Community Help Network - links in Waltham Forest

Community Help Network

Waltham Forest has a Community Help Network, and helpline, to support vulnerable residents - those over 70, or who are self-isolating in line with NHS advice, and have no access to other community support. You can request help for yourself or an eligible relative; food packs and other parcels can be delivered to residents who need them most.

Free School Meals 

If your child normally has free school meals and is not attending school, they can still have their meal. Your school will advise you about their arrangements, and what to do if you are self-isolating.  To check if eligible click here. Meals may be:

• Packed lunch, hot box takeaways or food hampers collected from your child’s school or another local school.
• Supermarket vouchers which may be emailed to you.
• On site food provision for children attending school. 

Find out more here. 

Ideas to keep busy

The council has a Digital Hub with a range of  online resources: learning materials for children, recreation and eco-friendly activities to do at home, and tips to stay physically and mentally healthy.

Keep up to date with Council Services

Following Government instructions some Council services are reduced to ensure the safety of both residents and staff, but they are trying to ensure vital services continue. You can get up to date information on services and  reaching them here.

LP members - not yet voted in the leadership elections?

This is for members who have yet to vote in the leadership ballot - for whatever reason:

You have until April 2nd to vote, and there is an earlier date for requesting postal vote re-issues: noon next Monday 23 March. ‘Team Labour’ have issued updated advice about online and postal ballot arrangements. This is the full text of the advice:

Reminder emails have now been sent to all those who have yet to vote.

• If you have not yet received your ballot look out for an email from: labourelections@civica.co.uk 
• with the subject line: 'REMINDER: THIS IS YOUR EMAIL BALLOT FOR THE LEADERSHIP ELECTION'.

Make sure you check your spam/junk folder as well as your main inbox. Due to the possible impact of coronavirus on both the Labour Party and our suppliers the Procedures Committee have agreed that the deadline for requesting postal vote re-issues will be brought forward to Monday 23 March (noon). This will allow as much as possible of the more labour intensive process of paper ballot distribution and administration to be completed ahead of any further restrictions being introduced. For the first time members are able to use a self-service portal for email re-issues. This portal will remain available right until the close of the ballot, though we would obviously not recommend you wait until the last minute to request a re-issue.

• The self-service portal is here: labour.org.uk/reissue

Most Labour Party staff are now working from home. This means that our inbound phone line is now closed. Support will continue to be provided by email.

• For general enquiries please email: leadership2020@labour.org.uk
• For any issues relating to membership such as changes of contact details please email: labourmembership@labour.org.uk

WF council: Single Point of Contact for ALL coronavirus questions

We appreciate this is a difficult and worrying time for people in our borough. The council is updating its coronavirus webpage daily and this is the best source for the latest guidance:
https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/covid19

The council is operating a Single Point of Contact system for ALL coronavirus questions and requests for the support, in order to process requests as quickly and efficiently as possible and prioritise the most urgent needs first:
Public.Health@walthamforest.gov.uk

There are also a number of programmes and hardship funds in operation to support residents in need:
https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/content/local-welfare-assistance-lwa

Discretionary housing payments:
https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/content/discretionary-housing-payments

Discretionary council tax reduction:
https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/content/discretionary-reduction-council-tax

LP members - if you haven't had your Leadership ballot invitation yet

@UKLabour tweeted yesterday: "If you haven't received your ballot for the Leadership contest, don't worry - there's still plenty of time to vote. If you think you should have received yours by now, you can request a reissue at http://labour.org.uk/reissue"

❌ Haven’t got your Labour Leadership Ballot yet? ❌

Here’s what you need to do 👇

➡ If you’re expecting your ballot by email, check your inbox and spam for any email with the subject line The Labour Party - Election of Labour Leader and Deputy Leader 2020 from the address labourelections@cesvotes.com.

➡ If it’s not there, click this link to request an email ballot reissue: http://bit.ly/2IgOaOw

➡ If you’re expecting your ballot by post and not received it yet, you can request a reissue here by emailing: leadership2020@labour.org.uk

Make sure you forward this message to all the Labour Party members you know!

