Most recent activity
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No, Council Tax rebate is completely separate to Housing Benefit, but the claim forms are often run together for historical reasons.
I don't know too much on the Scottish side of things I'm afraid, but Council Tax Rebate will exist in Scotland in some form, have a look on your local council website. -
Thanks, I'll add that to the first post
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I'll try to format this as a table later on.
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If your pay has been cut due to reduced hours or having to isolate, or anything else, please remember that these benefits are there for you to claim. Housing Benefit will help to cover your rent, and Council Tax rebate is there to help cover your Council Tax.
You can claim them whilst you are working, and they should be responsive enough to change week by week as your pay alters (doesn't always work like that, and things will be delayed).
Places online that you can check your entitlements (I can't personally vouch for these, and thanks to all that have provided links to them)
- https://www.entitledto.co.uk/
- https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/benefits-check/ (by Entitledto as above, but has some more details around it)
- https://benefits-calculator.turn2us.org.uk/
- https://www.betteroffcalculator.co.uk/#/free
I'm going to try and put a list of where the online claim forms are for each council in the second post on this thread. It'll take a while, but I'll try to get them all there over the weekend.
If you need help with an application or have a query, shout. If I can help I will. I've not done assessment for a number of years, but I do still work supporting the teams so I'll do my best. If there are other people here who are actively doing assessment, feel free to help out too!
Claims start from the Monday following the day on which you contact the Council, providing you complete the process within a month, otherwise it's the Monday after you get the form in. I would strongly suggest contacting by email, as this provides you with proof that you contacted them, and that it was regarding a benefit claim.
Claims can be backdated if there is a good reason for you not having claimed earlier (not being aware that you couldn't claim isn't a good enough reason usually, having got Covid19 and being too ill to put in a claim likely would be).
If you are already claiming, please remember to notify of change of circumstances as soon as possible, as that Monday following rule also applies here.
Some Councils have been switched to Universal Credit for Housing costs, but you will still need to claim with them for Council Tax Rebate. I'll try to note the situation as far as I can below.
- https://www.entitledto.co.uk/
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That Matt Hancock bit from the Torygraph, freed from their pay wall shackles... https://pastebin.com/hWYzJhCa via https://twitter.com/curexcomplex
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That seems to be a different company (based in Bedfordshire), the one that Channel 4 were talking to are based in Belfast (I think, certainly NI). Also they are talking about developing a test, where the NI company seem to have one they are already shipping.
My understanding (and its minimal) is that the RT PCBs test for the actual virus, whereas the antibody tests test to see if you are producing the antibody to it. An amount of the antibody will continue to be produced and in your body forever once you have recovered. Thus the antibody tests can check if you have had it, if they are sensitive enough.
But I may have misunderstood something in there.
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So, testing.
Inital tests being used a lot of places seem to be RT PCR (see https://twitter.com/gnomeicide/status/1235319094481739777?s=20 ) this tests for active virus in your body, but doesn't test for antibodies, so shows if you have the virus, but not if you have had it and recovered.
Channel 4 have been reporting on a NI based firm who seem to have developed an antibody test that gives results in 10 minutes (see https://www.channel4.com/news/rapid-coronavirus-testing-kit-developed-slashing-results-time-for-covid-19-diagnosis ). My understanding is that this sort of test should show if people have had it and recovered, as well as those that have currently got the virus (as long as they are producing antibodies)
Am I understanding things right?
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Our daughters school in Merton (Mitcham) texted today to say that a member of reception/nursery staff has been isolated, and that nursery and reception are being deep cleaned before being reopened some point on Monday.
table teaset...