The website for grandparents

We often talk about how food prices have increase but today its official. Figures compiled by the price comparison website mySupermarket.co.uk show these increases and confirm that parents with young children are also being hit particularly hard.

According to the report, shoppers are paying up to 58% more for basic grocery items than they were three years ago,

The price of tea has shot up by 30% while the cost of staple foods such as bread and eggs have risen by 18% since 2007.

In the news today highlights a report out by the NSPCC detailing figures which suggest that children, some of whom were as young as five years old, are often trying to cope with the role reversal of attempting to look after their parents, brothers and sisters.

Childline, which is run by the NSPCC, received more than 150,000 calls during the year.

We have an exciting opportunity for families on low income. For The Grandparents' Association this mean families who are kinship carers - and bringing up grandchildren fulltime.

We have a small number of holidays abroad to give to low income families and invite anyone who is on low income to contact us.

The trips will leave from Manchester or Gatwick Airport and will take place in October 2010. However, this will not be during half term so the family would need to seek permission to take the children out of school.

Fair Play Launches Consultation on Radical Vetting and Barring Proposal

REPORT : Out with the bath water

Fair Play for Children has launched a consultation today on a radical proposal to change the current vetting and barring system for the protection of children in play, leisure and other settings.

The Report, Out with the Bathwater (44 pages, by Jan Cosgrove) looks at the history of vetting and barring practices in the UK (from the 1933 Children and Young people Act, through the Dunblane and Soham tragedies) and analyses key issues:

August 2010 - Home access grants are still available. Could you be eligible?

There are 10,000 grants left to award to families who meet criteria for computers and broadband access. If you are one of these families we would strongly encourage any families to complete an application and send it back immediately.

Do you want to know if you are eligible? Can you answer the following eligibility questions? If Yes then call Sue Stewart (Details below and see if we can help you).

Is your family caught in a trap?

The Princes Trust and Qa research have published a report called Destined for the Dole.They say, for those growing up in high unemployment areas there is a long term impact on young peoples prospects and confidence.

So what exactly is a benefit cheat?

"Cutting fraud and bureaucracy in welfare should be the first and deepest cut that we will make" says Iain Duncan Smith.

21st Century Welfare

Radical plans have been drawn up aimed at helping more people move into work. They want to hear from you on these ideas. The plans include

• Bringing together parts of the current benefits and Tax Credit systems
• Simplifying the financial help available to people both in and out of work, and
• Allowing extra support for things like housing, children and disability.

The government wants to change the family justice system. The Ministry of Justice is talking about the strain the system is under and that grandparents and fathers amongst others are telling them that things are not working for them.
 
So they are reviewing the whole system and it is important that the voices of grandparents are heard to influence the changes.The Review will:

•    examine both public and private law cases

Are you a pensioner?  If so do you agree with a new report that says......

that although a computer and an internet connection are now cited as necessary for all working-age households, it is still not deemed necessary for pensioner households to have internet access. 

This month we are featuring two Social workers Jenny Wiles, Senior Practitioner in Kinship Care, Children and Families Directorate, Oxfordshire and Sally Tallents, Kinship Care Social Worker, Children and Families Directlorate, Oxfordshire who have kindly agreed to answer some questions.

If you have further questions (which aren't case related), but would like to ask, please email me directly at community@begrand.net and I will get Sally and Jenny to provide some answers.

Do feel free to send in further questions

Students will almost certainly have to pay more for university - possibly through a graduate tax - the Business Secretary Vince Cable has said. He has asked Lord Browne to look at the idea of a graduate tax as a priority in his current review in to higher education funding in England.

This would mean students paying for their studies through the tax system, rather than through subsidised loans. He said high-earning graduates would pay more than those on low incomes.

Unpicking the benefits maze

One of the most complex challenges for new kinship carers is how to claim new benefits.  Calls to the Grandparent's Association helpline are often from bewildered and frustrated grandparents who have taken on responsibility for their grandchildren. 

Yesterday’s budget was the most hard hitting for decades. 

Nick Clegg, Deputy PM yesterday announced a new deal for grandparents who have contact problems which will be reviewed and implemented by a new  Children and Families Taskforce to be chaired by the PM.  

Nick Clegg said it is ‘crazy’ that millions of grandparents lose contact with their grandchildren after a family separation or divorce so they aim to change the law to give greater access rights to grandparents when couples split. Mr Clegg, has set out his proposals in a speech on the family today.

The cost of grandchildren

What are the costs of grandchildren in terms of money, gifts, or helping out with costs like school trips, uniforms, and student fees?

Grandparents tell us they have less money to give as savings and pensions haven’t grown but at the same time, their families are having their income reduced and had even lost jobs. 

David Cameron  and his ministers have said that government must undertake ruthless cuts because of the UK’s budgetary shortfall.  They have also said the public should be consulted and should come up with ideas about what could be cut.  The Treasury is to ask for the public's views on which functions the government should perform and which could be done by other bodies to save money.  At the same time, each government department will be challenged to justify their spending.

Can you imagine how family wars could end in such destruction?

The tragic waste of life after Derrick Bird embarked on a rampage that began near Whitehaven and ended when he turned a gun on himself, is now being blamed on a family feud.  Not only, it seems, did he kill his twin brother, but also his solicitor.  We know from our own experiences how destructive and meaningless family feuds can be – and how quickly the anger can escalate with issues so out of proportion that there seems no going back.

We'd like to present your views to the Secretary of State Rt Hon Michael Gove MP on

'How grandparents view the new coalition government and what changes they would like the new government to make to support grandparents and grandchildren.'

Can you help us with this short survey?