Potholes

Nearly £1.8 million was paid nationally to motorists in compensation for pothole damage last year and the number of pothole claims is rising. Here in Devon, there were 1,505 potholes waiting for repair on 1st December, and over 1,200 damage claims submitted to County Hall with a combined value in excess of £1.1 million. For a claim against Devon County Council to be successful it would have to show that loss or damage was caused as a result of the council's negligence

Cost Of Living Support - Maximise your benefit income

Research from the Department of Work and Pensions confirms that some 63 per cent of eligible people over state pension age and 52 per cent of working age people do not claim all their means-tested benefit entitlement. The result of this, revealed by research in April 2023, is that the staggering sum of almost £19 billion is left unclaimed in means-tested benefits every year. • Check what benefits you are entitled to on the gov.uk website: gov.uk/check-benefits-financial-support • Use the Turn2Us benefits calculator to find out what benefits you could get: www.turn2us.org.uk • Citizens Advice Teignbridge: https://citizensadviceteignbridge.org.uk • Gov.uk Cost of living support factsheet: https://www.gov.uk/.../government-support-for-the-cost-of... • Gov.uk Help for Households campaign website: costoflivingsupport.campaign.gov.uk You may be able to get other kinds of support, including: • Help from the Household Support Fund from Teignbrdge District Council: http://www.teignbridge.gov.uk/.../household-support-fund/ • You may get a reduction in council tax from Teignbridge DistrictCouncil if you are on a low income. Phone 01626 361101 • Pension Credit calculator: gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator • Understanding Universal Credit: understandinguniversalcredit.gov.uk Foodbanks HITS https://hitsfoodbank.org 01626 906371 THAT www.thatfoodbank.com 01626 437310 NHS Healthy Start If you’re more than ten weeks pregnant or have a child under 4 years old, you may entitled to get help to buy healthy food and milk. www.healthystart.nhs.uk Energy Saving Devon Energy Saving Devon can help you make your home more energy efficient to run. They can see if you are eligible for a grant. www.energysavingdevon.org.uk

Stinging Rebuke by Ombudsman on Devon County Council

The Local Government Ombudsman investigating complaints against Devon County Council has issued a stinging rebuke to the authority for its late responses and failing to act and ordered thousands of pounds in compensation to be paid. In one case, the Ombudsman even had to threaten to issue a 'witness summons' to secure a response from County Hall after the council stalled for five months on supplying information. Since April this year, the Ombudsman, an independent Government body which investigates serious complaints against councils, has found against the county council in 26 cases and ordered compensation payments running into thousands of pounds are paid to residents. The majority of the complaints upheld against Devon County Council relate to failures in children's services and specifically children with special educations needs. As David Cox has reported before - Devon County Council has been failing to manage Children's Services for the past 13 years with another Government inspector, Ofsted, ordering improvements and changes to ensure children in Devon are kept safe. And it's not just this year the Ombudsman has criticised the county council. In his letter to the chief executive of Devon County Council, the Ombudsman said: "In more than a fifth of cases, the council was late providing evidence of compliance with recommendations it had agreed to. Disappointingly, the same concern was raised in last year's letter. "In one case, the recommended review of adult safeguarding procedures took over seven months longer to complete that originally agreed." Uncovering the stinging criticisms and failures, it begs the question whether the council is taking the Ombudsman reports and letters seriously. It seems to me they have been swept under the carpet at County Hall. The Conserative executive running the council are understandably embarrassed by their complete failure to make improvements and then to even undertake the actions the council promised the Ombudsman would take place. This is yet another shameful example of the complete chaos at Conservative-run County Hall. It is a further reason why, the Government should step in and take over running Children's Services. Clearly, the council is lost in the wilderness and continues to fail, continues to let down vulnerable children and is cheating children with special needs of the support they need." Eight years ago, the council promised to share Ombudsman decisions with councillors and the authority's Standards Committee so findings of failure could be scrutinised locally and improvements ensured. However, says Cllr Connett (who proposed the policy), that decision appears not to have been put into action and critical reports from the Ombudsman have not been shared with councillors. Cases such as 'Miss Y' who the Ombudsman ordered the county council to pay £5,260 after it had 'let down' their child. In another case, 'Miss X' received £2,550 due to extensive delays which caused 'distress and uncertainty over a five month period' Another complaint was upheld by the Ombudsman who ordered a payment of £4,950 in that case and further payments of £1,700 and £2,550 in two other separate cases. A number of the complaints relate to the snail's pace the council takes in sorting out Educational Health and Care Plans for children with special needs. By law, these should all be done and dusted in 20 weeks, the Devon County Council is taking about a year to complete many of these plans. The Ombudsman said in one case: “We expect councils to follow statutory timescales set out in law and the Code. We are likely to find fault where there are significant breaches of those timescales." Devon County Council said last month (November 6th) in a news release that "Since August 2023, no child in Devon has been waiting more than a year for their EHC plan to be issued. The national average for meeting the 20-week timeliness target is around 50 per cent, but we are below this."

