This year has been incredibly difficult for many people, and we know that money worries or pressures add to the concerns of individuals and families, including isolation and the impact seen on mental health and physical health.
In order to help people in Falkirk, and help local groups and services support the people they are engaging with, we have pulled together some information and resources available to help maximise income for individuals and families, especially during COVID-19, including sources of financial assistance.
This page includes information that families and individuals can access themselves as well as stakeholder and partner resources. Please re-circulate the information as widely as possible to ensure we can maximise the support people are entitled to by raising awareness of these resources.
Falkirk Council’s benefits calculator is available to help people find out the benefits they can claim, including those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The calculator is free to use, and anonymous.
Before starting a calculation, people are advised to make sure they have information to hand about their income, savings, pensions and existing benefits (including their partners’). Progress can be saved and restarted at any time.
Please note that the results of calculator are an estimate or guide to potential entitlement, and are wholly dependent upon the answers you have given.
For further information, please read the full web article.
- Home Energy Scotland
Home Energy Scotland is a free, impartial advice service to help people and communities across Scotland create warmer homes, reduce fuel bills and help tackle climate change.
Their advisors are currently offering Get Ready for Winter support, and can check eligibility for discounts from energy suppliers, and funding and grants available for new boilers, insulation and heating systems. (Support for employers includes free online energy saving workshops.)
Additionally, energy suppliers have begun to open their Warm Home Discount Schemes, where eligible clients could receive £140 off their winter electricity bill.
Home Energy Scotland can offer support around this by phone: 0808 808 2282, or email: adviceteam@sc.homeenergyscotland.org
For further information, please visit the Home Energy Scotland website.
Money Advice Scotland’s last free Money Works webinar of 2020 will take place on Thursday 3rd December, 10am – 11am via Zoom. (Further dates will be announced for 2021.)
As part of their Money Works Programme, Money Advice Scotland is running a series of free webinars to help promote financial wellbeing in the workplace for employees and apprentices across Scotland. A growing body of evidence shows that anxiety about finances impacts wellbeing which can affect attendance and performance at work. This programme aims to improve employee wellbeing by providing information and guidance on products and helping staff to develop both immediate and lasting financial capability strategies.
This instalment will discuss scams, after a significant surge in scams, as scammers are exploit the COVID-19 pandemic to commit fraud.
In this Money Works webinar, Money Advice Scotland will discuss the scale of the problem and a range of different scams. They will also provide tips to avoid becoming a victim to fraudulent activity and how to keep your money safe.
For further information, including how to book your place, please view the full web article.
Falkirk Council’s benefits calculator is available to help people find out the benefits they can claim, including those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The calculator is free to use, and anonymous.
Before starting a calculation, people are advised to make sure they have information to hand about their income, savings, pensions and existing benefits (including their partners’). Progress can be saved and restarted at any time.
Please note that the results of calculator are an estimate or guide to potential entitlement, and are wholly dependent upon the answers you have given.
For further information, please read the full web article.
- Best Start Grants
Social Security Scotland delivers a number of Best Start Grants for families, parents and children:
- Scottish Child Payment – applications are now open for this payment, which starts on Monday 15th February 2021; it is for families on certain benefits or tax credits, to help towards the costs of looking after a child. It’s £40 paid every 4 weeks for each child under 6 years old, and does not affect other benefits.
- Best Start Grant Pregnancy and Baby Payment – one off payment of up to £600 from 24 weeks in pregnancy up until a baby turns 6 months for families who get certain benefits.
- Best Start Grant Early Learning Payment (halfway down page) – one off payment of £250 when a child is between two and three years and six months for families who get certain benefits.
- Best Start Grant School Age Payment – one off payment of £250 when a child would normally start primary one for families who get certain benefits.
- Best Start Foods – a pre-paid card from pregnancy up to when a child turns three for families on certain benefits to help buy healthy food.
- CAP Free Debt Counselling Service
Christians Against Poverty’s (CAP) free debt counselling service focuses on providing a service which works well for those who are more vulnerable and who need support to help them gain freedom from their debts.
