Agenda and draft minutes

Chris Capon welcomed everyone to the meeting.  He was disappointed with the low turn out (16 people present) but anticipated the event would be useful.

There were no declarations of interest

Jo Pannell will give a PowerPoint presentation.

Jo Pannell talked about the governments consultation on the future of adult care. A third of Kent’s population are over 65 and the ageing population is expected to keep growing. KCC has pioneered the use of new technology; such as Telehealth and direct payments, which gives people control of their own care. The challenge is how we meet expectations and care of older people with the right resources – see attached PowerPoint. In the next 20 years there will be a £6 billion shortfall in funding needed.

Q. The Chairman said when KCC had its own residential homes Members used to visit them and there was constant complaints that KCC was robbing some of them of their assets whilst those who had not been prudent during their working life were given the same level of service for free and this was unfair and unjust.

Dick Pascoe said he was aware of a number of other injustices. A resident had her “carers allowance” stopped because she was over 60; despite needing to carry on with her carer role.

Jo said she was aware that claiming allowances was not easy however there was government talk of having one generic application for all benefits/allowances.

Susan Carey said she would feel very resentful if someone had been feckle and not saved for their old age and got services free whilst others had to pay.

Apparently in Germany single people pay a higher rate of tax to cover their costs in old age as they will not have family to look after them.

Q. I don’t think the state should expect children to look after their elderly parents. Maybe we need an insurance system like they have in America.

Dick Pascoe made the point that we already pay National Insurance. In the USA Americans can opt in or out of insurance and in the UK we can’t.  Everyone working has to pay NI which means we have the best and fairest welfare system in the world.

Joe Pannell said our system in its present form was not sustainable; hence the current consultation.

Q. How do you plan getting feedback ?

A. Joe said there would be submissions from a variety of sources including housing associations, young people’s groups and from individuals.

The Chairman thanked Joe for an informative presentation.

Talk by Robert Chambers, volunteer and Community Manager

Alison Donnelly, Area Manager, gave a brief presentation as attached. She said Victim Support central unit was based in Ashford and the service was relent on volunteers. Most referrals were from Kent Police but any resident can self refer. Volunteers provide a professional service to any victim of crime and can even offer witness support for court appearances.

The feedback from victims is outstandingly positive and Alison hoped KCC Members would support the raining of further volunteers in each of their divisions.

Q What is the process for recruiting volunteers?

A. Normally by word of mouth. Volunteers bring friends to awareness events and we also advertise in the local press and in universities etc. Sometimes even victims of crime choose to become volunteers. Following initial selection the training is intensive and costs £475 per person. This funding includes training volunteers to deal with more serious crimes. Then we have a final selection and a probation period with a mentor.

Q. Are you not doing the same thing as Samaritans?

A. No we offer practical support as well as emotional support. We do home visits, accompany victims to court and sometimes do extensive follow up which might include working in partnership and sign posting to other agencies All volunteers have CRB checks.

Q. How many volunteers do you have and what level of referrals?

A. Kent has over 25,000 referrals of which about a 1,000 come from Shepway. 80% of these are initially done over the phone. 65% of referrals have a home visit and 35% have on going support.

Q. How are you funded and do you have charitable status.

A. Most of the funding comes from the Home office (80%) however 20% must be raised locally.  Each Victim support area was a separate charity but we are now a single a registered charity. People can contact us at anytime even if it is long after they have been a victim of a crime.

The Chairman thanked Alison and her colleague and most Members agreed Victim Support was worthy of grant funding.

Allocation of Small Community Capital Projects and Local Scheme Grants

The following Small Community Capital grants were agreed:

      The Following Local Scheme Grants were approved:

There were no questions on other issues nor any other business.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending and said the next meeting

would be on 20 January 2009.