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We are pleased today to launch a dedicated Support Hub to provide that little bit of extra help for you during these challenging times. We'll be working with our partners, local organisations and voluntary groups to connect you to the people who can provide the support you need. The health and wellbeing of our customers and local communities is always our priority and now, more than ever, we want you to know we are here for you. You can find out more at www.communitygateway.co.uk/coronavirus

If you are a Community Gateway tenant and are struggling or need help, please don’t hesitate to ask. Call us now on Freephone 0800 953 0213. Lines are open Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5pm. Alternatively, you can email gateway.Support@communitygateway.co.uk or complete the online form by visiting www.communitygateway.co.uk/coronavirus.

Our dedicated team are on hand to provide advice and support across a range of areas including:

• Access to food and medicine
• Advice on welfare benefits
• Help to get support with your gas and electricity
• Support if you are feeling lonely
• Support for your physical and mental wellbeing
• Access to useful local services
• Access to employment and training opportunities

We will do our very best to assist you and provide help where available. Please also let us know if you have received a letter from the NHS identifying that you should be taking steps to self-isolate for 12 weeks.

All support requests will be considered and either dealt with by our skilled in-house teams or, if more appropriate, referred on to one of our local partners.

Please understand that we may not be able to respond to all requests for support. We will need to prioritise those most needing assistance to ensure that our most vulnerable customers are adequately supported.

For those of you who aren’t our tenants or leaseholders, please contact Preston City Council’s support hub on 01772 906777 or email support@preston.gov.uk

Further information can be found on www.communitygateway.co.uk/coronavirus along with other useful links, where you might be able to self-refer or find the support and information you need quickly and directly yourself.

We have a dedicated team providing support to our elderly and vulnerable tenants, calling them to make sure that they are ok and they have everything they need during this difficult time. Last week alone we made over 800 wellbeing calls to support those who needed advice or a friend to talk to at what could be a lonely time. Our residents’ health, safety and wellbeing remains our top priority; the purpose of the phone call is to understand if they require additional help.

If you receive a call from us, please use this to share any concerns you have and we will do our very best to assist you and provide help where available. We are also asking anyone who has received a letter from the NHS identifying that they should be taking steps to self-isolate themselves to contact us if they need extra support.

We understand this is a very difficult time for everyone and are working hard to maintain services and provide much needed reassurance. Feedback from our sheltered residents has been amazing over the last few weeks. Carol, the daughter of one of our residents got in touch to express how grateful she was when her mum received a phone call from us.

Carol said:

“I just wanted to pass on my thanks to all colleagues at CGA for looking out for the old and vulnerable people in your houses.

Yesterday, whilst dropping some supplies off for my 80-year-old mum, she got a telephone call from Kim at CGA.  Kim was checking mum had everything she needed, food, medication etc. and that she was aware that being in the vulnerable age group she needed to stay at home.  She gave us a Freephone emergency contact number for mum to use if needed.

A big big thank you to all of you at CGA."

If you would like to increase the number of welfare calls you receive in your support package, please let your Outreach Officer know and we can easily do this for you. Please contact us on 0800 953 0213.

If you have any problems at all during this difficult period, please get in touch. We are still here for you and will do everything we can to help. 

If you have an underlying health condition listed here, you are at very high risk of severe illness as a result of coronavirus.

The Government will be sending letters to all those who fall into this category, landing this week.

The Government have introduced a raft of new measures, including a helpline for those in most need of the support, which is detailed in the letter. A new Local Support System has also been made available to those individuals self-isolating at home who are without a support network of friends and family, to enable them to receive basic groceries, along with community pharmacies available to those who need help getting their medicines delivered.

That’s where CGA would like to help you. If you are struggling for food, need help and advice, or just need someone to talk to, please call us on 0800 953 0213 and our teams will be happy to help.

If you have a medical condition that makes you vulnerable to coronavirus, you can register yourself to receive essential support by visiting - https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable. If you need help to fill out this form please contact us on 0800 953 0213 and we will be happy to help. 

We have been working hard to sustain a normal service to you over the last few weeks, however, we have had to increase social distancing precautions in order to ensure we safeguard our customers, colleagues and members of the public.

Following the announcement last night (23rd March 2020) by the Prime Minister, we regret to announce that we are only able to carry out emergency repairs and any work that ensures we remain compliant under health and safety regulations.

Emergency repairs consist of:

• Uncontainable leak
• Total loss of power
• Total loss of heating and hot water in a home without alternative forms of hot water e.g. electric shower.
• Serious security breach (such as an insecure front door)
• Major structural damage

The repairs team remains here to help you as much as possible through this difficult time, but ask that you consider carefully if your repair is an emergency prior to calling.

We ask that any tenants requesting emergency repairs, to please follow social distancing measures when we are visiting your home. Please note, we will be carrying out a screening questionnaire on each visit as part of the operatives assessment.

We ask that you also notify Community Gateway if you or anyone in your household: 

• Are self-isolating
• Have been in contact with someone who has been diagnosed
• Have the symptoms of coronavirus.

Our teams are committed to ensuring the safety of our residents in their homes while constantly reviewing the position and following the latest government advice.

We would like to take this opportunity to apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause and thank you for your continued patience during these difficult times.

Following the announcement last night (23^rd March 2020) by the Prime Minister, we regret to announce that we will be closing our head office at Harbour House and providing essential services only.

These comprise of: emergency repairs, our Supportline service and any work that ensures we remain compliant under health and safety regulations. We will also be restricting access to our playgrounds and erecting signage to remind people to act responsibly and keep a safe distance of 2m from others. Social distancing is crucial to combat Coronavirus. The safety of our colleagues and customers is paramount and it is clear we must all take stringent action to prevent the spread of this disease.

If you wish to report an emergency repair, or have a question not covered on our Frequently Asked Questions section on our dedicated Coronavirus website page, please go online at https://www.communitygateway.co.uk/contact-us or call us free on 0800 953 0213