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This week, Sefton has thrown its support behind the national Carers Week campaign making caring visible, valued and supported.

Working in partnership with Sefton Carers Centre, the Council will be sharing messages on social media throughout the week highlighting the challenges of caring and sharing the information and support that carers need.

Sefton Carers Centre is hosting a number of sessions across the week for unpaid carers in the region.

The Waterloo-based Centre is holding drop-in days on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Carers are invited to attend and get guidance on a number of topics including energy saving and legal support from industry experts.

As well as offering advice, Sefton Carers Centre is hosting a health and wellbeing exercise sessions on Friday morning to support unpaid carers physically and emotionally.

There is more information about the events happening this week in the News section of the Sefton Carers Centre website at www.sefton-carers.org.uk.

The Centre is also offering free PPE and Covid-19 tests to Sefton’s 34,000 carers to enable them to look after their friends and family safely. 

Cllr Paul Cummins, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care said:

“Carers Week is a great opportunity for us to celebrate the vital work done by unpaid carers here in Sefton.

“There are thousands of residents in Sefton who support a family member or friend where that help is invaluable to their health and wellbeing and without their care and support, their loved ones would struggle to manage.

“We have events running throughout the week via the Carers Centre providing emotional, physical and financial support. I hope that all carers in Sefton will get involved and seek any support they may need and I speak as someone who has worked with carers over many years.”

 

Vicky Keeley, CEO of the Carers Centre said:

“We are delighted to take this opportunity to recognise the thousands of unpaid carers in Sefton this week.

“The contribution unpaid carers make to the people they care for is crucial and we want to highlight the support available to carers and their rights under the Care Act 2014.

“There are so many extraordinary carers in Sefton who work without respite , their dedication and selflessness is an inspiration and deserves to be highlighted and how important it is to support our unpaid carers.”

National Carers Week runs from Monday 6th to Sunday 12th June. It aims to recognise and support the hard work of unpaid carers within the community.

Sefton Council has now issued £150 Council Tax Energy Rebate payments to 78% of the Borough’s eligible households.

Over £12.5 million

Over £12.5 million has now been paid to 83,500 Council Tax Band A to D households in Sefton. Two batches of payments were made, in late April and mid-May, to those who pay their Council Tax by Direct Debit.

This week a further batch of payments have been made to more than 17,700 households that responded to letters from Sefton Council asking for them register their bank details securely. These payments are expected to appear in people’s bank accounts on Monday 6^th June.

Thanks

Cllr Paulette Lappin, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Regulatory Compliance and Corporate Services said today: “I am pleased that we have now made payment to almost 80% of eligible households in Sefton and would like to thank all those who signed up to pay by Direct Debit as we encouraged or who have responded to our letters and registered so we have been able to organise their payment.”

Security codes on the first batch of letters asking people to register have now expired but Seton Council will be sending reminder letters with a new valid code that enables people to register safely. Any registrations that have been rejected will also be revisited.

Secure

Cllr Lappin added: “I would also like to thank our team who have devised the way to make these payments to over 80,000 households securely, to avoid large sums of public money falling into the wrong hands due to fraud.

“And, I would like to say again to those people who still need to register for payment, the only way we will be contacting you is by the new letters, each of which will contain a unique 14-character security key so that you can register safely.

“We will never contact you by phone or call at your door about this scheme.”

Quickest

Cllr Lappin also said that people who do not have internet access or someone to help them register online can the Council’s Contact Centre on 0345 140 0845. However, she said that the online route was the quickest, and helped make sure Contact Centre staff can focus their time make that service for those who really need assistance.

Having made the overwhelming majority of payments, the Council will also now be finalising our approach to making discretionary payments. These could be for households in higher Council Tax bands, outside those specified by the Government, which are most in need.

You can find out more about the Council Tax energy Rebate scheme in Sefton here.

It has been confirmed today, 1^st June 2022, that Guides from Sefton will be lighting a beacon to mark HRH The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee on Thursday evening.

The event will be taking place on the Crosby seafront above the seawall off The Serpentine. This will form part of a nationwide celebration.

It is important to note that this is not a public event.

Approximately 200 Guides and their families will be arriving by coach at the Burbo Bank coastal car park from 8pm.

After activities and games on the beach, Guides will gather around a gas-powered beacon from 9.20pm and will listen to a bagpiper playing “Diu Regnare”, a unique tune written for the Jubilee before singing in tribute to Her Majesty.

The beacon will be lit at 9.50pm and extinguished ten minutes later at 10pm, when the Guides will tidy and leave the site.

Residents are welcome to witness this historic event alongside the Guides should they wish to join in.

Emergency services are fully briefed and aware of the event and Sefton Council has given its approval.