South West Water has raised its dividend "by an inflation-busting" 8.3%

After BBC Panorama showed what water companies get up to! South West Water has raised its dividend "by an inflation-busting" 8.3%, despite the sewage scandal. Martin Wrigley, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate said: "This adds insult to injury, whilst shareholders get an inflation busting dividend, local people have to put up with the River Teign and Teignmouth’s beaches suffering from disgusting sewage dumping." Data released by the Environment Agency shows there were at several separate sewage discharges in our area last year. Polluting our environment with untreated human waste. Liberal Democrat councillors are calling for much tougher rules on water companies to put an end to this ongoing scandal. Teignmouth town councillor, Steve Welsh said: “It’s disgraceful that water companies continue to dump tonnes of sewage into our local rivers. It is outrageous that the Conservative Government continues to let them get away with it.”

It sinks!

Conservative MPs have just voted against a Liberal Democrat

amendment calling for a compensation scheme for swimmers and others who fall sick from illegal sewage in our rivers, lakes and seas. Once again they are letting water companies off the hook for this scandal.

NHS Healthy Start

If you’re more than 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under 4, you may be entitled to get help to buy healthy food and milk. If you’re eligible, you’ll be sent a Healthy Start card with money on it that you can use in some UK shops. We’ll add your benefit onto this card every 4 weeks. You can use your card to buy: plain liquid cow’s milk fresh, frozen, and tinned fruit and vegetables fresh, dried, and tinned pulses infant formula milk based on cow’s milk You can also use your card to collect: Healthy Start vitamins – these support you during pregnancy and breastfeeding vitamin drops for babies and young children – these are suitable from birth to 4 years old

Cost Of Living Support

Maximise your benefit income Research from the Department of Work and Pensions confirms that some 63 per cent of eligible people over state pension age and 52 per cent of working age people do not claim all their means-tested benefit entitlement. The result of this, revealed by research in April 2023, is that the staggering sum of almost £19 billion is left unclaimed in means-tested benefits every year. Given the impact of the current cost of living crisis, we want to make sure everyone who needs help, claim what they are entitled to, along with accessing all other support that is available. Citizens Advice can help you check what benefits you may be entitled to. Turn2Us have an online calculator for benefits and grants to check what you are entitled to. www.turn2us.org.uk

Stay Warm

With the high cost of living at the moment, it's tempting to try and ride out the cold weather to avoid spending too much on heating. But being cold can have a serious impact on your health, particularly if you’re older or have a pre-existing condition, as it increases the risks of heart attacks, strokes, and chest infections. If you can’t heat your whole home, it’s important to try to heat the rooms you spend the most time in (for example, the living room during the day and the bedroom just before going to sleep). And remember, wearing a few thinner layers is better at trapping heat than wearing one thick layer. The NHS website has lots of useful information about staying well during the winter.

South West Water has raised its dividend by 8.3%

", despite the sewage scandal. Taking the lead from our Government!