They have currently and temporarily replaced their face to face service with telephone-based appointments, due to COVID-19. Once it is safe to do so, and following government guidelines, CAP will look to resume their face to face home visiting service for clients.
The Forth Valley service is available to anyone living in postcode areas FK1 – FK20, and EH51. To access the service, people will need access to either the internet or a post box.
Anyone looking for support from the above postcodes can contact CAP by phone: 0800 328 0006, Lines are open Monday – Thursday, 9:30am – 5pm, and Friday 9:30am – 3:30pm.
The Forth Valley team are also keen to speak with any local organisations and groups about their debt counselling service, and to see how they can work together to help those struggling with debt locally.
They have 2 separate booklets available, available to view or download from the CAP website as pdfs:
- for referrers and partners: Multi Service Referral Brochure
- for those looking for support: Weighed Down by Debt (Scotland)
For further information, please visit the CAP website, or contact the Forth Valley team, via Centre Manager Fiona Welsh, by email: fionawelsh@capuk.org
Unpaid carers (including young carers) in the Falkirk and Clackmannanshire areas who are looking for support can contact the Falkirk and Clackmannanshire Carers Centre:
- by phone: Falkirk – 01324 611510; Clackmannanshire: 01259 226839
- by email: centre@centralcarers.co.uk
- online
- via Twitter or Facebook
They also have teams dedicated to young carers and young adult carers, who both have social media accounts:
The Falkirk School Holiday Food Fund is open for applications for the December 2020 school holidays.
The fund has been set up to support local projects tackling food insecurity in Falkirk communities, working to feed children, young people and their families during school holidays.
Groups can apply for up to £1,000.
Applicants must be constituted; partnerships involving unconstituted community organisations can apply, but the lead partner must be constituted.
Decisions will be made by the Fairer Falkirk Partnership (part of Falkirk Community Planning Partnership), within 10 working days from receipt of a valid, completed application form.
For further information, including how to apply, please visit the Falkirk Council website.
Alternatively, for further information, contact Fairer Falkirk by email: fairerfalkirk@falkirk.gov.uk
Falkirk Council has launched the Parental Employment Support Fund (PESF), to help unemployed parents (and those facing in-work poverty) find work, boost skill sets and get advice on money.
The fund will also provide support for parents who face barriers to progressing their careers, including help to gain qualifications, improving skills or work experience; money advice, and motivational support.
Those eligible will work with a dedicated advisor to help them to progress their work ambitions and guide them to other support that is available.
For further information (including eligibility and how to apply), read the full web article.
Falkirk Council’s Employment and Training Unit (ETU) provides a range of employability programmes aimed at helping participants aged 16 years old and over improve their skills and progress into sustainable, fair work.
Working with partners from across Forth Valley (as well as other council services), ETU engages with Falkirk residents from school leavers to those who have been made redundant, from working parents to those with learning disabilities. Its services are offered in partnership with a range of specialist services aiming to make the transition into the workplace a much easier path to negotiate.
For further information, including how to get involved, view the full web article.
- Citizens Advice Bureaux (CABs) in Falkirk
Due to COVID-19, all Citizens Advice Bureaux (CABs) in the Forth Valley area (including those in Falkirk) are offering services via telephone and email only, including for referrals.
They are still working to provide support and advice during this time.
As a result, we have gathered the contact information for Falkirk’s CAB branches into one place:
- Falkirk CAB – phone: 01324 626070, email: bureau@falkirkcab.casonline.org.uk
- Grangemouth and Bo’ness CAB – phone: 01324 666935, email: advice@grangemouthcab.casonline.org.uk
- Denny CAB – phone: 01324 832118 or 01324 826063, email: bureau@dennycab.casonline.org.uk
- Citizens Advice Scotland national helpline: 0800 028 1456
They have also created a COVID-19 information page, updated regularly.
For further information, please contact your local CAB via the details above.
