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Welfare Benefits
Medway Council and Macmillan Welfare Benefits Service
The Medway Council Welfare Benefits Service has been running
since 1998. It is a front line customer focused team, dealing
directly with clients in Medway to provide advice, information,
advocacy and representation on welfare benefit issues.
The service offers both advice and support to service users as
well as to those who work within the care services and
the rest of the council.
With effect from September 2010, the existing unit has been
extended to include a specialist benefit advice service to
help people living with or affected by cancer.
The new Medway Council and Macmillan Welfare Benefits
Service is a joint initiative between Medway Council, NHS Medway
and Macmillan Cancer Support.
Advisers work as part of the team to guide people with
illnesses, disabilities and people affected by cancer, their
families and carers, through the benefits system, by ensuring that
they receive everything they are entitled to and do not suffer
financial hardship.
The dedicated service provides support in many ways, including
home visits, talks, training for staff and an advice surgery for
cancer patients at Medway Maritime Hospital on Fridays (excluding
bank holidays) which operates on an appointment-only basis.
All specialist advisers can act as advocates for their clients
and offer practical advice and help.
The team:
- works closely with the social care staff, health professionals
and Macmillan information and support service at Medway Maritime
Hospital to ensure that people receive all the advice and support
they need from one initial contact;
- gets referrals from many other sources, including external
agencies and voluntary organisations;
- develops and maintains public information and provides
awareness sessions for people who work with people affected by
illness, disability and cancer;
- arranges to visit people wherever is most convenient for them,
including their own home;
- helps people to apply for all their welfare benefit/tax credit
entitlements;
- helps people with other benefit issues, including challenging
unfavourable benefit decisions and representation at appeal;
- refers / signposts people to other agencies that can help
them to deal with other matters - for example debt, housing, or
employment issues.
Services include:
- home visits to assess the circumstances of each
individual client and advise on the full range of benefits,
allowances and tax credits that may be available to them to
maximise their income;
- representation to the Department for Work and Pensions
(DWP), Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Tribunal Service,
High Court Commissioners and the Ombudsman undertaking technical
and legislative work;
- training on a wide range of welfare benefits for internal
staff and external organisations and yearly training sessions to
give staff an opportunity to update their knowledge of benefit
changes and welfare reform;
- benefit rate leaflets written and produced annually for
distribution among staff;
- a telephone advice line for staff for one-off
enquiries;
- benefit talks and seminars, the content of which can be
adjusted to suit the requirement of the audience;
- periodic benefit take-up campaigns with partner
organisations to encourage and advise clients to apply for relevant
benefits to maximise their income.
The service supports the following client groups:
- adults;
- children and families;
- adolescents;
- 16+;
- the elderly;
- people affected by cancer and those with long term health
conditions;
- people with a learning disability;
- people with a physical disability;
- young offenders;
- people with addictions.
Social Care Support
Clients referred to or seeking help from the council will have
differing levels of need. Many will be helped by advice, practical
services or short-term interventions. A smaller proportion will
have more complex problems, which require a detailed multi-agency
assessment of their needs, leading to appropriate plans and
interventions.
Phone: 01634 334466
Macmillan Cancer Support
Whatever questions you, your family and carers have about
cancer, you can ask Macmillan. The Macmillan free phone and web
service provides practical, emotional, financial and medical
information, direct from their team of cancer support
specialists.
Phone: 0808 808 00 00
Benefits rates for 2011/12
Download the Welfare Benefit Rates
leaflet for April 2012 to April 2013 (pdf 46KB).
To use this file you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do
not have it on your computer, please use the advice page.
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