The Essential Living Fund (ELF) [1] is a local welfare assistance scheme in Essex, England that was introduced in April 2013 following the abolition of the discretionary element of the Social Fund. It replaces two discretionary elements of the Social Fund - crisis loans and community care grants. [2] Under the old system these payments were administered by the Department for Work and Pensions but ELFs are now administered by local government. According to Citizens Advice literature ELFs are "designed to ease exceptional pressure on people and their families". [3] However, these benefits are not in the form of currency and are distributed using indirect methods such as: Use of food vouchers or supermarket vouchers, use of AllPay cards, provision of recycled furniture from reputable charity, and provision of white goods from a reputable local dealer. [4] These indirect methods reduce the control participating individuals have over what they buy.
The scheme can cover fields such as:
If you are awarded the grant you will not be paid in cash or into a bank account. Instead it will be:
A charity shop (British English), thrift shop or thrift store or opportunity shop or op-shop is a retail establishment run by a charitable organization to raise money. Charity shops are a type of social enterprise. They sell mainly used goods such as clothing, books, music albums, shoes, toys, and furniture donated by the public, and are often staffed by volunteers. Because the items for sale were obtained for free, and business costs are low, the items can be sold at competitive prices. After costs are paid, all remaining income from the sales is used in accord with the organization's stated charitable purpose. Costs include purchase and/or depreciation of fixtures, operating costs and the building lease or mortgage.
Sustrans is a United Kingdom-based walking, wheeling and cycling charity, and the custodian of the National Cycle Network.
Used goods, also known as secondhand goods, are any item of personal property offered for sale not as new, including metals in any form except coins that are legal tender, but excluding books, magazines, and postage stamps. Used goods may also be handed down, especially among family or close friends, as a hand-me-down.
Car boot sales or boot fairs are a form of market in which private individuals come together to sell household and garden goods. They are popular in the United Kingdom, where they are often referred to simply as 'car boots'.
Employee benefits and benefits in kind, also called fringe benefits, perquisites, or perks, include various types of non-wage compensation provided to employees in addition to their normal wages or salaries. Instances where an employee exchanges (cash) wages for some other form of benefit is generally referred to as a "salary packaging" or "salary exchange" arrangement. In most countries, most kinds of employee benefits are taxable to at least some degree. Examples of these benefits include: housing furnished or not, with or without free utilities; group insurance ; disability income protection; retirement benefits; daycare; tuition reimbursement; sick leave; vacation ; social security; profit sharing; employer student loan contributions; conveyancing; long service leave; domestic help (servants); and other specialized benefits.
Form P11D is a tax form filed by United Kingdom employers for each director and for each employee and sent to the tax office with which their PAYE scheme is registered. P11Ds are used to report benefits provided and expense payments made to employees by employers that are not put through the payroll. The employees are also given a copy, should they need it for a self-assessment tax return.
A jumble sale (UK), bring and buy sale or rummage sale is an event at which second hand goods are sold, usually by an institution such as a local Boys' Brigade Company, Scout group, Girlguiding group or church, as a fundraising or charitable effort. A rummage sale by a church is also sometimes called a church sale or white elephant sale.
Labour vouchers are a device proposed to govern demand for goods in some models of socialism and to replace some of the tasks performed by currency under capitalism.
The Green Dot is the financing symbol of a European network of industry-funded systems for recycling the packaging materials of consumer goods. The logo is a trademark protected worldwide—it is not a recycling logo.
An employer in the United States may provide transportation benefits to their employees that are tax free up to a certain limit. Under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code section 132(a), the qualified transportation benefits are one of the eight types of statutory employee benefits that are excluded from gross income in calculating federal income tax. The qualified transportation benefits are transit passes, vanpooling, bicycling, and parking associated with these things.
A key worker is a worker in an occupation given preferential treatment by government policy. They may be exempted from rules which apply to the general population or prioritized for the receipt of benefits.
Autism Anglia is an organisation and registered charity that provides services to those affected by autism in Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridge. It began life in 1973 when Anthony Boobier discovered there were no specialist autism services for his newly diagnosed son. Its first establishment opened in 1977 and it opened adult services in 1983 when the original children grew up and it was realised that there was no specialised adult autism provision for them. In 2008, The Essex Autistic Society took over the Norfolk Autistic Community Housing Association and the Norfolk Autistic Society and changed the name of the new charity to Autism Anglia to better reflect the enlarged area of operation. In 2013 Autism Anglia took over the Cambridge-based charity East Anglian Autistic Support Trust (EAST).
Taxation in Denmark consists of a comprehensive system of direct and indirect taxes. Ever since the income tax was introduced in Denmark via a fundamental tax reform in 1903, it has been a fundamental pillar in the Danish tax system. Today various personal and corporate income taxes yield around two thirds of the total Danish tax revenues, indirect taxes being responsible for the last third. The state personal income tax is a progressive tax while the municipal income tax is a proportional tax above a certain income level.
New Eyes for the Needy is a non-profit organization started in 1932 as New Eyes and based in Short Hills, New Jersey, which provides people in the United States with eyeglasses and sends recycled eyeglasses to needy people overseas.
Payzone is an Irish consumer payment service provider company based in Dublin. The company processes electronic transactions, including debit and credit card transactions mobile phone top ups, M50 motorway toll payments, Leap travel cards, local property tax payments, pay-by-phone parking, pre-paid and bill pay utility and parcel collection services.
The Social Fund in the UK was a form of welfare benefit provision payable for exceptional or intermittent needs, in addition to regular payments such as Jobseeker's Allowance or Income Support.
The Trussell Trust is an NGO and charity that works to end the need for food banks in the United Kingdom. It "is based on, shaped, and guided by Christian principles" and supports a network of over 1,200 food bank centres to provide emergency food and compassionate, practical support to people in crisis, while campaigning for long-term change to the structural issues that lock people into poverty. Its main office is in Salisbury, England.
Recycling Lives Limited, formerly Recycling Co Ltd and Preston Recycling Ltd, is a British recycling and waste management company headquartered in Preston, Lancashire. It has over 200 employees and £25 million turnover. The company founded a social welfare charity, Recycling Lives Charity, and is committed to undertaking only commercial ventures with a demonstrable charity or community benefit.
Gaia-Movement Living Earth Green World Action USA, Gaia Movement USA, or simply Gaia, is a charitable organization based in Chicago, Illinois which collects used clothing for resale ("recycling") in the United States and developing countries.
The retail format influences the consumer's store choice and addresses the consumer's expectations. At its most basic level, a retail format is a simple marketplace, that is; a location where goods and services are exchanged. In some parts of the world, the retail sector is still dominated by small family-run stores, but large retail chains are increasingly dominating the sector, because they can exert considerable buying power and pass on the savings in the form of lower prices. Many of these large retail chains also produce their own private labels which compete alongside manufacturer brands. Considerable consolidation of retail stores has changed the retail landscape, transferring power away from wholesalers and into the hands of the large retail chains.