Category: Community

All households will receive £400 which will be paid as a credit onto your energy bill in instalments from October, and it won’t need to be paid back

While this will help ease the strain for a lot of households, it won’t cover the full cost of energy price rises.

The £400 energy grant will be rolled out in six instalments from October 2022

In England, Scotland and Wales, the £400 energy grant will be paid in six instalments, with households seeing £66 knocked off their energy bills in October and November, and £67 a month from December to March 2023.

However, the money will be paid differently depending on how you pay your bill.

If you’ve set up a direct debit, or pay by card, the money will be automatically credited to your account.

Customers with ‘smart’ prepayment meters will have the money applied to their meter each month, so they’ll have to add less credit to their meter.

Those with ‘non-smart’ prepayment devices will be given a voucher in the first week of each month, via text, email or in the post. The voucher will be redeemable at top-up points, such as a local Post Office.

For more information please visit

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62338543

Free drop-in session this coming Saturday in Great Dunmow. Everyone welcome.

Everyone of all ages and genders are welcome to drop in this Saturday for our first CHAT CAFE!

We would love to create a safe and welcoming space for all our community members from ages 0-100!

Where: Uttlesford Community Hub 45 Stortford Road, Great Dunmow CM6 1DQ

When: Saturday 6th August 10am-12pm

Price: FREE!

There will be books aplenty, relaxing music and of course, lots to chat about! Hot and cold drinks will be available for an optional donation.

We can’t wait to welcome you!

Save the date! Essex Police and Essex County Fire and Rescue Services will be celebrating Emergency Services Day with a raft of activities on Saturday 10th September 2022

Between 10am-2pm officers from Essex Police dog unit, motorcycle unit, firearms unit and recruitment team, will be on Saffron Walden Common.

Please come along to meet all your local emergency services and celebrate Emergency Services Day with them.

*Vehicles will be dependent on emergencies coming in*

Are you worried about money? Our new leaflet can help you find the right support

The step-by-step guide will help you to find out where to get help in Uttlesford.

You can access the online interactive version here: http://www.worryingaboutmoney.co.uk/uttlesford

Or download a copy here: https://ifanuk.org/uttlesford-leaflet

With thanks to Independent Food Aid Network for their support in the production of this leaflet.

Fraudsters continue to use social media to target people. Don’t get caught out online. Be Scam Aware

Fraudsters are using fake accounts on Instagram to make recommendations or ask for help, which are made to look like they have come from one of your friends or followers.

You are asked to click on or share a link via the message function, which essentially will allow the fraudster to take over your account.

Your account will then be used to promote more scams, in an attempt to get your friends and family to hand over their money as they believe it has come from a trusted source – YOU!

Remember:

If something seems too good to be true or not quite right to you, always check. Especially if it appears to be from someone you know.

Give them a quick call before clicking on any links to make sure the offer or ask is genuine.

For advice about what to do visit if think you have been a victim of a scam visit www.essex.police.uk/CP

Do you receive Universal Credit? You may be eligible for the NHS Healthy Start Scheme that will help with the cost of buying food and milk

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

Find our more and apply online here: www.healthystart.nhs.uk

Earlier this year UCAN was awarded a grant to improve access to services across the district. We’re ready to hit the road with our new mobile hub!

CVS organisations across Essex were provided with funding to help communities recover from COVID, and improve the ways that residents are able access help and support in their area. Uttlesford is unique in Essex, in that it covers a large geographic area (some 200 square miles) and we have an older population who are scattered in rural locations across the district. Travel links between these outlying villages and the main centres of Saffron Walden and Great Dunmow are not ideal, and make getting to locations where they can seek advise and support problematic.

Our solution is to bring those services to residents, through the deployment of a new Mobile Community Hub. We have used our grant funding to purchase a former Police mobile office, and fit it out as a small community centre. Our team will be touring the district throughout the Autumn and Winter, with regular stops each week so that residents can come over for tea, coffee and chat, but also talk to someone face-to-face about any issues or problems they may be experiencing where they live. UCAN Community Responders can help with a range of challenges, including access to food and medicines, befriending (by telephone and in person), installation of key safes and video doorbells, minor home improvements, garden maintenance and more! In collaboration with our Social Prescribers and Home from Hospital team, we can also provide wrap-around support before and after hospitalisation, and arrange delivery of hot meals, food parcels and collection and delivery of equipment. One of our most requested services is the installation of key safes for carer and emergency service access.

We will be publishing our “schedule” of locations and dates on Facebook community pages, our website and shared through partner organisations. You don’t have to have a problem to come and say hello – we’re always up for a chat over coffee and cake – and we’ll even provide it!

For more information on UCAN community services email connect@ucan.org.uk or telephone 03333 408218.

Our Community Response Team will be joining colleagues from Uttlesford District Council, Essex Fire and Rescue, Essex Police and a host of other voluntary agencies in Leading Roding on 26th July 2022.

Local residents can come along for free tea, coffee and biscuits served from our mobile cafe – a converted horse trailer fully equipped to provide a host of hot and cold drinks! Jake and Lindsay will also be on hand to help with your challenges and concerns, ranging from needing a key safe installed to how to get online.

The Multi-agency event is on Tuesday 26 July from 11am – Holloway Crescent, Leaden Roding, Dunmow, Essex CM6 1QD. We look forward to seeing you then!

News from our friends at Pam’s Place – the recently relaunched Thaxted venue for the community

“We were very excited last Friday when we were presented with a brand new sign for our “Drop In” coffee mornings. We would like to thank Leigh and Pro-Laminates of Sawbridgeworth for creating and donating the sign.”

Mike one of our Trustees, seen below, will be busy this week finding the perfect place to hang it ready for this weeks Drop In.

Don’t forget the Drop In coffee mornings run every Friday from 10am – 1pm. We serve coffee and tea with delicious freshly made cakes and scones. We do not charge but ask for a small donation. Next week we will be serving savoury options too!

Pam’s Place is at Vicarage Close, Thaxted, CM6 2QW (accessed via the Margaret Street Public Car Park).