The eagle-eyed or eared amongst you may well have heard about our new Welfare & Benefits Officer Maggie Edwards, whose first day involved presenting to the AGM! Maggie will be working part time, covering the north and east of the country, and joins our full-time W&B officer Vicki Cahill, who’s been working with us since March 2009. Maggie’s post is part-funded by the RS Macdonald Trust, long term supporters of ours, and to whom we’re mightily grateful. And speaking of grateful, we’re all very chuffed to have Maggie joining our staff, especially Vicki, who’s busier than a very busy thing!
Here’s a bit of Maggie in her own words…
Although new to MND Scotland, I have had considerable experience within the field of welfare rights having worked as a Welfare Rights Officer with a local authority for eight years dealing with individuals with a wide variety of individuals with various health issues and complex needs.
I feel it is really important for people to get the correct advice particular to their personal circumstances in order that they have the information to make informed choices. Money worries and financial stress can be a major cause for concern to those affected by MND. The benefit system is complicated and can be difficult to negotiate at any time and this can appear to become a bigger hurdle when you are trying to deal with it when unwell.
The Welfare & Benefits service is in place to provide advice and assistance with the somewhat labyrinthine system of benefits for people affected by MND in Scotland. Living with MND can massively increase your outgoings – loss of earnings, increase in travel costs with going to and from repeat hospital appointments, an increase in fuel bills as you spend more time at home, adaptations to your house, a change in diet … and so Vicki and Maggie give our clients help with everything from Blue badge applications to Disability Living Allowance.
Since May 2009, Vicki has obtained almost £900,000 in benefits and other entitlements for her clients – and she’s hoping to hit the £1m mark before Christmas. Both Maggie and Vicki have identified welfare reform as the biggest future challenge to the service – we’re anticipating a pretty big increase in demand, and it’s already starting to show.
You can see Maggie’s AGM presentation about changes to the Benefits system and how it will affect those with MND, their families and carers below:
Welcome to MND Scotland Maggie!
