• To promote and support survival of quality existing specialist and community based advice services through the process of change

•  To promote partnership work in social welfare law especially the links built between generalist and specialist services.

• To use the platform as a foundation upon which to build a sustainable support structure for the future

The primary goal of the consortium of members would be to help maintain, improve and sustain the provision of social welfare law in West London through the provision of high quality generalist and specialist service initiatives.

We see a real need to share resources in order to cut the costs of delivering legal advice.

A key aim of the project is to reduce individual advice providers’ overhead costs and increase advice productivity and sustainability. We want to see if, in a time of falling budgets, we could use the network to help each organisation make backroom costs and time savings freeing up scarce advice resources.
We have already organised a meeting of West London law centres where the outline of the project was discussed. The response was positive with an agreement to explore initially reducing spending by group purchasing.

We want to set up further meetings with generalist services in West London, if you are interested please contact Baljit on  020 7373 2102 or baljit@nucleus.org.uk

Much has been made in the press of families supposedly receiving more in benefits than in work. It is important to clarify that the bulk of welfare payments a family receives is almost always going on housing benefit which goes to landlords, not for the personal enrichment of the family concerned.  This is the result of the operation of the housing benefit system created in 1987 and the removal of rent controls. 

Since the abolition of rent control on January 15th 1989 under the Housing Act 1988, rent levels have rocketed. The housing benefit bill has risen accordingly. Effectively, housing benefit has become a welfare state for landlords, being the second most expensive benefit payment after old age pensions.

Thus, the bulk of any £26 000 claim or higher in benefits will actually end up in the pocket or bank account of  private landlords who since 1989 have been allowed to charge whatever figure in rent they wish, the so-called “market rent”.

One aspect that has hitherto received little attention is that much of this money is actually flowing out of London to absentee landlords, many of who are not UK taxpayers.  Experience over the last three years, of Nucleus and other advice agencies with clients claiming housing benefit is that the money is ultimately paid on to landlords living in Ireland, Spain, Italy, the United States, Cyprus, Nigeria, Lebanon, South Africa and in one case Ethiopia. Obviously, this has become an opportunity for fraud, particularly in central London boroughs.

But why are the Government oblivious to the obvious remedy of controlling rent levels, rather than cutting benefits? If rents were controlled again to the equivalent of the 1970s – 1980s the benefit bill would be cut and properties would be affordable. It is also predictable that homelessness would be greatly reduced. Effectively, it might be said a political choice has been made to subsidize landlords – wherever they are in the world – rather than actually look after the interests of British taxpayers and people receiving welfare in the UK. Could it be that many decision-makers are simply unaware of the system that has been brought into existence?

Much could be done by saving the £20 billion being paid out for inflated rents, so how has the Coalition missed two obvious solutions to reduce housing benefit bills by (1) re-introducing rent controls and (2) ensuring wherever possible that money  is ultimately being s paid to landlords who are UK taxpayers or whose identity can be clearly ascertained, if resident abroad?

Nucleus has come across cases where the official receiver is still allowing direct deductions to be made for overpayments. If this is happening to you please get in touch with one of our debt team who can help.

The Rt. Hon. the Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers
President of the Supreme Court of England & Wales

Walking 40 miles in darkest February
To raise funds for London’s legal advice charities

Do you want to join our team to help raise money , if so please get in touch.
Do you want to sponsor a Nucleus Team member – either get in touch with us or the virgin giving site – remember you would get tax relief on your donation to make your donation count even more!

We will re-open for business on Tuesday 3rd January 2010

The first drop in will be Tuesday 3.30pm – 6.00pm
followed by another on Thursday 10.00 – 12.30pm

In case of a housing emergency please ring
Shelter hostels on 0808 800 4444 (8am to midnight)

RBKC is closed from 24th until 28th December 2010 and then again from 31st December to the 3rd January 2011
The RBKC council out of hour’s number is 020 7361 3002
_________

The benefits agency is closed from 24th until 28th December 2010 and then again from 31st December to the 3rd January 2012
In case of emergency you can go and ask help at your local police station at:
72 Earls Court Road
Kensington, London W8 6EQ
Tel: 0300 123 1212
__________

We wish all our users
Season’s greetings and all the best for 2012.