Problems with LP members' ballot invitations

A number of local party members have had messages from the LP office for the leadership elections which refer to the need for members to be on the electoral register for them to be eligible to vote in the leadership ballot. They have unfortunately been advised to email an address that bounces back.

Given the scale of the task of administering this ballot it may well be difficult to get through to anyone, but it might be worth trying one of these alternative addresses if, as a party member, you find yourself in this position:

labourmembership@labour.org.uk

enquiries@lpms-support.com

membershipaction@labour.org.uk

Don't forget that to check if you have actually had the ballot invitation search your email inbox for:

Sender: labourelections@cesvotes.com
Subject line: The Labour Party – Election of Labour Leader and Deputy Leader 2020.

Labour Leadership ballots going out from today

Today ballots start going out to all eligible LP members for the Labour Leadership, Deputy Leadership and NEC elections. Most people vote within the first 24 hours of getting their ballot, so this is going to be the most important part of the entire leadership election.

You may not get your ballot today (24 Feb). It will take most of this week for everyone to get them.

If you have an individual email address on the LP system you will get your ballot electronically. Only those who don't have an individual email address on the system will get a ballot pack in the post.

To check if you have had the ballot search your email inbox for:

• Sender: labourelections@cesvotes.com
• Subject line: The Labour Party – Election of Labour Leader and Deputy Leader 2020.

To reduce the chance of your ballot going into your spam or junk folder add the following email address, as above, to your 'trusted sender' list (or to your contacts list): labourelections@cesvotes.com

Before getting in touch for help check your junk/spam mail
For help email theteam@labour.org.uk (don't email walthamstowclp)

Ballot reissue requests open on Monday 2 March. Do not request a reissue before this date.
Once you have received your ballot you will only be able to vote once. You will not be able to change your mind subsequently.

Deadline 19 Feb: London Assembly candidate selections ballot for LP members

The ballot of LP members in London constituencies to select the Candidates for the London elections in May is currently underway. Members should by now have had an email with their voting details, including a link to enable you to vote online. The ballot closes on 19 February at 12 noon. If you haven't seen the email in your inbox check your 'spam' or 'junk' folder, and also your 'trash' or 'bin' folder. The message header will be
"London Labour Party - London Assembly Member selections 2020"
The email sender will be: "takepart@cesvotes.com". You have to have been a continuous member from 26 September 2018 to the present and not in membership subscription arrears to be eligible to vote.
If you definitely haven't had the email contact: londonassembly@labour.org.uk
You can also check here for suggestions to help you get the messages you want from the Labour party

For Walthamstow LP members: revised date of leadership nomination meeting 11 February

The guidance issued by the Labour Party General Secretary for running meetings to make nominations for leader and deputy leader has more than one interpretation. To clarify its meaning our meeting proposals were sent for approval to the London Regional Labour Party on 19 January, but to date there has been no response. However in the last 12 hours it's become apparent they may be challenged and our nomination could risk being declared invalid. To address this it is necessary to move the meeting to another date. The executive recognise this will cause inconvenience, but believe it is important for the CLP to be able to submit a valid nomination, and we would be grateful if you can assist in sharing this change of date with others.

The meeting will therefore now take place on Tuesday 11th February at the same venue. The meeting starts at 8pm. Doors open at 7.15pm. Doors will close to admissions at the start of the ‘discussion of candidate qualities’, about 20 minutes into the meeting.

Any Walthamstow Labour Party member who has been a member since on or before 17 December 2019 can vote in this meeting. The other arrangements and timings are the same.

Candidates’ statements: The Labour Party website (here) has statements from the candidates for Leader and Deputy, to read online or download. You need to login with Labour as a first step. A limited number of printed copies of the statements will be available at the meeting.

The message has been sent via the LP Organise system, to the thousands of members in Walthamstow and may take an hour or so to reach everyone.