Welfare Issues

HIGHLAND BRANCH

 

 

APPLICATION FOR ASSISTANCE FROM THE BRANCH HARDSHIP FUND

 

 

Members are able to apply to the Branch Hardship Fund if they are suffering genuine financial hardship due to loss of pay from taking industrial action.

 

All applications for assistance from the Branch Hardship Fund will be considered in the strictest confidence, and will be treated in a fair and equitable manner.  

Please complete this form fully and return it to: Highland Branch HF, Freepost RTKC-TYHR-SYAA,

UNISON, 53 Shore StreetINVERNESSIV1 1NF (no stamp necessary).  Please provide a copy of your pay slip with the strike amount taken out, as well as normal pay slip

 

If you have any queries or would like advice or assistance please telephone the UNISON Resource Centre on 01463 715891 (all calls will be treated confidentially).

 

 

Name

 

 

 

Home Address

 

 

 

 

Work Address

 

 

 

 

Contact Telephone No

 

 

UNISON Membership No 

 

 

Job Title

 

 

How many hours per week do you work?

 

If part-time, how many hours would you have worked on the day(s) of strike action?

 

What is your weekly pay after deductions?

(Please enclose a copy of 2 pay-slips, one normal one, and one which has had strike pay deducted)

 

What other income comes into your household?

(eg partner’s wage, allowances, etc)

 

What is your total household weekly outgoing? (eg rent, mortgage, gas, electric, loans, etc)

 

Which strike date(s) are you claiming for on this form?

 

How much pay did you lose for each day?

(please remember this is the net pay lost)

 

How much money do you wish to claim?

(NB Net pay lost is the maximum payable)

 

 

Please provide further information to back up your claim, as this will help the Hardship Committee come to a decision (eg particular short-term financial difficulties, repayments due, etc).

 

Please note that without this information and copies of your pay-slips the Hardship Committee will be unable to process your application.

 

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(Continue on a separate sheet if necessary)

 

Signature ………………………………………………………………………………   Date …………………………………………………

 

FOR OFFICE USE

Decision

 

Date

 

Cheque No

 

Date Sent

 

 

 

 

UNISON LAUNCHES CREDIT UNION NETWORK

 

 
 

UNISON has unveiled a unique network of credit unions to help low-paid members tackle debt and provide a moral alternative against the "abuse of pay-day loan companies".

At a press conference this morning, general secretary Dave Prentis explained that, with "one in five" turning to pay-day lenders, the union has formed a network of 40 credit unions across England, Scotland and Wales, with more to come in the coming weeks.

The union's own charity, There for You, already offers a range of services, including financial assistance and the UNISON Debtline. This will be a new component in the "development of a wraparound and holistic welfare service".

The new service will not be a "sticking plaster", but will be about providing members with "sustainable solutions" to their problems.

Mr Prentis said that UNISON will be working with the community and a wide range of interested parties: he said that they will be "talking to the Archbishop of Canterbury" in coming weeks.

The launch also heard about the links between pay-day loan companies and the Conservative Party, and the refusal of high street banks to provide credit or even bank accounts to those on low incomes, while at the same time, helping provide start-up funding for high-cost pay-day lenders.

Advertising is aggressive: Get Sameday Loans, for instance, even uses the context of gender and women's independence, with illustrations that deliberately mimic the iconic Rosie the Riveter, to target women with loans that have a representative APR of 2,957.3%.

Mr Prentis emphasised that the union will also be taking the issue to all the major political parties, together with a Westminster seminar that is slated for the return of Parliament.

Martin Groombridge of the London Capital Credit Union described it as "an enormous step forward" and was about "bringing morality back into banking."

Debt, he explained, does not only affect the low-paid: his group has been contacted by people working in the City of London and for national newspapers.

UNISON assistant general secretary Liz Snape said that the intention was to help people "get their finances back on track - and get their lives back on track."

It was, she added, "a unique package".

Birmingham City Save CEO Angela Clements said that she "highly applauds what UNISON is doing", and noted that credit unions "promote thrift and savings".

John Fairhust of Payplan, which has been working with UNISON for 13 years, stressed that many people see "no alternative" to pay-day lenders, but added that "there is an alternative".

For the Centre of Responsible Credit, Damon Gibbons called on the government to act and regulate the pay day lending market. He pointed out that, in Florida, regulation has not stopped the industry growing.

In the UK, some 14% of all pay day loans are defaulted, which is a major factor in the initial cost of credit. He also called for a ban on roll-over lending.

There for You

 

Petition for an Impact Assessment of the Cumulative Effect of welfare Reform

Please see below for information about a petition proposing that the UK government assess the cumulative impact of benefit changes and cuts that are being proposed.

You can access the petition here:  http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/43154



Councillors to challenge Welfare Reform (28/11/12)

 

Highland Councillors are united in their condemnation of the far-reaching nature of Welfare Reform changes proposed by the UK Government in a bid to find savings of £18 billion by 2014/15.

Councillor Alasdair Christie, Chairman of the Council’s Welfare Reform Working Group, led the criticism of the proposals, which he predicts will seriously affect the wellbeing of the most vulnerable members of the community.

Speaking at the Finance Housing and Resources Committee today (Wednesday) he reported that he has invited the three Highland MPs to meet with the Working Group on 25 January, next year, to highlight the growing concern of reform.

He said: “I have consistently raised my reservations, horrors and concerns at the reforms, which threaten to drown many people in debt. We must do all in our power to highlight our concerns at this damaging reform, which turns the clock back decades in terms of caring for our most vulnerable families and individuals.”

He criticised the absence of clarity over the nature and timing of change, which added to people’s anxieties.

From April 2013 the “bedroom tax” will be introduced, resulting in housing benefit being cut if a tenant’s council/housing association house is too big for their assessed needs and they are of  working age.  Community care grants and crisis loans will be replaced by grants from the Scottish Welfare Fund, Council Tax Benefit will be replaced by the new Council Tax Reduction Scheme and budgeting loans will start to be phased out.   At this time, disability living allowance will be replaced by a new personal independence payment. 

The biggest concern is over the introduction of the universal credit next October.  Administered by the Department for Works and Pensions, this new credit will replace 6 of the existing working age benefits – income support; jobseekers allowance; employment support allowance; working tax credits; child tax credits and housing benefit – with a single monthly payment under the new regime being paid to one individual in each qualifying household.

Housing benefit, which helps some tenants pay their rent,  is currently paid directly to the Council, as landlord, and goes straight into tenant’s rent account each week. Some Housing Association tenants also have their housing benefit paid direct to their landlord. However, from October, next year, housing benefit will become part of the new universal credit payment for all new claimants.   People who receive this benefit will be paid monthly and will be expected to pay their rent to the Council, and other landlords in the social rented sector, out of the amount they receive. Rent payments will not be made directly to the landlords– other than in exceptional circumstances.