Shopshire: Cost of living help

This information has been brought together by Shropshire Council with its partners to support our residents at this challenging and worrying time.

Information provided by: Lichfield HIVE Hub

Telford & Wrekin: Veterans' Cafes - Drop in no need to book

Information provided by: Lichfield HIVE Hub

 

SSAFA Forces Additional Needs & Disability Newsletter - Biennial Conference Edition

 

The latest Newsletter from FANDF with a focus on the biennial conference is now available

For more details visit www.ssafa.org.uk/fandf or contact your nearest HIVE for details.

Dept for Work and Pensions weekly update

Information regarding the move from Tax Credits to Universal Credits (UC) is now available online.

Employers that have signed up to the Disability Confident scheme

This document lists the employers that have signed up to the Disability Confident scheme, and their status (committed, employer or leader) to end of July 2023.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is reminding bereaved parents to check their eligibility for financial support. In February 2023 the government extended eligibility for Bereavement Support Payment and Widowed Parent’s Allowance to cohabiting parents with dependent children. The benefits are designed to help with the financial impact of losing a partner.

Previously these benefits were only available to eligible bereaved parents who were married or in a civil partnership, but the law was changed to make it fairer to children.

When DWP extended eligibility in February 2023, it opened a 12-month window for cohabiting parents to backdate their claims. This means parents whose partner died before 9 February 2023 have until 8 February 2024 to claim. After this, it will not be possible to claim Widowed Parent’s Allowance and parents will not get their full entitlement to a backdated payment of Bereavement Support Payment

NHS England's Armed Forces Stakeholder Brief - Aug 2023

Welcome to the August issue of the Armed Forces stakeholder brief. 

The last month has been an exciting one across the Armed Forces space; after much hard work and with support from our Armed Forces Patient and Public Voice Group, we were pleased to rename the Veterans Trauma Network (VTN), Op RESTORE: The Veterans Physical Health and Wellbeing Service in the lead up to Armed Forces day.

We have also been working with colleagues piloting the single point of contact service for the Armed Forces community and following a period of engagement, this has been renamed Op COMMUNITY: Armed Forces Community Support.

We also welcome Op FORTITUDE, an Office for Veterans' Affairs initiative to end veteran homelessness, and Operation Stirling, an Age UK and Fighting with Pride service to support LGBT+ veterans, into the veteran support field. You can find out more about these initiatives below. We hope that these new services will offer valuable support to veterans of the UK Armed Forces.

With 5 July 2023 marking the 75th birthday of the NHS, we were delighted that in the same week the Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA) announced that 75% of trusts across England are now Veteran Aware accredited. Thank you to all colleagues from the VCHA and accredited NHS trusts for their dedication to support improved care for the Armed Forces community. Our next brief will be in September, in the meantime, we hope you manage to take some well earned rest this summer.

Please also see our one page overview 'NHS healthcare for the Armed Forces Community'.

Chatham: Tri Mini and Tri Club Free Weekly Courses at Medway Park Leisure Centre

 

For further information CLICK HERE

Information provided by Chatham HIVE

Are you ready for Wraparound Childcare’s autumn 2023 updates? Updates and expansions to eligibility criteria

Please click the image above to enlarge

Join more than 5500 Service families who are currently benefitting from claiming up to £3,400 per child per year of before and after school childcare costs.

The Wraparound Childcare (WAC) scheme provides funding for up to 20 hours per week, per child, to eligible Service families with children aged 4 to 11 years old who are in school or being home schooled in the UK. Almost 8000 Service children's before and after school childcare is currently being funded by WAC.

WAC is also known as ‘Out of School care’ in Wales and ‘School Age Childcare’ in Scotland.

Normandy: GymJams Soft Play Supporting Poorly Children 0-3 years

The health and wellbeing of our children is of paramount importance to all parents. But unfortunately not all children enjoy good health.

Play in the preschool years enables children to explore and make sense of the world around them. At Gym Jams, we want to ensure the importance of play is recognised and valued, we are passionate about advocating for children’s’ right to play, especially for those who face barriers to access such as ill health. We are keen to support families who are facing difficult health journeys, by offering the opportunity for little ones who are clinically vulnerable or immunocompromised to enjoy the soft play first thing in the morning before the other children arrive, free of charge. The equipment will have had a full clean ready for the day ahead and the child will have exclusive use of the facilities. As always, anyone with an infectious illness or gastric upset should not attend.

For more information please click HERE or Book Free Session

Information provided by Aldershot HIVE Hub

Service Leavers' Guide - July 2023 edition

 

T​he updated version of the Service Leavers' Guide has now been published on gov.uk.

Please see link: ​Service leavers' guide - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

HM Forces Veterans' ID Card

 

The Ministry of Defence and Office for Veterans' Affairs are​​ building an application process to support the HM Armed Forces Veteran Card rollout later this year. They want to hear your views on this.

If you are a veteran who served in HM Armed Forces, please complete the survey to help the team:  https://ow.ly/PCt350PqHHf