The National Office for Care and Support in Wales has published its first annual report. The report outlines the key work the office has undertaken over the last year with the aim to:
1. Support the Chief Social Care Officer for Wales.
2. Develop, implement and deliver the National Care and Support Service for Wales.
3. Implement and manage the National Commissioning Framework for Care and Support in Wales.
Keeping your home warm in the winter can be expensive so benefits like the Winter Fuel Payment can make all the difference.
The fuel poverty charity NEA estimates that around 4 million UK households are unable to afford sufficient heating, and in January 2023 it reported there were around 4000 excess deaths during the winter months.
If you are an older person and receive certain benefits, you may be eligible for financial support with your heating bills.
Winter Fuel Payment is an annual tax-free lump payment to help you to heat your home in the winter.
The benefit was introduced in 1997 for older people who feel the cold more, are less active and stay indoors more.
The payment is either £200 or £300, depending on your date of birth and whether or not you live alone.
If you or your partner were born before 23 September 1944, it should be £300.
Payments are usually made in November and December.
For more information see homecare.co.uk
The Homecare Association has today condemned the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review and its political choices, as ministers prioritise billions on bombs and NHS expansion over the preventative care and support needed by millions of older and disabled people in our communities.
With no significant new funding to reform adult social care, no plan to address exploitative local authority commissioning, and no serious money to implement the Fair Pay Agreement, we are concerned the government is failing to recognise care as a vital part of our social infrastructure.
Dr Jane Townson OBE, Chief Executive of the Homecare Association, said:
“This Government is spending billions on bombs whilst neglecting older and disabled people in our communities. Caring for each other is a fundamental human need. Many UK citizens have a keen sense of fairness, kindness, and community. They have family and friends who need help and are struggling. Many will see this as a grotesque failure of moral and fiscal leadership.”
On the £29 billion additional investment for the NHS, Dr Jane Townson OBE said:
“We appreciate the importance of the NHS but it does not exist in isolation. If older and disabled people cannot access homecare, they end up in hospital or come to harm at home. Ambulance queues, rising A&E admissions, corridor care, long waiting lists for treatment – these are all symptoms of a government that refuses to fund our sector adequately. No amount of money directed to the NHS is going to fix this.”
