Advisory service brings benefits (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Advisory service brings benefits

DISABLED and elderly people in Wiltshire have received hundreds of thousands of pounds extra in benefits since a new specialist advisory service was launched six months ago.

Wiltshire County Council pooled resources with the Department for Work and Pensions to introduce a new joint visiting team to help people apply for benefits such as attendance allowance, disability living allowance and pension credit.

The service, launched at the start of September 2003, is available from Wiltshire County Council for all adults who are looked after in their own homes .

Many disabled and elderly people have been helped to claim benefits they might otherwise not have known about.

All the people working in the team are experts on benefits who are able to offer help and advice and ensure that the correct benefits are received.

Projected figures for the period from September 1, 2003 to March 31 this year suggest that a total of 1,575 people will have been helped by the team.

This will have generated the annual equivalent of £645,442 in benefits for these people, said Wiltshire County Council.

Introducing the new team has also helped to free up social workers' time as previously social workers would have helped their clients with their benefits.

Judy Seager, Wiltshire County Council's cabinet member for adult and community services, said: "This is good news for disabled and elderly people receiving care at home, good news for the provision of services in Wiltshire, and good news for our social workers as it will allow them to concentrate on their own areas of expertise.

"It is also good news for Wiltshire's economy, as the equivalent of more than half a million pounds a year is already coming into the county.''