Published December 23, 2016 at 13:30
Rossendale Council attended the Pensioners Fair in November and was able to provide help and assistance to those who came, including one lady in particular.
When we attended the Pensioners Fair at Whitworth Civic Hall in November, one resident visited our stand enquiring if she could claim any help towards her rent. One of our Revenues and Benefits Officers informed her of her potential entitlement based on an approximate calculation. We then arranged for a home visit to be carried out to gain all the information required. We assessed the claim which resulted in over £2000 in backdated Housing Benefit, an ongoing entitlement towards her rent and also towards her council tax bill. This will make a huge difference to this resident and may not have been picked up if she hadn’t enquired with us at this event.
The Council recognises the importance of these events and we are pleased to be able to spend the time with residents like this who are not connected digitally and simply do not know support is there for them if they are in these situations.
On the day we were also able to advise people to apply for Flood Resilience Grants if they had been affected by the 2015 flooding, we were able to help out with queries around Council Tax discounts for those living on their own and we were able to sign post residents to other relevant partners.
Councillor Barbara Ashworth, Older People’s Champion at Rossendale Council said;
“It is great that the Council were able to help out these residents at this event, it was a valuable morning in helping our elderly residents and informing them of what support is out there.”
We look forward to any future events such as these, given the impact they’ve had on those we helped on the day.