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August 11, 2023

West Midlands: West Midland Safari Park - Defence Discount Service




Receive up to 36% discount* on general admission when booking online in advance with your unique Defence Discount Service discount code. Once you have requested your discount code, visit www.wmsp.co.uk, select your tickets and visit date, and enter your discount code at the online checkout. 

Please note the member must have their Defence Discount Service card with them on the day of the visit

Information provided by Lichfield HIVE  (updated: 11.8.23)

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.

August 10, 2023

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'.

August 8, 2023

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

August 7, 2023

Service Leavers' Guide - July 2023 edition

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