New guidance has been issued by the government in relation to visiting care homes on 2 December 2020 which replaces previous guidance issued. The government has advised that covid testing kits are being issued to care homes across the country so that visitors can be tested. The kits are being sent out during December and homes should have sufficient quantities to test up to two constant visitors per resident, twice a week, by Christmas. Visits will need to be arranged with care homes in advance in order to enable the testing to take place and to facilitate the additional workload this will create for the homes. It is up to individual homes as to whether they may implement further internal policies on how the system is to operate. Visitors will have to wear personal protective equipment and continue to observe hand hygiene and social distancing measures. In addition to testing homes will need to continue to review and monitor their risk and infection prevention and control measures. In the event of an outbreak in a care home all visiting should stop. The care home's visiting policy should be made available and communicated to residents and their families. For residents in palliative care or end of life care the care home should ensure that the correct visiting arrangements are in place for each resident, facilitating as many visits as possible from family members in a way which is safe and appropriate for the resident.

We have begun to notice that some of our clients are experiencing difficulty in transferring payments to our bank accounts. We have raised this query with our bank so we can make sure our clients experience a trouble free service. We have been advised that new confirmation of payee technology has been introduced by banking regulators. This confirmation of payee name checking service has only been introduced as a requirement for the main six banks; Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide, RBS and Santander. For the smaller banks this is not a regulatory requirement, at the moment. we understand that Metrobank, as a smaller bank, has not signed up to the scheme yet. if you bank with one of the main six and try to send payments to a smaller bank you will be advised that the account is unable to check the payment. This may mean that your bank will refuse to make the payment. This should not happen as as long as you are happy that you have provided the correct account details to your bank you should be able to override the payment. The bank has a box to tick for this! So in these circumstances ticking the box is good! We have checked on the UK Finance website for an official comment and they say "Confirmation of Payee is a new way of checking account details to give customers and businesses greater assurance that they are sending payments to the intended recipient, helping avoid misdirected payments being sent to the wrong account as well as offering another important tool to help in the fight against fraud. A payee is the term used to describe the person or business that you are paying money to" To provide a workaround to this problem we also have accounts with HSBC which our clients are able to use. If you do experience a problem please let us know and we will provide alternative account details. This does not just apply to Metrobank so if you do have difficulties with online/telephone banking please check with your bank whether it is due to the new confirmation of payee system. This is clearly a system designed with banking in mind rather than it's customers! If you would like to read more about the confirmation of payee scheme here is the weblink https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/confirmation-of-payee

