The AJR employs a team of 13 experienced social and care workers who are dedicated to the daily needs of our members requiring support and guidance on a wide range of social, welfare and care requirements. Their clients include AJR members who fled to the UK as refugees, many of whom came on their own as young children via the Kindertransport, plus members who somehow managed to survive the various camps. The team also provide support to spouses, and second generation members whose Holocaust family history has an ongoing effect on their own lives. AJR social workers visit clients on an as needed basis; some require monthly visits whilst others may only be visited once or twice a year, for assistance with life certificates and to review and update assessments.
As part of their nationwide programme of home visits, social care workers assess members needs and, where appropriate, eligibility for a number of financial support schemes, designed to enable members to continue to live with dignity in their own homes for as long as possible. AJR’s team of social workers cover the whole of the UK and when visiting members who are socially isolated they provide information regarding local activities and services, make referrals to the AJR volunteer befriender service and to the SPF Connect computer scheme. To speak in confidence to a social worker please call us on 020 8385 3070.
Read more about one of AJR’s social workers. Click Here
Self-Aid is allocated at the discretion of AJR Trustees to assist AJR members on low incomes and / or with limited means. Self-Aid constitutes a monthly grant with additional holiday grants paid at specific times of the year: a winter-fuel payment and awards made to mark certain Jewish festivals: Passover, Rosh Hashanah and Chanukah.Whilst the scheme is not strictly means tested, a persons income, savings and expenditure are all taken into account when assessing eligibility. Also considered is the possibility of any private or family financial assistance and whether there are national welfare benefits from which a person might also benefit.
Through Self-Aid the AJR can also make one-off grants for exceptional expenses or circumstances as long as the cost is defined; for example, the payment of synagogue fees and TV licences as well as additional homecare. All requests are considered on a case by case basis.Where the amount required is a significant sum, interest-free loans can be arranged. In the event that the applicant is homeowner, the AJR may request that the loan is secured against the property.
The AJR is the partner organisation in the UK of The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (the Claims Conference) which works to secure compensation and restitution for survivors of the Holocaust and heirs of victims.Since 1951, the Claims Conference – working in partnership with the State of Israel – has negotiated for and distributed payments from Germany and Austria, as well as other governments and industry. It has also recovered unclaimed German Jewish property and funded programs to assist the neediest Jewish victims of Nazism.In Great Britain, the AJR receives and distributes (on behalf of an ad-hoc Umbrella Group committee) funds from allocated to survivors living in this country.Along with AJR the UK Umbrella Group agencies are Agudas Israel, Bikur Cholim, North London Bikur Cholim and Jewish Care.
The AJR administers the Homecare scheme on behalf of the UK Umbrella Group agencies. Financed by the German Government, the objective of the scheme is to assist clients to live in their homes for as long as possible.The Holocaust Survivor Emergency Fund allows for awards in the UK to pay for a number of services and needy items including dental treatment and specialist clothing as well as urgent house repairs, hearing aids and medical consultations. The Austrian Emergency Fundprovides financial assistance to Austrian Holocaust survivors with low incomes who require urgent medical attention or essential welfare services. Eligibility is restricted to Austrian Holocaust survivors and refugees (including spouses of Austrian nationals) who live on low incomes and who have limited capital holdings.
