Passwords please

What an exciting week we've had. There are approximately 240 participants taking part in the pilot period and our busy team have been scurrying up and down the country visiting our 8 local authorities to demonstrate the site. Passwords are on the way to participating local authorities. Tower Hamlets, Sutton, Kent, Brighton and Hove, Leeds and Islington should now be set up and raring to go. Visits for Stockton and Norfolk are planned for this week so you will have your passwords shortly. First impressions? Already we've received some really encouraging feedback from the pilot teams. One participant has even written to us to say they used the information in a case to help stress the impact of domestic violence on their children. I know I am going to be saying this a lot, but I cannot stress how important it is that you send us your comments. Don't be afraid to raise your concerns, or let us know what you would like to see on the site. In the course of our training sessions this week, a few social workers said that they currently struggle to find a helpful guide to the benefits and allowances payable in the area of fostering and adoption. We are happy to say that we've been able to respond really quickly to this request, and we have commissioned Gary Vaux, head of money advice at Hertfordshire County Council to write two guides to finance in this area. One will cover allowances and benefits payable to foster carers, and the other will cover the same issues in the field of adoption. These guides will be appearing on the site in the next three weeks - we'll let you know when they have been loaded - and you will be able to find them in the A-Z of Benefits section. LEGISLATION Please bear with us while we sort out a problem that is affecting your ability to link from the legislation overview to the relevant section of the digest. We're working hard to resolve this and will let you know as soon as it is fixed which should be in a matter of days.