The Law Society have issued guidance on how the new covid tier system affects opening of law firms. Just in case you are curious this is what they say:- You can find out which tier your lawyer is in by entering their office postcode into the government website. Tier 1: medium alert Everyone who can work from home should do so Law firms can remain open, provided they’re COVID-19 secure Walk or cycle if possible, plan ahead and avoid busy times and routes on public transport Avoid car sharing with those outside of your household or support bubble Avoid travelling into a Tier 3 area, other than where necessary (such as for work) If you live in a Tier 1 area and travel to work in Tier 2 or 3, you need to follow the rules from that local area Gatherings for work purposes (such as business meetings) are allowed. This includes business meetings in law firms (including clients visiting law firms) and, where necessary, meetings in client’s homes (for example, in matters related to an elderly or vulnerable client) Business events (such as conferences) can take place indoors and outdoors. Attendance is limited to 50% capacity or 4,000 people outdoors (whichever is lower) and 50% capacity or 1,000 people indoors (whichever is lower). Social distancing should be observed Tier 2: high alert Everyone who can work from home should do so Law firms can remain open, provided they’re COVID-19 secure Reduce the number of journeys you make and walk or cycle if possible Avoid busy times and routes on public transport Avoid car sharing with those outside of your household or support bubble Avoid travelling into a Tier 3 area, other than where necessary (such as for work) Gatherings for work purposes (such as business meetings) are allowed. This includes business meetings in law firms (including clients visiting law firms) and, where necessary, meetings in client’s homes (for example, in matters related to an elderly or vulnerable client) Business events (such as conferences) can take place indoors and outdoors. Attendance is limited to 50% capacity or 2,000 people outdoors (whichever is lower) and 50% capacity or 1,000 people indoors (whichever is lower). Social distancing should be observed Tier 3: very high alert Everyone who can work from home should do so Law firms can remain open, provided they’re COVID secure Travel to venues or amenities that are open is allowed but, where possible, you should aim to reduce the number of journeys made Avoid travelling outside your area, other than where necessary (such as for work) Reduce the number of journeys where possible and plan ahead to avoid busy times and routes on public transport Avoid car sharing with those outside of your household or support bubble Gatherings for work purposes (such as business meetings) are allowed. This includes business meetings in law firms (including clients visiting law firms) and, where necessary, meetings in client’s homes (for example, in matters related to an elderly or vulnerable client) Events should not take place All businesses and venues that are open are expected to follow COVID-19 secure guidelines to protect clients, visitors and staff. In all tiers, there are exemptions from the gatherings limits to facilitate moving home or to fulfil a legal obligation, such as attending court. So what does this mean for Argo? We have reviewed our working practices, as you know, consistently over the last year. The guidance we are following from the government is no prescriptive in what we must do so we have taken this guidance and put it into practice within the office. The precautions we have put in the office have been done with the safety of our clients and team first and foremost. They may be more than other legal practices but we are not prepared to risk transmission of any illness between those we look after and care for. In our move to Cooks Barn we have arranged our office so that all work spaces are at least two metres apart. Our teams work side by side rather than face to face. We have also split the team into an internal team and an external team to ensure that we have a clear division for staff safety. We have not reduced the number of meetings we have we now do them in a different way. The external team is responsible for client meetings. These are held by zoom and telephone now. We do still meet clients in person but these meetings are held in accordance with our infection control policies; Argo protect, Argo prevent and Argo positive. Meetings between staff are held by zoom so that there is a clear break between the internal and external teams and there are only three people from our internal team in the office at any given time. We have also updated our infection control procedure to cover Covid specific circumstances. In the reception area at Cooks Barn we have a "dirty zone". This is where our our first hand sanitising station sits along with a selection of PPE equipment for people who have to visit the office. We have a clinical PPE equipment disposal bin for all PPE equipment used by clients, staff or visitors to the office. This is where our post goes into quarantine. Before any items are moved from the "dirty zone" to the "clean zone" they must be attacked by the dettol spray! Once in the clean zone staff and visitors will be temperature checked and recorded in our meeting book. The team is also kept up to daily with a daily Covid bulletin to ensure they have the up to date information to maintain awareness and their training. We are satisfied that Argo is a Covid secure office and we will continue to take steps to ensure that we carry on being so.

We are pleased to announce that Argo has been accepted as an affiliate member of SOLLA. For those of you who don't know what SOLLA is, it is the Society of Later Life Advisers. SOLLA was established in 2008 as a not for profit organisation, dedicated to achieving higher standards and accessibility to regulated financial advice for older people and their families. All SOLLA advisers specialise in the financial needs of older people. The financial advisers who are accredited as SOLLA members have to take independent qualifications to achieve their accreditation and are able to advise on:- pensions annuities funding for care home fees funding for care in your home equity release and other options with your property savings and investment planning tax matters, estate and wealth planning For us making sure that our clients receive the best advice is always utmost in our thoughts and this is why we recommend SOLLA financial advisers if a client requires independent investment advice. We have been granted affiliate status because of the work we do in advising and assisting older people and the care we provide our clients. We hope that our affiliate status will further reassure you of the excellent advice you will receive if you instruct Argo to act on your behalf. If you are interested in finding out more about SOLLA please use the link below. https://societyoflaterlifeadvisers.co.uk/Home

It is often the case that family and executors do not know what finances someone has to deal with on death, where the assets are held, what liabilities they have and sometimes even to begin where to start to look for it. What do you do when a client visits to ask for you help with administering her husband's estate? You identify assets and liabilities. My client told me her husband was super efficient. He had a lovely spreadsheet on his laptop showing what there was and where it was. He did not like paper so scanned everything to his laptop. She told me it would be easy to sort as he was so organised. She never worried about the financial things and he had it all under control. Fabulous I thought, until I asked for the password for the computer. As super efficient as her husband was the one thing he forgot to do was to tell anyone the password to get into the laptop! With many elderly couples one of them usually has responsibility for the financial affairs. One of the parts of the job I love is when I let a surviving spouse know how much money they actually have. The surprise on some faces is amazing and is often greeted with "we were always so careful to save, but I did not think there was this much!" It is really important that couples have an honest conversation about assets and liabilities. Both parties to a relationship need to understand what is going on with the household finances. I often advise clients to make a note of the assets and liabilities they have and keep this note with their will so the survivor and the executors have an idea of what they are looking for. Let's make sure that savings do not come as a surprise to those you leave behind. Have those conversations and make sure you know that your family will not worry when you are no longer here.

