BENEFITS AND ALLOWANCES EXPLAINED

Members of Breathe Easy are vulnerable to serious and dangerous exacerbation of their illnesses, often resulting in hospitallization and requiring various degrees of extra care.
So we were very lucky to have Gloria Manser from the Citizens Advice Bureau and Age Concern, along with another senior, and modestly anonymous, member of Age Concern’s staff, as guest speakers at our November’s group meeting to explain the range of benefits and other entitlements that older people, and people with disabilities are able to claim. Their services operate in Whitstable, Canterbury and Herne Bay, and we learnt that Age Concern and Help the Aged are shortly to amalgamate, becoming Age UK.

Some of the services are particularly helpful. The Home Support Service provides volunteers to make home visits and help fill in the sometimes dauntingly long and confusing benefit application forms. There is also a “Care Navigator Service” for people over 55, which provides help in getting grants for new boilers or cavity insulation. This service will also put people in touch with Social Services for an assessment of their needs. The “Home from Hospital” service will give some help during the difficult time when patients have been discharged from hospital, including light shopping and housework; this is a free service.

A range of other services are obtainable, such as a personal alarm service, reassuring in the event of falls; funeral plans are available, as is a home help service.

Gloria emphasized that, despite some people’s reluctance to claim benefits, we have paid for these benefits through our National Insurance and are therefore fully entitled to claim. She explained the intricacies of the Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance, and stressed the importance of getting help filling in the forms to ensure your needs are clearly expressed. She explained about Self-Directed Support, where money can be available to enable individuals to remain at home, rather than go in to residential care, and who is entitled to Carer’s Allowance.