Increases in unemployment, government austerity measures
including benefit caps coupled with soaring fuel prices are causing many
families to fall into debt. Between 2009/10 and 2012/13 household incomes are
predicted  to fall by a further 7%, while
the average annual fuel bill is said to likely to be above £1,300.

Nucleus has a new worker to help people, especially EDF
customer access grants to help people:

- Better understand their bills

- Save money by budgeting

- Claim grants to help clear arrears

The new caseworker, Bernadette, works in an established team
of money advisers who can help you to maximise your income , reduce your
outgoings and take control of your debts.

They are able to provide all the help you need to take
control or even start again by applying for Debt relief order or bankruptcy.

The team works with the benefits and housing advisors to help ensure provide we
provide holistic

Nucleus has been helping local people for nearly 40 years. We
are an independent charity which works with local trusts, the local council and
community groups  to enable people  through advice. We want to help people to take
control of their life’s and make positive decisions.

Over the last year we
managed to bring in an additional £4milion in benefits, grants or debt write
offs.

Ring   020 7373
2102 and ask for Bernadette  for help.

The challenge in coming months is to preserve and maintain these improvements, especially at a time when support and benefits are being cut and local residents are facing a massive increasing cost of living.

Nucleus Legal Advice Centre will be taking on the role of lead agency of the project for this final stage.

The project steering group membership remains the same:
Oliver Fisher solicitors
North Kensington Law Centre
Nucleus Legal Advice Centre
Kensington and Chelsea Citizens Advice Bureaux
Worlds End Neighbourhood Advice Centre
Migrant and Refugee Community Forum
Age Concern Kensington and Chelsea
Action Disability Kensington and Chelsea
Kensington and Chelsea Social Council
Midaye
Al-Hasaniya

Advice Now staff and service provision, remain the same.

For Advice, Information and sign posting to an appropriate agency:

Visit Advice Now website site: www.advicehubkc.org or

Call the new Telephone Triage service, Number: 0300 012 5464

Cllr presentig one of the successful volunteers their certificate

Nucleus Advice Centre, the Volunteer Centre and Advice Now Project have joined forces
to create a back-to-work programme for unemployed volunteers, training six of
them to run the pilot project.

Together we will provide a telephone service to direct callers to the most appropriate
advice service for their needs in the borough.

A spokesman said: “The project helps people find a voluntary advice sector
service quickly and easily, ensuring that the voluntary advice resources are
utilised to their best ability.

“It is run by volunteers, operated by and for the local community, and provides
quality training in advice and administrative skills to enhance the employment
prospects of the volunteers.”

The service launched with the full support of the council, and last week,
Councillor Rock Feilding-Mellen presented certificates to volunteers for
successfully passing the Advice UK Learning to Advise course.

It will be able to provide confidential advice on issues with debt, immigration,
education, consumer problems, housing, benefits, employment and community
advice groups.

Anyone looking for help on these
issues can call 0300 012 5464 or visit www.advicehubkc.org.

If there are to be cuts it should be to the lion’s share of the budget – criminal legal aid. Social welfare law  only costs £350 million – money which is used to save people homes , money  which is used to get older or disabled people  money
for basics , money which s sued to help save people from “over zealous” money collectors often charging usuary rates.

However what the article fails  to mention is that legal aid law n social welfare law often earn £25,000 after 3 years after qualifying – legal help rates are £54 – half that of most reasonable plumbers or carpenters!

It also fails to mention how much money spent on social welfare law is money well spent – not only preventing problems ( and the cost to rectify the wrongs) but also real money saved: or the last 12 months for  every  £1 in legal help we have secured users £21.70 in wrongly refused benefits and £55.70 for debt cases.

The state must stop paying rich criminals’ costs NOT support ad help for vunerable people

Martin Bentham,
Home Affairs Editor

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-24004148-the-state-must-stop-paying-rich-criminals-costs.do

Statistics show that between
2009/10 and 2012/13 household incomes are expected to fall by a further 7%,
while the average annual fuel bill is said to be above £1,300.  Hikes in unemployment, government austerity
measures, and soaring fuel prices are commonly said to be some of the causes of
increasing household debt levels.  “Fuel
poverty” in particular is said to be on the increase – and is defined by when a
household is spending a large proportion of its income (typically 10 per cent)
on providing heat, hot water and electricity to the home.