It doesn't matter who you are or what you do whether you are rich or poor, in good health or bad Covid 19 does not just impact on health but finances too. You will all have heard the difficult journey that Kate Garraway, from breakfast television, and her family have had since her husband contracted Covid in March 2020. As her daily updates report his health is far from perfect and he is experiencing a long, difficult journey back from the day he was struck down by the illness. But recently Kate has started to discuss how she is struggling to cope with the daily financial things a family has to deal with. Kate has advised of her struggles because she does not have a lasting power of attorney for her husband. This prevents her from doing the simplest things like which prevents him from gaining access to accounts which are in his name, discussing utility bills in his name and dealing with the fall out from her stolen car. We cannot stress how important and invaluable lasting powers of attorney are. In circumstances such as these a lasting power of attorney could be taken out of the cupboard and registered with all the asset and liability holders Kate's husband had. Utility providers would be able to speak to Kate and bills could be paid, mortgages could be paid and there could be less things for her to deal with. She certainly has enough on her plate looking after her children, working and worrying about his health. Kate and her husband did not foresee Covid 19 and the knock on effects that it has had on their lives. None of us are superhuman. We don't know what is round the corner and what fate has in store for us. We put insurance in place for the "what ifs" for our homes and cars and lives but what about the "what if" we become ill and that illness does not end life. What then? Lasting Powers of Attorney!

The government have issued new guidance in respect of the new lockdown for those who are considered clinically extremely vulnerable. As this relates to many of our clients we thought we ought to let you know what they say. Restrictions come in today for the whole of England but further specific guidance has been issued if you have one of the following:- •solid organ transplant recipients •those with specific cancers: •people with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy •people with lung cancer who are undergoing radical radiotherapy •people with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment •people having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer •people having other targeted cancer treatments that can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors •people who have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs •those with severe respiratory conditions including all cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) •those with rare diseases that significantly increase the risk of infections (such as severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), homozygous sickle cell disease) •those on immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase risk of infection •adults with Down’s syndrome •adults on dialysis or with chronic kidney disease (stage 5) •women who are pregnant with significant heart disease, congenital or acquired •other people who have also been classed as clinically extremely vulnerable, based on clinical judgement and an assessment of their needs. GPs and hospital clinicians have been provided with guidance to support these decisions You should also have received a letter from NHS England or your GP advising that you are clinically extremely vulnerable previously. In the latest lockdown you are advised to stay at home other than for essential things like to purchase food and collect medications, only receive visits from those people in your support bubble and not socialise with anyone outside of your support bubble. You should be especially careful in following these rules and minimise contact with others and continue to wash your hands more frequently than normal and sanitise surface areas at home. If you want to read the full guidance notes here is the website link https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19

The Office of the Public Guardian have worked very hard behind the scenes during recent months to bring themselves up to date with online technology. Their latest offering is the ability to access a registered lasting power of attorney, online. this is called the use a lasting power of attorney service. The plan is that one a lasting power of attorney has been registered attorneys and donors will be sent an activation key which can be used to create an online account. The donor or attorney can then use the activation key to set up on online account, with an access code, which can be given to organisations to view an online summary of the LPA. With over 4 million users the service is being rolled out gradually. Donors and attorneys will be able to use the service if the LPA has been registered after 17 July 2020. There are plans to provide an activation key to other donors and attorneys for LPAs registered earlier in 2020 and some in 2019 but there are no plans to roll this out for LPAs registered any earlier.

On 16 November 2020 Argo will be hosting a Virtual Make a Will Day for We are Beams in Hextable, Swanley. Argo is offering to prepare wills in exchange for a donation to the We Are Beams disabled children and families charity. This is not the first time we have done this. We are Beams is an amazing organisation which is invaluable to the families it supports. Beams was established as a charity in 1996 by a group of parents who believed that they could deliver better support than they were getting through the local authority for their disabled child by working together. The local authority became directly accountable to the parents, carers and young people who accessed their services. Twenty four years on the charity has grown due to demand and now offers four key services to at least 450 parents and children at any one time. We are Beams need to generate £1.5 million through charitable donations in order to continue offering these services to some of the most vulnerable in society today. If you need to make a will and have not got round to it yet why not use the We are Beams Virtual Will Day to do two things at once. Make your will and instead of lining the pockets of a lawyer donate their fee to a worthy cause! If if you would like to receive further information about this event please call the team on 01622 843729.

