BRIGG FOLK URGED TO DO MORE ONLINE

FROM KIRSTY WESTFIELD, NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE COUNCIL

North Lincolnshire Council is supporting national Get Online Week (12 to 18 October) by encouraging people to do more with the internet and use the range of online forms for council tax and housing benefits – making their lives a little easier. 
Accessing information for the local taxation and benefits service has been made simpler with the online service that’s available 24 hours a day, seven days a week at www.northlincs.gov.uk/council-tax-benefits-and-housing/ 
You can now complete forms and let the council know about any changes at a time to suit you. Whether you want to make a new claim or apply for a council tax reduction – you can do it all online. 
Before, customers would have to contact the service within office hours, which wasn’t always convenient.
There are lots of tasks you can do online:

• Tell us that you’ve moved house/changed address so that your council tax account can be updated 
• View your balance and pay your council tax 
• Apply for a Single Residency Discount 
• Make a new claim for housing benefit 
• Apply for housing benefit/council tax reduction 
• Apply for Discretionary Housing Payment 
• Check your entitlement on the benefits calculator 

Access the online service at: www.northlincs.gov.uk/council-tax-benefits-and-housing/ 
Customers who use the online service will see lots of benefits, such as:
Fewer questions on the online forms compared to the paper forms; the ‘intelligent’ forms will only ask questions relevant to your circumstances 
You can save the form part way through and complete it later if you want 
When you complete a form it will tell you what documentary evidence you need to take to a local link to support your claim – reducing the risk of a wasted visit and speeding up your claim 
Get Online Week is returning this year to help show thousands more people how the internet can make their lives a little easier.
If you have never used the internet or just need a refresher course for getting online, there are some free online training sessions provided by the council and Ongo across North Lincolnshire. They are on:
Mondays at Age UK Scunthorpe from 10am to 12pm 
Tuesday at Alvingham Road Wellbeing Hub, Scunthorpe from 1.30pm to 3.30pm 
Wednesdays at Market Hill from 10am to 12pm 
Wednesdays at Ashby Local Link from 1pm to 3pm 
Thursday at Brigg Community Wellbeing Hub, Horstead Avenue, from 10am to 12pm 
The sessions will help develop your knowledge and skills in using the internet. 
Since the sessions started in February 2014 there have been over 1,400 attendees.
If anyone wants more information, contact John Daly on 01724 298427 or email joh.daly@northlincs.gov.uk, or Kayleigh Hancox at Ongo on 01724 298665 or email KayleighHancox@ongo.co.uk 
It’s not only the taxation and benefits service that you can access online, there are lots of other things you can do online on the council’s website. You can do everything from reporting fly-tipping and finding out your bin collection days to reporting a problem with a road, just visit www.northlincs.gov.uk/do-it-online 
Don’t be put off if you don’t have access to a computer at home. You can still do things online using the computers at your local link or library, which is free for 30 minutes. Each additional session of up to 30 minutes after this costs just 55p. 
Coun Richard Hannigan, Cabinet \Member for Policy and Finance, said: “More and more things are going online and so it is only right we, as a council, keep up with the digital world. Having access to services online makes it much easier and quicker for people to complete tasks. 
“Being able to access the taxation and benefits services online will save people a lot of time, as they don’t have to work around office hours and can avoid the queues. You can do a whole range of things from letting us know you have moved house to applying for council tax reduction. Take a look at what you can do online by visiting our website.
“If more people accessed council services online instead of calling or visiting in person, you could help save the council money.”