to give out cash loans. They may choose to put the money towards supporting existing local schemes, such as foodbanks, schemes which provide subsidized furniture and white goods, credit unions and homelessness prevention schemes.
Those requiring help in Suffolk should first approach agencies with whom they are currently in contact, such as SNAP/CARA, Anglia Care Trust, Local Authority housing advice services and Childrens Centres etc.
If claimants are waiting for their first benefit payment then they should contact DWP and will be considered for a short-term benefit advance if appropriate. Where claimants need short-term benefit advances, DWP should be paying them.
Research
Research is listed as one of our primary activities in the Memorandum and Articles of Ipswich DAB but very, very little has ever been carried out. Now we are making up for lost time and two pieces of research are currently underway, both linked to projects detailed below:-
- The implementation of the Universal Credit pilot study and the analysis of the outcomes are part of a Master of Science degree supervised by University of St Mark and St John, Plymouth.
- Employment in a changing workplace and people with dyslexia, who completed their education before the 1981 Education Act introduced SEN (Special Educational Needs) provision in school, is the subject of a distance learning doctorate being studied at the University of Exeter, funded and jointly supervised by University of St Mark and St John, Plymouth.
Extra Bedrooms
An appeal to the Supreme Court has been dropped by the DWP. This concerned the amount of housing benefit awarded where the needs of a disabled child require an extra bedroom.
Dyslexia
we have been working with clients with dyslexia for about two years, using the skills of an existing member of staff. In January 2013 we will be expanding on this as we have been funded for an eight month project.
Further details on our Dyslexia page
Universal Credit pilot study
Universal Credit replaces Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Housing Benefit, income based Job Seekers allowance, income related Employment and Support Allowance and Income Support. The scheme is due to be introduced to new claimants in October 2013.
As soon as information began to circulate, Ipswich DAB realised that this will not only be a huge change for our clients and Advisers in terms of the benefits themselves, but also in terms of the application method and our own methods of working with clients. Currently, most claims are submitted on paper forms filled in by Advisers by hand. Universal Credits have to be claimed online and an online account maintained, with claimants also receiving information in this access to a computer or the internet and 55 percent do not know how to use either or both.
In order to prepare ourselves and meet the needs of our clients, we applied through Suffolk Foundation, to the Improving Suffolk Fund for funding for Advisers to begin using online forms with some of our clients. This will enable both Advisers and clients to assess what their difficulties will be with the implementation of Universal Credit and what provision Ipswich DAB will need to make in order to continue to provide the same level of service to our clients. The study has the support of Ipswich Job Centre Plus.