New Covid measures have been introduced across the country this week to try to tackle the rise in positive diagnosis and hospital admissions. The new three tier alert system has been introduced to manage outbreaks on a local level. Most of Kent has been categorised in the medium alert level although some towns are seeing much higher positive cases and hospital admissions than others. Time will tell whether we move into a higher alert level. The medium alert level means that we must: strictly observe social distancing meet others outside where possible limit unnecessary journeys on public transport work from home if possible apply the rule of six Children can still go to school and people can go to work if they cannot work at home. At the moment individuals who were advised to shield in the first lockdown have not been told to do so. The government will be writing to these individuals with advice on how they should look after themselves for the foreseeable future. Shielding will not be triggered automatically if the alert level increases but could be in hotspots if it is deemed necessary. We are now aware of the mental health impact shielding had on our vulnerable community so this time we are more alert to what we need to do to help. If you do have a neighbour who is vulnerable don't forget they are there. You can check they are okay by telephoning them or speaking to them within the social distance guidelines. We saw how organised local community support groups were in the last lockdown so make sure your vulnerable neighbour is on their list for help and support. If you don't know what to do give us a shout and we will happily call to see how they, find out what they need and get them the help they deserve.

Unfortunately, there is no clear answer to this question. The government has published on its website policies for visiting arrangements in care homes during coronavirus. For full details of the policies visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visiting-care-homes-during-coronavirus/update-on-policies-for-visiting-arrangements-in-care-homes The first priority of the policy is to reduce the risk of coronavirus in care homes and the prevention of future outbreaks. This is to protect residents and staff. Visiting arrangements will be subject to dynamic risk assessments to consider the circumstances of the individual care home and its local circumstances. It is the responsibility of the Director of Public Health for the locality to assess the suitability of visiting taking into account relevant infection and growth rates. The decision as to visiting, is ultimately down to the care home and its management team. It may be that two homes, next to each other, operate slightly different visiting policies. Guidance states that if visits are allowed and there is a coronavirus outbreak or evidence of a community hotspot a home may be required to rapidly impose further restrictions to prevent their residents and staff. The visiting policy may not be applied across the home but in relation to specific individuals so one resident may receive a visitor whereas another may not. The home has to consider the benefit of visits to wellbeing, the extent of harm that will be caused if no visits take place, whether the individual is at their end of life, the level of potential effects of a COVID19 diagnosis on the individual, the level of care provided to visitors, the number of staff in attendance and the ability to hold visits by other means. In making the decisions about visits the care home should actively involve the resident, their relatives, friends and any professionals that need to be involved. It is likely that within a home they will limit visits to a single constant visitor, per resident, if possible. This may mean that only one family member can see gran for the foreseeable future. It does not prevent that family member holding a skype or zoom call during the visit. The care home should have a visiting policy and this should be made available to you if you request it. If you encounter any difficulties or need any assistance with care home visits please give us a call on 01622 843729

Did you know you might be able to get further assistance with your winter fuels bills, in addition to the government winter fuel payment, from the warm home discount scheme. There are two groups of households that could be eligible for the extra payment. Regardless of the group you fall into you could receive an additional one off payment of £140 credited against your gas or electricity bill. To fall into the core group you will need to have been the named account holder or partner and been in receipt of the guarantee element of pension credit on 5 July 2020. This is the qualifying date for this year's payment. If you fall within the core group you do not need to make an application for this payment as the Department for Work and Pensions will write to potentially qualifying payment to discuss where the payment should be made. The payment will be applied to your account before 31 March 2021. If you fall into the broader group you will be in receipt of income support, income based job seekers allowance, income related employment support allowance, universal credit, have an annual household income of less than £16,190 or receive pension credit guarantee and savings or pension credit savings only. In addition to these you will also need to show evidence of disability payments via child tax credit or other state benefits paid for health needs ie disability living allowance, attendance allowance, personal independence payment. For those in the broader group you will need to apply to claim the benefit and provide evidence of your eligibility. If you need help in applying for this discount please contact our team who would be happy to make the application on your behalf.