If you are an unpaid carer, Carers Northumberland’s information and advice team is available from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday, to help you find your way around the social care system, tell you about your legal rights, and signpost you to organisations and services that can support you in your caring role. Carers Northumberland also administers the Carer Support Fund, which provides small grants to enable unpaid carers to take short breaks from their caring responsibilities. You can email Carers Northumberland or call 01670 320 025, or attend the free event that’s taking place on Thursday 24 November in Alnwick where you can talk to Carers Northumberland and a range of other organisations. If you know an unpaid carer who might find this information useful, please pass it on.
Category: regulations and legislation
National legislation and regulations that residents need to know about.
Carham Parish Council
The Annual Parish Council Meeting was held on 10 May. Among other things, the meeting reviewed and agreed the Parish Council’s Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR). The AGAR documents are all available on the Standards page of this website. The AGAR and the accounting records for the financial year, and documents relating to these records, are available for inspection on reasonable notice by application to the Parish Clerk from Monday 13 June 2022 to Friday 22 July 2022.
Census 2021
The census is carried out by the Office for National Statistics and takes place every ten years. Census day is Sunday 21 March, and census forms need to be completed on that day or as soon as possible afterwards. You must complete the census by law. If you do not, or if you supply false information, you could be fined up to £1,000.
You can complete the census online or you can complete a paper census questionnaire.
To complete the census online, you need a unique access code. This will be sent to you by post. If it does not arrive, or if you mislay it, you can request a new access code by going to https://census.gov.uk and scrolling down the page to If you don’t have an access code. There is other useful information about the census on that page.
You do not have to complete the census online. You can request a paper census questionnaire by phoning the free helpline 0800 141 2021 or by going to https://census.gov.uk and scrolling down to If you want to fill out a paper census. Alternatively, you can ask someone you trust to order a paper questionnaire for you.
It is all right for someone you trust, like a family member or friend, to help you to complete the census, either online or on paper.
Private Water Supplies
If you have a private water supply and take more than 20 cubic metres of water a day, you are now likely to require a licence from the Environment Agency – even if you have not needed one before.
Changes to the licensing system came into effect on 1 January 2018, when a number of licence exemptions were removed. These included the exemption for groundwater abstractions of between 20 and 227 cubic metres a day, and the exemption for surface water abstraction within the Till river catchment.
The licensing system applies to domestic users as well as to a farm or a business that takes water from a river or the ground. With regard to domestic users, a collection of houses on one borehole, well or spring supply may need a licence – see this Environment Agency leaflet for information.
The deadline for applying for a licence is 31 December 2019. For more information and to apply, visit the Environment Agency website.
Carham Community Website 