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Tuesday 21st September 2004 |
353/2004 |
Hunt For Benefits: Hag Fold specialist benefit worker Sarah Hunt
There’s more than a million reasons for people living in Hag Fold to go and have a word with Sarah Hunt.
Sarah is a specialist welfare advice worker on the Atherton estate and so far she’s identified a small fortune in unclaimed benefits.
The service she offers is free and confidential to people living on the estate and it covers everything you might need to know about benefit–related issues.
Sarah holds four surgeries a week in Atherton:
Sarah and her team can help with things like filling in Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance forms, as well as preparing and representing cases at appeal tribunals. They team can also carry out benefit checks and calculate benefit entitlements. Sarah said:
“Residents have nothing to lose by coming along to see me, they may have a lot to gain!”
The service was launched in 2000 thanks to funding from SRB5 Atherton Building Communities. Chair of Atherton Building Communities, Cllr Sue Loudon, said:
“This is an incredibly worthwhile service, which so far has been a huge success.
“Since April this year, more than £116,000 of unclaimed benefits has been identified, while the total unclaimed benefit identified since the project began stands at just under £2m.
“This is money that people are entitled to, which is helping to improve the quality of life for residents of Hag Fold.
“My advice is for anyone who has a query about benefits on Hag Fold to go and see Sarah.”
As well as turning up for the surgeries, residents can call the advice line on (01942) 324851.
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