Date: 27 September 2022

Reference Number: 5880

Trading Standards issue energy rebate scam warning

Cheshire West and Chester Council’s Trading Standards officers are advising residents of an energy bill scam.

Some residents have received text messages, claiming to be from the Government (GOV.UK), inviting them to apply for the £400 discount under the Energy Bills Support Scheme.  However, the £400 will be paid automatically and you do not need to apply.

The £400 energy discount scheme introduced by the Government will see households in England, Scotland and Wales with a domestic electricity account get a non-repayable grant of £400 between October 2022 and March 2023.  

It will be paid in six instalments, with the first two instalments of £66 paid in October and November, followed by four payments of £67 from December to March. 

How you’ll receive the discount depends on how you pay for your energy. You’ll get the discount monthly, even if you pay for your energy quarterly or use a payment card.

More information about how the discount will be paid to households for all payment methods, including prepayment meters and payment cards is able on the GOV.UK website (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/getting-the-energy-bills-support-scheme-discount ).

Councillor Karen Shore, the Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Strategy Transport, said: “Please watch out for fake text messages claiming to be from the Government, inviting you to apply for the £400 energy discount.  It’s a scam – the £400 will be paid automatically. You do not need to apply.

“This scam has been widely reported, the messages invite people to apply for the £400 “non-repayable discount” and instruct the recipient to follow a link to a fake website to provide personal details.  It then encourages people to set up a direct debit to receive the money.”

If you think you’ve been scammed, take the following steps:

• If you’ve already responded to a scam, end all further communication immediately.
• Call your bank directly and cancel any recurring payments – or, for speed and ease, you can call the new, secure159 hotline that connects you directly to your bank if you think you might be being scammed.
• Report the scam to the police through Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or report a scam anonymously on the Action Fraud website.

If you want more help, contact Citizens Advice Scams Action via the Citizens Advice website, or call its Scams Action helpline on 0808 250 5050

Date: 29 September 2022

Reference Number: 5886

Cheshire West Crowd helps Cycling Without Age Chester get up and running

Cycling Without Age Chester has used the Cheshire West Crowd to raise nearly £10,000 and help people get out and about in the local community.

The Cheshire West Crowd, which is being run by Cheshire West and Chester Council in partnership with Spacehive, is the ideal chance for community-led ideas to be created so the borough can become more vibrant, resilient and connected.

Cycling Without Age Chester attracted 41 different backers through the Cheshire West Crowd, including more than £7,000 from Council funding pots.

The successful crowdfunding campaign helped the charity purchase two trishaws, providing an opportunity for Cycling Without Age Chester to take elderly people to local green spaces.

Zoe Boustead, Trustee at Cycling Without Age Chester, said: “Raising nearly £10,000 through the Cheshire West Crowd was an amazing sum for us.

“A really interesting by-product, which was unexpected, was the amount of people we met through the project as we’ve been introduced to some really helpful advocates for us.

“The process was very straightforward and there was a lot of communication to guide us along the way.

“It’s very accessible so people could donate a very small amount and we also attracted large sums.

“It’s open to everyone and I think that’s really important for any community projects out there.

“I’d definitely recommend it for its easy use, access to a range of funds that we wouldn’t have necessarily known about and how we’ve been able to meet new people to promote our project to a wider audience.”

Andrew Foster, Trustee at Cycling Without Age Chester, added: “I take people out for rides and excursions from care homes, residential homes or anyone else who is living at home in the community.

“It’s something I do for a couple of hours each week and we’re looking for more people to help us do more of that.

“It’s literally having conversations with people, learning about what they do and giving them the opportunity to get out and about.

“There are those who can’t get out very often so it’s nice to be able to do that for them.

“We’re now engaging with more organisations and the people we’ve engaged with have really enjoyed it.

“With more people, we’ll be able to do even more and ideally we’d be able to do it five, six or seven times a week with different organisations.”

Cycling Without Age Chester is looking for more people to get involved, whether that is pilots taking people out and about in the trishaws or new organisations that could benefit from the project.

For more information about the project, visit: cyclingwithoutage.org.uk/chester.

Use the Cheshire West Crowd to crowdfund your project

After launching in 2021, the Cheshire West Crowd has already had two funding rounds and, with around £400,000 contributed by the Council and nearly £770,000 raised in total by local projects, it is one of the most successful initiatives Spacehive has run.

The deadline for projects being added to the Cheshire West Crowd is Wednesday 2 November 2022 as the Council will be allocating funds from the various pots in December 2022.

All projects will need to reach their crowdfunding targets on the Cheshire West Crowd by Tuesday 28 February 2023.

The following funding pots will be available from Cheshire West and Chester Council in the autumn 2022 round.

• Community Innovation Fund – £250,000
• Youth Fund – £20,000
• Cheshire West Crowd Fund – £90,000
• COVID Recovery and Renewal Fund – £47,885
• Climate Change Emergency Fund – £10,000
• Tackling Poverty Fund – £9,865

For more information about the Cheshire West Crowd and how you could get involved, visit: spacehive.com/movement/cwc.

Date: 29 September 2022

Reference Number: 5887

Ukrainian welcome events to take place in Chester and Northwich

Cheshire West and Chester Council is holding two events for Ukrainian guests and their sponsors in Chester and Northwich during October. These events will celebrate Ukrainian culture and be full of advice and support for guests and sponsors.

Ukrainian guests, their sponsors, and the whole community are invited to join the Council and its partners for advice, support and a day of Ukrainian culture at:

• Saturday 1 October, 12noon – 4.30pm – Chester Town Hall, Northgate Street, Chester, CH1 2HJ (organised in partnership with the Lord Mayor)
• Saturday 8 October, 10am – 2pm – Northwich Artisan Market, Applemarket Place, Apple Market Street, Northwich, CW9 5BB

The Council has been working with refugees and sponsors on what they would like to see at the events, which will include advice and support on work, welfare, skills, training, health and more, as well as Ukrainian food tasters and cultural activities.

Advice and support will include:

• Advice from the Department of Work and Pensions on work and welfare.
• Support from Cheshire West and Chester Workzones regarding skills, training, support and getting into jobs.
• Community and voluntary organisations will provide advice and support for guests.

Councillor Louise Gittins, Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, said:

“As a Council we are proud to be playing our part in welcoming people from Ukraine and are incredibly grateful for the role that our communities are playing in helping refugees to settle here in our Borough. These events are a great opportunity to foster that community spirit and togetherness and provide a continued warm welcome for our Ukrainian guests.”

Councillor Samantha Dixon, Leader’s Champion for Refugees, said:

“The events in Chester and Northwich are great opportunities for our Ukrainian guests and their sponsors to get advice on matters such as work, skills and welfare, and to find out where they can access support and training. We encourage all of our residents to come along and get involved to sample tasty Ukrainian food and find out more about Ukrainian culture.”

Cheshire West and Chester Council is playing its part in providing safety and shelter for people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. The borough has a proud history of welcoming refugees and others seeking sanctuary and we are doing what we can to support Ukrainian people at this time of crisis.

The Government has committed to making funding available to councils to provide support for refugees coming to the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme. The Council are helping to make sure sponsors and their guests are safe and supported, that refugees have access to services like health, education, work and benefits and that Ukrainian families are supported to integrate into local communities.

Find out more about the Council’s response to the Ukraine conflict at:

www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/ukraine