Support from the NFF - the Naval Families Federation

Support

Keep your computer safe -http://www.itsafe.gov.uk is a government service, launched on 23 February 2005, to provide both home users and small businesses with advice in plain English advice on protecting computers, mobile phones and other devices from malicious attack.

Dental Support in the Portsmouth area If you live in the Fareham, Gosport and the surrounding areas, you may be interested to know that two new NHS Dental practices have just started up. One is at the LB Healthcare building opposite Whiteley Primary school, from which there will be 2 NHS dentists based. The second dental practice, Fareham and Gosport's PCT have refused to reveal the location of the surgery for fear of desperate patients queuing up outside. However, the only way to register with either practice - which will also be open to people living outside Fareham and Gosport - is to call a hotline, which is live this week on (023) 8033 8336 between 10.00 am and 4.45 pm Monday to Thursday (4.15 pm on Fridays).

Other dental support can be got at the Petersfield Dental Access Centre, which is by appointment only, is open Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 8.30 am to 4.30 pm and is closed for lunch 12.30 pm to 1.30 pm.

The Poswillo Centre 02392 286114 at Queen Alexandra Hospital, operates between 9.00 am and 11.00 am Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays.

Also don’t forget that you can contact NHS Direct on 0845 46 47 or www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk or Denplan www.denplan.co.uk.

Boarding School Allowance
Requirement of New Certificate of Entitlement for claims...

Boarding School Allowance (Day) (BSA Day) is available to Service parents to ensure continuity of education for their children. It allows a child already attending boarding school, to become a day pupil at the same school and to live at home when family circumstances permit. To become eligible for BSA Day your child must have been boarding for one full academic year at the school and the school must guarantee to hold a boarding place available for your child to fill when you are posted away from the area.

The only exception to this is where an older brother or sister attends the same boarding school and has already qualified to receive the allowance; this is known as the Sibling Rule. In this case the younger child will not have to board for a year but they must still have a guaranteed boarding place for the future.

For further information and advice contact Children’s Education Advisory Service (CEAS) – formerly Service Children’s Education (SCE) – on 01980 618244 or enquiries.ceas@gtnet.gov.u

To stop ringtone rip-off texts coming to your phone, find out which five-figure number they are being sent from. This should start with the number 8, like 88888 or 84404. Then text the word “STOP” to that number.

To complain, contact watchdog ICSTIS, with full details of how you came to sign up, at: ICSTIS Ltd, Clove Building, 4 Maguire Street, London SE1 2NQ.You can ring them on 0800 500 212 or log on to www.icstis.org.uk and go to the consumers’ section.

To get a refund from Jamster! if you feel you or your child have been unfairly targeted, contact the company’s UK helpline on 08701 213186. Make sure you speak to a real person and explain what has happened. Your call will be charged at national rates.

A Families Guide for Foreign and Commonwealth Personnel in the Royal Naval Service - this is a very useful online guide designed to help Foreign and Commonwealth personnel who are joing the Royal Naval Service. Printer friendly, Rich Text Format and PDF versions are also available.

Find out how the 'Annington Trust' can make awards to Playgroups, Creches and Community Centres to help with new projects. On line application forms are available for downloading.

Find out about the financial assistance that is available, through the Royal Naval Service, to cover the costs of flights for visits to deployed personnel.

A welfare package has now been established by the Royal Naval Service which significantly improves the level of welfare services available to deployed personnel. Keep up to date and check out the details here.

Get the facts on the Forces Railcard - what you get, what it can do and who's eligible.

Families And Friends of Deployed Units ( FAFDU ) is a Plymouth based informal group which offers families and friends of a loved one, who is deployed, an opportunity to meet others in similar circumstances on a regular basis for a variety of social events and get-togethers. If you live further away and are visiting the south west area, you are welcome to join them or some of you may live closer to other military establishments and could contact the HIVE (numbers from SAFAB on 01752 569696), or their welfare organisation to enquire about similar events.
Click here to learn more about FAFDU, future events and activities.

The Second Sea Lord's Personnel Liaison Team travels extensively from its office in HM Naval Base, Portsmouth, giving presentations to Naval Service personnel and their families on Second Sea Lord's current and future personnel policy initiatives. Following each presentation a Question and Answer session enables the Team to answer individuals questions and to gather valuable feedback, both positive and negative, on any issues. Click here for more information and future visit dates.

Personal debt and getting a grip on your finances is increasingly an issue in society. Naval families and personnel are as likely to face this problem as anyone else. To support naval families a free, service approved, self help booklet has been produced by RSR in co-operation with the money education charity Credit Action to provide a free specialist debt counselling service exclusively for the Naval community. You can obtain your own copy by completing the on line form here. More information on the freephone help line and online pages are also available on the RSR website.

A number of useful support services are also available on the links page. If you have any other support issues please contact NFF using the online form
or by email at admin@nff.org.uk

An NFF Message Board has been created to enable naval families to communicate easily with each other. It is hoped that the Board will give families the chance to view other peoples problems and and also their experiences in solving them or otherwise.

The Board will be monitored regularly by staff to ensure that the NFF is able to react and represent current discussion issues in an appropriate way.

New issues will always arise, so if you have a discussion subject that you would like to put on the Board, please contact NFF via the online form and we will ensure a new discussion board is created as soon as possible. You will be contacted when it is available.

For those who would prefer not to use the Bulletin Board the NFF also welcomes feedback on issues that are affecting families in the Royal Naval Service via the online form and by e-mail at admin@nff.org.uk