Baljit Badesha, Manager at
Nucleus Legal Advice Centre in Earl’s Court said: “Nucleus’s
new money advice project offers local people an opportunity to tackle all their
debts, including their fuel debts. Our key aim is to publicise additional help
through grants to meet fuel arrears, and increase public awareness about what
help is available.  It is little known
that utility suppliers such as EDF and British gas have trust funds to help
those in fuel-debt. Nucleus is currently helping people access these grant
schemes and enabling them to effectively wipe-out their fuel debts through
these programmes,  and other additional
EDF /British Gas schemes – a real practical help for people to stay warm this
winter.”

He added: “We also aim to provide
practical guidance to the community about how to use energy in their homes more
efficiently, and on how to access some of the other energy schemes available.”

Other energy-saving schemes
available are as follows:

Warm home discount scheme

The Warm Home Discount
Scheme is a four-year programme run by the government and energy suppliers to
provide rebates on the electricity bills of households that need it most.  There are two key qualifying groups.   For those on the “guarantee credit “element
of pension credit,  the Warm Home Discount
Scheme provides an automatic rebate on a household’s electricity bill for the
winter of 2011/12 and the subsequent three winters. To qualify the applicant
must receive the guarantee element of pension credit on the qualifying date,
which is 11 September 2011.

Other vulnerable groups,
such as families on low incomes, or those who are “fuel-poor”, may also qualify
for a Warm Home Discount, but unlike those on the guarantee credit element of
pension credit, they will not be granted the discount automatically and will
have to make a claim.  Each energy
company has its own specific qualifying criteria, so people should contact
their utility supplier to find out how to benefit from this scheme.

Home Heat helpline

The Energy
Retail Association has set up Home Heat Helpline to provide practical advice
for vulnerable customers and those finding it difficult to pay their
bills.

The number
is 0800 33 66 99.  The line is open 9am-8pm Monday to
Friday and 10am-2pm on Saturdays.

Warm Front Scheme

The Warm Front scheme
provides heating and insulation improvements to households on certain
income-related benefits living in properties that are poorly insulated and/or
do not have a working central heating system.
Qualifying households can get improvements worth up to £3,500 (£6,000
where oil central heating and other alternative technologies are recommended).

Grants are available for
improvements such as loft insulation, draught-proofing and cavity wall
insulation.

The cost is free as long as
the work needed costs less than the grant available.

Green Deal

This is the government’s
flagship scheme which will enable people to access up to £10,000 upfront to pay
for energy efficiency work, repaying the costs through savings on energy bills.
This scheme will be introduced in 2012.

For more information and details of other energy-saving
schemes , please contact:

Bernadette Nwosu,
Nucleus Money Advisor

 NOTES TO EDITORS

1. Nucleus
   Legal Advice Centre is a fast-growing
   voluntary organisation and since 1974 has been providing free legal advice, assistance
   and representation in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, particularly
   in the Earl’s Court area.
2. Nucleus
   aims to provide a comprehensive advice services, in social welfare law, to the
   local community.  Nucleus
   offers confidential advice and assistance, mainly but not only on Debt, Housing
   and Welfare Benefit issues.
3. Nucleus
   holds unique core values – we are impartial, aiming to
   advise you on your options and to try to get the best outcome. We know how
   important it is to get professional advice quickly.  We believe
   in accessibility to advice and want everyone to have access to quick,
   accurate legal advice. So we aim to ensure you see an experience advisor
   as quickly as possible at either the Quick advice walk in sessions or by
   appointment.
4. Nucleus
   is a member of adviceuk, the largest group of independent advice centres
   in England.
5. Locally,
   we are partners in Kensington & Chelsea Legal Services Consortium with Alan
   Edward’s solicitors, Kensington & Chelsea CAB and North Kensington Law
   centre.  The Legal Services consortium
   works together to deliver social welfare advice under the Legal help scheme.Using the scheme we deliver Debt and benefits Legal help.
6. We have
   strong links with a lot of local organisations, particularly local community
   groups, other local advice service providers and umbrella groups that operate
   across London.  We work closely with those groups to establish the needs
   of the community, and to tailor our service accordingly.
7. We are
   also members of Advice Now.  AdviceNow is a joint working of all the advice
   organisations in the borough working in collaboration to improve access
   to advice services across the borough.We regularly attend and share our experience with forums within the borough and
   the voluntary advice agencies forum (VAAF).