Day: March 21, 2022

Edinburgh Leisure launches Movement for Good challenge

As part of their commitment to keeping people active and well, Edinburgh’s leading sport and physical activity charity, Edinburgh Leisure, is launching a new month-long physical activity challenge that aims to inspire people to get active every day this May.

The Movement for Good challenge is aimed at everyone, not just their members. It’s well-evidenced that moving and being physically active benefits our overall health and wellbeing, but putting it into practice can be hard, with family life, work commitments and household chores often taking precedence over exercise.

Helen Macfarlane, in the newly created role as Edinburgh Leisure’s Director of Wellbeing explains: “Whether people are new to physical activity or need a helping hand to get back into the swing of things, then our new Movement for Good challenge is for them.

“It’s designed to give participants a period of focus when they start to make small consistent changes by being active every day. This is the start of forming healthy habits so that regular activity becomes part of their daily routine, and they build the motivation to stay active because they feel good.

“Being active doesn’t have to mean running a marathon or joining a bootcamp. Even small changes can make a huge difference. Participants are encouraged to find an activity or activities they love, enabling them to create healthy habits and providing them with the motivation they need to stay active. So, for example, someone might wish to step it out, boogie on the dancefloor, or dip their toes into the pool or pump some iron throughout May.

“Participants can also use their challenge to do some good by raising sponsorship money to support local people who need a bit more help through Edinburgh Leisure’s Active Communities programme, so they too can experience the benefits of an active life.”

Each year, Edinburgh Leisure’s Active Communities programme supports over 10,000 people affected by health conditions, disabilities, and poverty – empowering them to improve their health, wellbeing, and quality of life. 

This includes enabling care experienced children to enjoy the active childhood they deserve, to helping people with cancer and other long term health conditions to manage their symptoms and have a better quality of life, to ensuring older adults can stay active and connected for longer.

Participants signing up to the month-long Movement for Good Challenge, will receive a pack full of useful resources, along with hints and tips on how to get the most out of your challenge.  This will help ensure participants have fun, keep motivated and experience the health and wellbeing benefits of becoming more physically active.

Sign up today to join the May Movement for Good Challenge and reap the benefits of an active life – www.edinburghleisure.co.uk/movement-for-good

Social Security Scotland: Adult Disability Payment pilots begin today

The new Adult Disability Payment will open for applications today (Monday 21 March) for people living in three pilot areas.

People aged between 16 and state pension age who are disabled, have a long-term health condition or a terminal illness living in Dundee City, Perth and Kinross and Western Isles council areas can apply.

Adult Disability Payment will replace the UK Government’s Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in Scotland.

People with ongoing awards of Personal Independence Payment and Disability Living Allowance do not need to make an application for Adult Disability Payment. Their awards will transfer to the Scottish social security system automatically from summer 2022.

Further council areas will be introduced in phases until Adult Disability Payment is rolled out nationally on 29 August 2022.

Minister for Social Security Ben Macpherson said: “Social security is a human right and none of us know when we might need it – it is a shared investment to help build a fairer society, together. We are developing a system that is rooted in trust to make sure people can access the support that they are entitled to.

“Launching this first Adult Disability Payment pilot is a significant milestone, as we start to deliver our biggest and most complex benefit. We are taking a positive and compassionate approach to delivering disability assistance, centred around our principles of dignity, fairness and respect.

“We know people have found applying for disability benefits stressful in the past. That is why we have listened to their experiences and have designed our service to work for people, not against them.

“We are ensuring that accessing Adult Disability Payment is as straightforward as possible and we will always start from a position of trust. Importantly, in the Scottish system no one will be subject to Department for Work and Pensions style assessments and we will never use the private sector to carry out health examinations.

“There won’t be any degrading functional examinations, such as asking a client to ‘touch their toes’.. These changes have been welcomed by those with lived experience, who we have worked with to design this benefit.

“People will only be invited to a consultation on occasions when we require more information so we can make a decision. This will be a conversation with a health and social care professional to understand how an individual’s disability or health condition impacts them.

“We are committed to giving people timely decisions, but our priority is making the right decisions first time and sometimes this may take a bit longer. This will reduce the need for people to go through a redetermination or appeal.

“Adult Disability Payment is there to support people to live well and provide security at the most difficult of times. I would encourage those who think they could be eligible to check and apply.”

Tracy McNally, Director of Dundee Citizens Advice Bureau said: “Helping people with social security payments, and disability payments in particular, is one of the biggest things we do and we’re excited that Dundee is one of the pilot areas for the roll out of adult disability payments.

“It’s really important that the new system is rooted in dignity and respect for applicants, and doesn’t cause unnecessary stress or anxiety.

“We’d encourage anyone who may eligible for the support to apply, and if anyone ever needs help or advice on social security issues, your local CAB is here for you.”

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