LIFE AFTER FOOT AND MOUTH

[Stanley]

LIFE AFTER FOOT AND MOUTH

13/06/2001

Farmers are an independent lot, they have to be to stay in the game. This is a wonderful strength but paradoxically, can be a disadvantage if they have been culled for foot and mouth or as contiguous holdings. As the tide of the disease advances, more and more of my friends are being affected and I’ve been learning a few lessons and passing them on as to how to deal with Life After the Cull.
The first thing to recognise is that the name of the game has changed, you are unemployed and without an income. The next thing to realise is that any action you take as regards available help or benefits dates from the day the claim is received. Therefore, the message is get going!
One word about getting past the mental block that says that you aren’t going to rely on charity. This is completely wrong, what we are talking about is not charity but entitlement. Indeed, if you don’t claim you are actually doing a disservice to all other claimants because it makes it look as though the benefit isn’t needed. It is actually your duty to claim everything to which you might be entitled.
Being self-employed is no bar to claiming many benefits. The first port of call is the local office of the Benefits Agency. Explain your case and ask for the necessary forms to claim Family Income Support or Income Support, the staff will be very helpful and will tell you which you need. Fill them in and get them back immediately. Your claim starts when they receive the form. Second, talk to the staff at your local Council Office, the one you pay Council Tax to. Ask them for the forms for claiming Council Tax Benefit and Housing Benefit. Don’t assume you can’t qualify, fill the forms in and send them in. Next contact the Contributions Agency at Longbenton, Newcastle on Tyne. Have your national insurance numbers to hand and ask for the forms to stop paying your NI because you are unemployed. You only become liable for NI again when your income reaches about £4,000 per annum.
Remember in all these cases that you expect to be without income for a long time. The compensation for your stock is not income, it is your capital and should not count. If they try to tell you it is, fight it.
Remember that if you are doing any tasks for the ministry and expect to receive money for this that this doesn’t count until you actually receive it and some of these payments are taking over two months. It looks as though the average waiting time for compensation for stock is running at about six to eight weeks if there are no problems.
Be sure that if you are doing any clean-up work for the ministry that there is a clear understanding as to how this work is to be certified as correct. There have been cases where it has all had to be done again with no pay. Make sure you enquire of the ministry what can be replaced at the ministry’s expense on the grounds that it cannot be disinfected properly, for instance rotten wood in any of the structures you are cleaning.
Finally, recognise that the ministry will be very attentive to your needs immediately after the cull but this will rapidly tail off as their resources are moved elsewhere. Get in quickly with your requests for support. Talk to your friends who have already gone through this, they are your best advisers. You have spent all your lives paying into the system so you are entitled to any support that the system can give back to you.

SCG/13/06/2001