Barking and Dagenham residents who are on Universal Credit are being reminded that they will need to apply for their Council Tax Support separately.



People who currently receive Universal Credit or are soon to do so, will have to apply for to claim Council Tax Support from the council to prevent them going arrears and having extra costs to pay.

Barking and Dagenham Council will mark the 24th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide with a special flag-raising event outside Barking Town Hall on Thursday 11 July.

As well as a minute’s silence, there will be speeches, prayers and artwork on display that has been created by local school children.

Barking and Dagenham Council paraded a float for the second year in a row as they celebrated this year’s Pride in London Parade on Saturday, 6 July.

Around 70 people from the borough joined thousands of revellers on the capital’s streets to represent the borough at London’s iconic parade, which started at Portland Place past Piccadilly Circus, Pall Mall and Trafalgar Square.

Students from All Saints Catholic School will have a last school week of the school year to remember as each pupil will have the opportunity to head into London to widen their cultural horizons. 

To do this the school runs Curiosity Week where each student will visit a cultural landmark in the capital to help improve their cultural knowledge. 

The venues will include the British Museum, Museum of London, Science Museum, Natural History Museum, Tate Modern, National Gallery and the Tower of London.

A black, four-foot-tall fibreglass dog has been standing guard in the halls of a Barking and Dagenham school as part of a campaign to encourage pupils to discuss their mental health.

Elvis the dog returned to Eastbury Community School after going on a UK-wide tour, which saw the statue visit various public spaces, as well as schools and universities.

The campaign is the idea of mental health charity SANE, which places sculptures of black dogs around the country to raise awareness of mental health issues.

A Barking and Dagenham school has scooped a prestigious national award for their work to improve the health and wellbeing of pupils and staff.

All Saints Catholic School achieved the silver Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools from Leeds Beckett University.

The award demonstrates that a school is excelling in providing policies and initiatives that work towards improving the emotional health and wellbeing for staff and pupils.

Barking and Dagenham council’s housing company, Reside, now has a new board and recently appointed a Managing Director to take forward the ambitious plans to provide even more affordable homes for local people.

Since its launch in 2012, Reside is now a significant landlord in the borough with almost 900 properties, with over 70 shared ownership properties on its books. Over the next five years there is an opportunity to increase the number of homes by a further 3,000.

Did you know that if you are looking after someone else’s child for a prolonged period of time, you need to let the council know as this is called private fostering?

Next week, (8 -12 July) is Private Fostering Week which aims to raise awareness around the number of young people that are living in other people’s care as well highlighting the importance of letting the council know.

Figures show that approximately 20,000 children up and down the country live away from home in private fostering arrangements, but less than 50 per cent of these arrangements are registered.

Over 120 children from across Barking and Dagenham have taken part in a national campaign to celebrate the wonderful world of science.

Hosted by Eastbrook Primary School, The Great Science Share for Schools saw 13 schools from all over the borough come together to share their work with special guest Robert Ratford, the Sci Guy, and ask questions, such as:

1. How does your body digest food?

2. Is plastic really destroying the earth?

3. Why do cat’s glow at night?

4. When is the best time to catch my shadow?

All local community and voluntary sector groups are being invited to a funding workshop on the 26 July at Barking Learning Centre.