Handy person scheme

Low cost help at hand

(Date of issue: Tuesday, 1 June 2010)

Carlisle residents are being reminded that help is at hand from a local ‘Handy Person’ scheme.

Promoted by Carlisle City Council, and funded through Supporting People, the scheme is aimed at anyone who lives within urban and rural Carlisle and is over 60 years old; or is disabled (of any age); or is on means tested benefits (of any age). Delivered by Riverside, Carlisle’s largest registered social landlord, it is open to private home owners and privately rented properties. The scheme offers discounted ‘odd job’ work such as:

Inside the home:

• Fitting grab rails;
• Replacing light bulbs and fluorescent tubes or changing plugs and fuses;
• Mending leaking taps and cistern washers;
• Putting up shelves and painting doors and frames after repair;
• Fitting new or replacement locks (private tenants and owner occupiers only);
• Unblocking sinks; and
• Clearing lofts to install insulation.

Outside the home:

• Make small repairs to garden gates (new latches and bolts);
• Replace broken window panes (ground floor only private tenants and owner occupiers);
• Make garden paths safe;
• Fitting handrails and grab rails; and
• Tidy garage/shed (when customers are unable to do it themselves).

Work does not include anything that requires trade qualifications; anything connected with the roofs of buildings (except single storey guttering); greenhouses or conservatories; anything that is the responsibility of the landlord and anything that would take more than half a day to complete.

The work costs £10 an hour (excluding materials which need to be paid for by the resident), can be for a maximum of three hours and is done by professional trades’ people who work for Riverside, Carlisle City Council’s partner in the scheme.

Cllr Olwyn Luckley, Portfolio holder for Community Engagement, said:

“The Handy Person scheme provides a valuable resource to some of our most vulnerable residents. It offers a discounted price for odd jobs that householders are unable to do themselves. I hope that residents from throughout the city - urban and rural – take up the offer of help.”

Gerald Warwick from Riverside said:

“Riverside is pleased to be working with Carlisle City Council to be able to offer this service to residents of Carlisle. It is important that elderly and vulnerable residents know that this service exists and how to access it, to ensure that their day to day repairs are carried out as and when they are needed, by an organisation they can trust."

Further information about the scheme is available from Carlisle City Council, telephone 01228 817079 or visit www.carlisle.gov.uk

To arrange for some work to be done, or to find out if you are eligible, please telephone Riverside on 0800 169 3245 or 0345 155 9020 (option 1).