Age Concern Westminster

Our Information and Advice Team hold regular sessions at locations throughout Westminster as well as visit housebound older people in their homes. We also provide advice by telephone.

In 2008/9 we made over 1,900 home visits, provided advice to over 1,900 people face-to-face at community advice points and received some 15,000 telephone and 600 email enquiries on a wide range of topics related to older people such as welfare benefits advice, local services, health and other issues.

Through the efforts of Age Concern Westminster some of Westminster's older residents received over £846,000 in additional income through benefits, grants and other entitlements in 2008/9.

Contact our Information and Advice Team on: 020 3004 5610 or visit our drop-in advice centre at 23-25 Praed Street, W2 1NJ on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday 10:00am - 12:00noon. We also have Pension Advice on a Monday 12:30pm to 4:30pm and HodgeJones & Allen Solicitors who do a Will Writing Service every Thursday fortnight at 9:30am to 1:00pm, advance booking is needed for the will writing so please call us on 020 3004 5610. Advice centre location map.

You can also call into our other advice points, located in the City of Westminster One Stop shops, details as follows:

Covent Garden Centre (Hub) E42 Odhams Walk Off Shelton Street WC2H 9SB Tel: 020 3370 3030 (in Chinese) Location map	City Hall One Stop 62 Victoria Street SW1E 6QP Tel: 020 7641 3107 Location map	Harrow Road One Stop 317 Harrow Road W9 3RS Tel: 020 7641 3676 Location map	Church Street One Stop 91-93 Church Street NW8 8EV Tel: 020 7641 5441 Location map
For Chinese speakers only Mondays 2:00pm – 4:00pm	Wednesdays 2:00pm - 4:00pm	Thursdays 10:30am - 12:30pm	Thursdays 2:00pm - 4:00pm

Direct Payments Service

Direct Payments are a different way of getting the support you need. Instead of getting services provided by social services, you can be given the money to buy the care you need and choose the kind of support that is right for you.

We are able to give you the necessary advice and support to manage your Direct Payments, just contact Mehfuz Ahmed on: 020 3004 5614

Personal Budgets

Personal budgets are designed to help people who are eligible for services to take control of their own social care budgets and other funding streams; manage their support and choose the services that is best for them. It puts the person at the centre of assessing their needs and the planning process, recognizing that they are the person best placed to understand their own needs and how to meet them.

For more information contact Nana Enchill on: 020 3370 3039

Home Services

We provide a range of home support services for older people that include befriending, gardening, escorting and odd jobs.

Our befriending scheme which is co-ordinated by a paid member of staff and run exclusively with volunteers is always over-subscribed and we target those older people that are most isolated and most lonely. In Westminster, over 50% of people over 65 live alone, and up to 7,000 older people have depression. Finding a new friend through us who will visit a housebound older person once or twice a week breaks the monotony of isolation and is something that is looked forward to by the 300 older people that have befrienders through us.

Our escorting scheme, which is funded by the Primary Care Trust, accompanies older people on visits to hospitals, doctors, dentists and opticians. A visit to the hospital can be traumatic for many people, and to undertake that visit on your own can be even more worrying. Being accompanied by a volunteer who can spend time with you before and afterwards, and sit with you during the wait can make the whole experience less stressful and more bearable.

Our small gardening and odd jobs schemes assist with those small tasks around the house and garden that become increasingly more difficult as we get older. These are highly valued services that we desperately need suitably experienced and qualified volunteers to help us provide.