- Falkirk and Clackmannanshire Carers Centre
Unpaid carers (including young carers) in the Falkirk and Clackmannanshire areas who are looking for support can contact the Falkirk and Clackmannanshire Carers Centre:
- by phone: Falkirk – 01324 611510; Clackmannanshire: 01259 226839
- by email: centre@centralcarers.co.uk
- online
- via Twitter or Facebook
They also have teams dedicated to young carers and young adult carers, who both have social media accounts:
- Home Energy Scotland
Home Energy Scotland is a free, impartial advice service to help people and communities across Scotland create warmer homes, reduce fuel bills and help tackle climate change.
Their advisors are currently offering Get Ready for Winter support, and can check eligibility for discounts from energy suppliers, and funding and grants available for new boilers, insulation and heating systems. (Support for employers includes free online energy saving workshops.)
Additionally, energy suppliers have begun to open their Warm Home Discount Schemes, where eligible clients could receive £140 off their winter electricity bill.
Home Energy Scotland can offer support around this by phone: 0808 808 2282, or email: adviceteam@sc.homeenergyscotland.org
For further information, please visit the Home Energy Scotland website.
- Social Security Scotland
Social Security Scotland is responsible for social security provision in Scotland. They deliver a range of benefits on behalf of the Scottish Government, including the Best Start Grants (listed above), the Carer’s Allowance Supplement, the Funeral Support Payment, the Job Start Payment, and the Young Carer Grant.
Further information on all Social Security Scotland benefits (including eligibility and how to apply) is available on the MyGovScot website.
Alternatively, for further information or to apply over the phone, people can contact Social Security Scotland by phone: 0800 182 2222.
This information can also be provided in alternative languages or formats, requests can also be made by phone, as can requests for ESOL interpreters (if English is not your first language).
A Text Relay Service is also available: 18001 +0300 244 4000; British Sign Language users cant contact the team via contactSCOTLAND-BSL.
You can also contact Social Security Scotland’s client advisers via their web chat service.
Remember, if you have any concerns about anything you are being asked to do or pay for, you can contact Police Scotland, Trading Standards Scotland, or your local CAB at any time.
Police Scotland has released information on incidents regarding a male bogus caller presenting as a police officer (both over the phone and in person), which have been reported to the Forth Valley Division.
On both occasions the male presenting as a police officer was dressed in civilian clothing, not police uniform; he is described as scruffy looking with short dark hair, and 5 feet 7 inches tall.
Police Scotland advises that: “Under no circumstances would police officers attend at your home address to uplift any bank cards or obtain banking details such as PIN numbers. Should you be contacted by these means, do not engage with the caller, hang up immediately.”
For further information on both incidents, and advice on identifying a scam, read the full web article.
Trading Standards Scotland (TSS) has released various social media materials aimed at targeting and combating Energy Marketing Scams.
The frequent changes in the availability of energy efficiency incentives make it easy for dishonest companies to scam consumers. Scammers say that funding or grants are available, yet ask consumers to pay for the products up front or take out a loan.
TSS aims to raise awareness of the issue (with particular focus on lead generation and misleading information about grants and funding related to the UK Government’s Green Homes Grant scheme), and to point Scottish consumers towards genuine sources of information on energy funding.
For further information, please view the full web article.
Trading Standards Scotland is providing free call blocking devices to vulnerable individuals (including older people and adults with additional support needs) who are most at risk from scammers and rogue traders.
Due to the current isolation, lockdown measures and social distancing to combat COVID-19, the risk from scammers is higher. Many new COVID-19 related scams have emerged and, as lockdown eases, unsolicited marketing calls will be on the rise, often a pre-curser to face to face sales visits.
Trading Standards cannot currently install the device; however, each unit comes with full instructions, along with a helpline number.
For further information, including how to apply for a call blocking device, please view the full web article.
If you would like to help us build this list or make us aware of anything you know about, please contact us by email: info@cvsfalkirk.org.uk
