Tuesday 28 February 2012
Thursday 23 February 2012
Concessionary Travel Passes
Concessionary Travel Passes
TfGM are responsible for managing more than 420,000 National Concessionary Travel passes for people in Greater Manchester – and the majority of them are due to expire in the next 12 months.
The passes, issued to people aged 60 and over and to people with disabilities, provide free travel on many buses, trams and trains in Greater Manchester. They are part of a national scheme, but we are responsible for administering them locally on behalf of the government.
The majority of passes were first issued five years ago and will start to come up for renewal from April – which will involve a considerable amount of work for our Passes and Permits team.
TfGM have been planning for this for a long time and have worked with stakeholders, including the local authorities and bus companies, to ensure that the renewals process runs smoothly.
The next stage in the process is to send letters to all pass holders six weeks before their pass expires, to explain the process for renewals and prompt them to do it. The first of these letters will start arriving through people’s doors over the next few days.
When they do, other pass holders may start to question when their pass will be renewed; some pass holders may ask you for advice. If they do, please just reassure them that they will receive a letter within six weeks of their pass expiring, and that they do not need to do anything in the meantime.
If you would like to speak to someone about the process for renewing passes, please contact Stuart Johnson, Customer Relations Manager, on 0161 244 1716 or email him at: Stuart.Johnson@tfgm.com .
Tuesday 21 February 2012
Friday 17 February 2012
Budget battle for Labour’s values: elderly and vulnerable protected
Salford City Council will be asked to cut its budget by £24 million when it meets on Tuesday.
A series of announcements have been made Salford’s Cabinet members outlining what the cuts mean for the services they run.
One of the most controversial areas has been in adult services which provides care for the elderly and disabled as well as community facilities such as libraries. The budget has had to be cut by £6.5 million – almost 10%.
Lead member Cllr John Warmisham said: “Given that central services have been cut by 15%, we have seen the Cabinet prioritise our services. But our share of the cuts still means difficult decisions.
“I have been very clear that the Labour Party wants to protect the most vulnerable and that means maintaining standards of care.
“We are one of very few councils who still provide a comprehensive care system because we believe the people of Salford want the best standard of care for the elderly. Their values are our values.
“By protecting this service, there are 6,000 vulnerable adults in Salford who are receiving care that our opponents want to withdraw.”
Most of the cuts in that budget area have been made by moving libraries and other facilities into shared building and cutting grants to other bodies.
The Cabinet member responsible for culture, leisure and neighbourhoods, Cllr Paula Boshell, said: “We have made some of the biggest reductions in budgets but we have tried to maintain the basic facilities.
“Although we have had to reduce the grant to the Lowry, we will work with them to support the ‘Inspire to Aspire’ programme.
“At a time when the Tory government is hitting young people the hardest, we want to make sure that in Salford young talent is not wasted but given every opportunity.”
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