Village Agent

Helping older people in Gloucestershire feel more independent, secure and have a better quality of life.

Contact: Sue Colquhoun on 07810 630 145

If you would like any more information about this article or any other matter please contact:

Sue Colquhoun | 07810 630 145

Village Agent News

We hope there are people who will find this information useful.

There is a Free Telephone Directory Service for people who are registered blind. By simply dialling 195 you can register for this service. When registered you are allocated a card and pin number which when you need a telephone number you quote your pin number and they can tell you the number for free, they can also help to dial a number for you if necessary.

There is a Blind person’s tax allowance for those people who are registered blind or severely sight impaired and registered with the local council as being so. For the tax year 2015-2016 the amount is £2290. A couple can both claim this allowance. You can transfer your allowance to your spouse or civil partner if you don’t pay tax or don’t earn enough to use all of your allowance. This information and more can be found on the GOV.UK website.

The sighted guide NCBI website gives useful information for people on how to act when around those are blind in order to help them the correct way. You can also contact them and ask for leaflets on 01830 7033.

It is also worth noting that the shingles vaccination is now available to people who are

aged 70.71. 72. 78 or 79 on 1st September 2015. People aged 80 or over on 1stSeptember 2015 are not part of the national programme because the vaccine seems to be less effective in this age group. For more information you could ask at your surgery or visit the websitewww.nhs.uk/conditions/shingles.