Tenant Newsletter - September 2022

A number of organisations offer support for residents struggling to deal with rising food bills.

Rugby Foodbank

The Rugby Foodbank works with local agencies to issue vouchers for emergency food parcels to help residents in a crisis.

Food parcels contain at least three days' worth of nutritionally balanced, tinned and dried food. You need a referral from one of the foodbank's partners to qualify for a voucher, but you can call the foodbank on 07557 680019 or email info@rugby.foodbank.org.uk to check which agency can best offer you advice and refer you for a voucher.

For more information, visit the Rugby Foodbank website.

Check whether your children qualify for free school meals

Meal options should be provided for all children in schools, with free meals available to:

• all infant pupils (reception, year one and year two), known as 'universal FSM'
• pupils who meet the free school meals eligibility critera, know as 'benefits-related FSM'

Even if your child currently receives free school meals due to being in reception, year one or year two, you should still apply for benefits-related FSM if you think you're eligible.

By doing so, your child's school receives extra funding for six years, which can help pay for teaching and learning support.

Benefits-related FSM also means you become eligible for support from the Warwickshire Local Welfare Scheme during school holidays.

You can check whether you're eligible for benefits-related FSM and submit your application on the Warwickshire County Council website.

The Mayor of Rugby has thanked council staff who cared for an injured sheltered housing tenant into the early hours of Christmas Day.

Property repairs operatives Clony Henry and James Mills were called to the tenant's town centre flat at 7.30pm on Christmas Eve to investigate a water leak.

After fixing the leak, Clony - known as KJ - and James visited the flat beneath the tenant's to check whether the leak had spread.

Hearing a loud bang and cries from above, the pair raced back upstairs to find the tenant had fallen to the floor with blood coming from a head injury.

KJ phoned 999 and after answering the call handler's questions, was told an ambulance was required and to call back if it failed to arrive within three hours.

Three hours later, KJ called again and was told an ambulance could take a further three to four hours to arrive.

Having established the tenant's family lived in Devon - and concerned he was suffering from concussion - KJ and James decided to stay at the flat and looked after the tenant until 3am, when an ambulance arrived.

At the hospital, the tenant was diagnosed with a mild concussion and was later discharged.

Cllr Carolyn Watson-Merret, the Mayor of Rugby, invited KJ and James to the Mayor's Parlour to pass on her thanks and present the pair with Amazon vouchers and a framed certificate in recognition of going the extra mile to deliver outstanding customer service.

"Our property repairs team carries out emergency repairs all year round, but on this occasion both KJ and James went above and beyond to ensure the safety of one of our tenants," Cllr Watson-Merret said.

"Thankfully the tenant escaped serious injury and KJ and James were able to celebrate Christmas Day with their families and loved ones, even if James only managed two hours' sleep before being woken up by his children, who were eager to open their Christmas presents.

"Both are a credit to the council and I was delighted to have the opportunity to thank KJ and James in person."

Photo caption: (left to right) Clony Henry, known as KJ, Cllr Carolyn Watson-Merret, the Mayor of Rugby, and James Mills.

 

With respiratory infections predicted to rise over the winter months, it's important to book your Covid-19 seasonal booster jab and your flu vaccination.

The NHS has confirmed the eligibility for the Covid-19 seasonal booster, with people aged 50 and older, residents in care homes for older people, people aged five and under 50 in a clinical risk group, and health and social care staff all qualifying for a booster.

So far, more than two million people across the country have received a seasonal booster, with a further 1.7 million booked to have the jab.

You can book your seasonal booster jab online at the NHS website.

Visit the NHS website to book your booster jab

People aged 50 and older also qualify for a free flu jab on the NHS, together with frontline health and social care workers, and people with 'at risk' health conditions.

You can find our more information about eligibility for a free flu jab on the NHS website, or speak to your GP to arrange your jab.

Visit the NHS website to find out more information about free flu jabs

The NHS has urged everyone eligible to book a booster and flu jab to help avoid a 'twindemic' of Covid-19 and flu during winter, with health services facing record demand for urgent and emergency care.

The council has joined forces with pioneering social enterprise Beam to support the homeless and residents at risk of homelessness into training or employment.

Beam has launched a unique crowdfunding platform where 'backers' can pledge donations to help individuals secure the skills, support and training to enter the world of work.

A caseworker from Beam works with each client, helping to create the public crowdfunding campaign on the social enterprise's website, where members of the public can donate towards job training, work tools, travel or childcare and leave messages of encouragement.

Beam's caseworkers provide clients with CV support, interview skills training and access to a range of top employers, with carry on supporting the client through the first three months of employment.

You can find out more about Beam on the social enterprise's website.

Visit the Beam website

If you, a family member or a friend think you could benefit from Beam, email beam@rugby.gov.uk

The Government has launched a new website to detail the support on offer for people struggling to deal with the cost of living.

Help for Households outlines how you can get help with household costs, energy bills, childcare costs and let you know exactly which benefits and financial support you're eligible for.

The website also has a section devoted to discounts, where you can discover deals currently on offer from a wide range of retailers, supermarket chains and more.

Visit the Help for Households website

 

By listening to our tenants, we can improve our housing services.

So, we want to hear from you.

By working with us, you can help raise the standard of our services and deliver value-for-money.

We have several ways you can get involved.

You can:

• complete surveys
• join a residents' group
• join our readers' panel
• take part in our estate walkabout programme to review where you live
• review the council's website content
• become a pre-letting property inspector
• become a cleaning inspector
• attended meetings of our service review group, which helps improve key aspects of our services
• join our Facebook group - Rugby Borough Council tenant information exchange

Your views matter and your feedback can make a difference.

If you want to get involved but want to bring a friend or family member with you for support, please do - we welcome all.

We'll also make sure your help does not leave you out of pocket. You can claim expenses for the likes of travel, childcare and carer costs.

To find out more about getting involved and help us improve our housing services, visit our Tenant Involvement website page or email RBC.tenants@rugby.gov.uk