Next NAWRA meeting.

The first NAWRA meeting of 2018 takes place from 10:00am to 4:00pm with registration from 9:30am) on Friday the 9th of March 2018 at The Tab, The Square, Stockton-on-Tees TS18 1TE.

The NAWRA web site provides a link for the above venue but it appears dead to us and a quick search didn’t reveal a web site so at present you’ll be navigating by post code. Agenda, minutes etc. will be on their meetings page as soon as they’re available.

NAWRA quarterly meetings are held around the country and include keynote speakers, workshops and a range of networking and professional development opportunities. You must be a member to attend. Details of how to become a member are available on their web site.

In the meantime, there’s a GMWRAG meeting taking place…

 

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NAWRA submission re: the abolition of Attendance Allowance.

NAWRA has submitted a response to the “Self-sufficient local government: 100% business rates retention consultation” voicing their concern at the proposal that Attendance Allowance will no longer be a cash benefit in England and Wales when responsibility for it transfers from the DWP to each local authority’s social care budget.

If you didn’t realise that the abolition of AA was a real thing then please refer back to our previous items on this

One of the biggest reallocations of public resources in 25 years, and

More information on the abolition of Attendance Allowance as we know it.

Always keep in mind some people said Universal Credit would never start!!!

The submission is available on the NAWRA website. The deadline for submissions has now passed.

Thanks very much to Julie Henry (Durham County Council) for drafting it.

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Details of the first post Brexit NAWRA meeting.

There was a point in time when GMWRAG was very good at publicising NAWRA meetings. We even had a countdown on the site. That was superseded by our more recent “rubbish at publicising NAWRA meetings” period, which we now hope to bring to an end.

So, a quick reminder. NAWRA holds quarterly meetings around the country and include speakers, workshops and a range of networking and professional development opportunities.

The next meeting will be hosted by Glasgow Welfare Rights Service and will take place on Friday the 2nd of September 2016 at Renfield St Stephens Centre, 260 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 4JP. You must be a member of NAWRA to attend the meeting. If you are not already a member, find out more about joining.

More information will be circulated to members soon. GMWRAG has made a note and pasted it to our face to remind us that we probably need to let you know when that information is available. Notes from the Greenwich meeting are already available in the members area.

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Bit of campaigning anyone? ESA and students?

Our friends at NAWRA have asked us to circulate the following to see if anyone is interested.

Ellie Martin is the Advice and Campaigns Coordinator at Christ Church Students’ Union. She had been contacted by a 2nd year student in receipt of Employment & Support Allowance and also in receipt of SFE student finance. DWP reduced ESA entitlement because of SFE (Student Finance England) funding. DWP informed him that the reason his payments were reduced was because SFE is classed as an income and not a loan.

ESA went down from approx. £170 a week to 75p a week when he became a student. After a tribunal he managed to secure £75 a week.

He went to the Canterbury Citizens Advice Bureau and spoke to the manager. During discussions she mentioned that she feels SFE funding should be classed as a loan and not an income; as students pay interest just like anyone would with a bank loan. She advised that he should start a national campaign to encourage the Government and DWP to change their views and agree that this is a loan and not a source of income.

Do you have any experience with anything like this? Any current campaign or research undertaken that could help please?

Really looking for some other cases that could build up a national picture of the issue.

If you are able to help then please contact Ellie directly.

A 41 St Georges Place, Canterbury, Kent CT1 1UT

P  01227 782272

E  ellie.martin@ccsu.co.uk 

W  www.ccsu.co.uk

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