The Purls.UK are now Live & Crowdfunding!!!

The Purls.UK bring people together to build friendships and inclusive communities, combating loneliness and isolation and benefiting the street homeless and their pets by donating handmade warm items of clothing and working in partnership with like-minded organisations. Thank you to those of you that have gotten past any technical issues and successfully liked, commented and pledged on our Spacehive page. Your support is greatly appreciated.

The Purls.UK have been awarded a Community Small Sparks Grant, which Sobus partners and we will be preparing knitting & crocheting kits for those who are shielding or self-isolating very soon, with regular contact by phone.

The Purls.UK have gone live and are now Crowdfunding!!!! Please visit our page to like, comment and pledge at www.spacehive.com/building-healthier-communities

 

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London Boroughs Faiths Network

Thursday 8th October

4.30pm-6.00pm

Corona and beyond … a pan-London briefing for faith and community groups

Up to date information and discussion on

  • Public health update
  • London’s strategic response – and other issues on the horizon; Weather, Brexit and Flu
  • Adapting to changing regulations
  • Funding and resourcing
  • Local collaboration supporting those in need
  • Spiritual support for Londoners

We will be welcomed by Fiona Twycross, Deputy Mayor of London, and joined by senior professionals from specialist agencies and asking:

Where are we now?

What have we learned?

What can we do better?

To register send your name and organisation name to convener@lbfn.org by 10.00am Thursday 8th October. Zoom connection details will be sent out one hour before the briefing.  For updates on speakers and agenda look at our Whatsapp Group https://chat.whatsapp.com/JU9RxahR9MC6WKBCfiLnyu

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Metropolitan Police Little Books of Advice

The Little Book of Phone Scams Link 

The Little Book of Advice Link

The Little Book of Cyber Scams Link

The Little Book of Big Scams Link

 

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Talk/together

On 5th July, the birthday of the NHS, /together brought millions of people together in a shared moment of thanks, as the ‘Clap for carers’ was heard again in streets across the UK.

We believe that moments like these, when we come together to focus on what we have in common, are important. And we want to find out how we can do more of this.

/Together is a campaign that starts with questions rather than answers.

We have now launched talk/together : a UK-wide conversation about what divides us, what unites us and what will bring us closer /together. We hope this will be the biggest public survey since the census, engaging people in conversations right across the UK.

It will shape the direction of the campaign’s future activities to promote social connection and bridge divides.

And we want to invite you to have your say.

Find out more about Talk/together here

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New Corporate Insolvency & Governance Act

Changes to timeframes in the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 came into force on 29 September. The Act introduced several temporary measures due to expire on 30 September 2020, which have now been extended:

Provisions enabling companies and certain other qualifying bodies (including English/Welsh CIOs) to hold virtual AGMs are extended until 30 December 2020;

Restrictions on statutory demands and winding up petitions are extended until 31 December 2020;

The small supplier exemption from restrictions on terminating supply contracts are extended to 31 March 2021; and

Modifications to the new moratorium procedure (including eligibility conditions) are extended until 30 March 2021.

Other provisions have not been extended. The temporary rules offering trustees/directors some protection from ‘wrongful trading’ expire on 30 September 2020 after which they will no longer be effective. Trustees/directors could be liable to contribute personally towards the debts of their company if it is heading towards insolvency and they fail to take steps to minimise losses. Read more

Read more…

Read more…

Read more…

 

 

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YHFF Launch Peer Research Report: Growing up in Hammersmith & Fulham

Young H&F would like to present our latest report Growing up in Hammersmith & Fulham. The report explores the needs of young people aged 10 -25 in Hammersmith & Fulham. The research was carried out by young people between the ages of 13 to 24.

Some of the key findings are:

  • Young people are largely unaware of how to access local youth services.
  • The majority of young people are worried about the impact of coronavirus on their education and employment.
  • The majority of young people were  interested in receiving advice on finance, anxiety and stress and managing emotions.
  • Knowledge of how to access youth services is important for mental health

To find out more you can download the report here

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K&C Libraries Newsletter – October 2020

Three libraries in Kensington and Chelsea are open with limited services on offer and social distancing measures in place. You are welcome to visit Central, Chelsea and North Kensington libraries from 10am to 6pm, Monday to Friday and from 9.30am to 5pm on Saturdays. Chelsea Library is open on Sundays too, 1pm to 5pm.

Face covering is required to enter the library and we are asking people to submit their details for the NHS track&trace programme or scan the QR code if they have the app.

But our online library of newspapers, journals, comics, books, audiobooks and much more is available to you at all times, remotely, with your library card.

Our events programme continues online and there is a lot happening on our social media platforms too!

Read on

 

 

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The Skills Toolkit

The PM today set out plans to transform the training and skills system to help the country recover from coronavirus.

The plans include:

  • A Lifetime Skills Guarantee to give adults the chance to take free college courses valued by employers.
  • A new entitlement to flexible loans to allow courses to be taken in segments, boosting opportunities to retrain.

A press release issued by the Prime Minister’s Office is available at: https://bit.ly/2S7DCWO. The PM’s speech can meanwhile be read at: https://bit.ly/3n4AjxV

The Skills Toolkit

There has also been an expansion of DfE’s online learning platform, The Skills Toolkit, to more than 70 courses in digital, numeracy and employability or work-readiness courses.

bit.ly/3bQ6TOk

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Defend Council Homes Policy Consultation

Hammersmith & Fulham Council have been working on a new policy to make sure residents are fully involved in any decisions on the future of their homes.  It’s called the Defend Council Homes policy and we’d like to know what our residents think about it.

Our new Defend Council Homes policy has been designed by a resident-led team.  It aims to protect resident’s interests and make sure that if there are any proposals affecting their homes in the future they can’t go ahead unless residents have had the opportunity to be fully involved from the very beginning.

Cllr Lisa Homan, Cabinet Member for Housing, has recorded a short video to explain why this policy is so important. You can watch it here at https://youtu.be/BIXN6vm5ng8

No other council has done this before, and we believe we’ve found a way to give residents the protection they have the right to expect.  The Defend Council Homes policy sets out our new approach.

We’d like to know what residents think about the policy and the protection it offers.  In fact, we’re hoping for a big thumbs-up from all residents, because the greater the support for the policy, the stronger its protection will be.

There’s more information, including some videos explaining the policy, on our website at www.lbhf.gov.uk/defendcouncilhomes

The deadline for the consultation is Friday 2 October 2020

This consultation is open to all council housing household members and we would welcome individual returns from each person.

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Covid-19 County Court Proceedings

As some of you may know, the 6-month stay on possession proceedings ended on 21st September 2020. We anticipate that in the coming weeks you will see an increasing number of people who have been served with notices by their landlords or who receive correspondence from the Court.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of changes have been made to notice periods and to possession proceedings in the County Court.  We felt it would be helpful to outline the most significant changes in an e-mail to you, so that you can be aware of what to look out for in the coming weeks.   

    1. New Notice Periods 

There have been a number of changes to notice periods depending on when the notice was served. It is therefore important to note when a notice has been served by a landlord and check that the notice period is correct.   

    • Notices served on and before 24 March 2020 must give most tenants 2 months before their landlord can apply to court.  
    • Notices served on 25 March 2020 to 28 August 2020 must give most tenants 3 months before their landlord can apply to court. 
    • From 29 August 2020 up to and including 31 March 2021, most notices must give tenants 6 months before their landlord can apply to Court. However, if 6 months or more rent is owed to a landlord, the notice period is only 4 weeks. 
    • If a landlord has served a notice as a result anti-social behaviour or some other reason, the notice period can be as little as 2 weeks. 

 

  1. New ‘Review Date’

 

Tenants subject to possession proceedings will now receive a Review Date from the Court. This is a major change to the way the County Courts manage possession proceedings.  

The aim of the Review Date is for landlords and tenants to try to resolve the Court case as early as possible and avoid lengthy Court proceedings.  

The Review Date is a new opportunity for tenants to obtain early advice in their Court matter. This advice will be provided free of charge by a duty adviser, over the telephone, on the day of their Review Date. The Courts will notify tenants of their Review Date by letter. Neither the landlord nor tenants should attend Court on the Review Date. 

It is extremely important that on the day of their Review Date, tenants contact the duty adviser on the telephone number provided for advice.  

If the landlord and tenant are not able to resolve the issues on the Review Date, it is likely that the Court will list the matter for a Substantive Hearing 28 days later. The Substantive Hearing will be the same as pre-Covid 19 hearings: parties will generally be expected to attend Court and the hearing will take place before a Judge.  

We will be announcing a new training program which will cover these changes in more detail in due course. In the meantime, please refer to the Housing Advice page on our website for updates.

We remain open and available to provide telephone advice as normal. To speak with one of the team you can contact our housing solicitors between 2 -5 pm on Wednesdays on 020 8148 5274. Alternatively, you can email hflaw@hflaw.org.uk or call 020 3880 1727 and leave a voicemail with your name and phone number and we’ll call you back.

 

Kind regards,

Bianca

 

Office Administrator

Hammersmith & Fulham Law Centre

1st Floor Hammersmith Library

Shepherds Bush Road

W6 7AT

Tel: 0208 148 5270

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