SCOTLAND’S most luxurious care home is set to host an open day where members of the public are invited to come and experience an exclusive tour around its premises.
Dementia care experts, Cramond Residence is urging members of the public looking at care facilities to come and view its world-class facilities between 4-8pm on May 2nd.
Guests will be led by professionals around its facilities to learn more about the benefits of the home, its unique care packages, as well as learning more about how Cramond Residence Tailors care provision for each individual resident.
Client Liaison Manager Christian Daraio said: “It’s always great to welcome new people into our home and our open day offers an opportunity for those exploring care for a loved one to come and view our brilliant facilities and get a feel for what makes Cramond Residence unique.
“A stay at Cramond Residence is truly unique, we have a wonderful team who help to ensure that the residence delivers the best care while having a comfortable homely feeling.
“This is the perfect chance to soak in the residence’s warm and friendly atmosphere, and enjoy a cup of tea with some homemade treats, all while having access to our staff to ask as many important questions as they need.”
Cramond Residence is divided into nine individual homes, each named after an area of Edinburgh, fostering a sense of community among residents. Each home has private dining and living rooms, encouraging socialising and lasting connections.
Visitors can explore the main communal areas, including a dining room, library, private dining room, cinema, physiotherapy area, and hairdressing salon.
Cramond Residence also offers advanced facilities, such as high-tech therapy baths, to cater to the diverse needs of its residents.
The residence features beautiful gardens and a summer house, welcoming guests to wander leisurely and appreciate the scenic environment.
The home offers a unique set of activities for residents to enjoy, thanks to its Lifestyle Team, who offer day trips to landmarks such as, The Royal Yacht Britania as well as Therapet sessions, relaxing joy rides down to Cramond Beach and much more.
For further information about Cramond Residence, call 0131 336 1064 or visit the care home’s website at cramondresidence.co.uk.
An inspiring project to help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds into STEM careers is among six charities across Scotland set to benefit from a funding boost from the ScottishPower Foundation.
Some of the most forward-thinking and progressive charities across the country will use this backing to support vulnerable people, local communities and the environment.
Twenty charities across Scotland, England and Wales have been awarded funding totalling almost £1.2 million for projects committed to tackling current issues, from cost-of-living support and raising aspirations for the next generation to protecting the environment and celebrating cultural diversity.
An exciting new project from Archaeology Scotland, Energy Through Time, is helping young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to develop transferable skills and build their understanding in STEM subjects.
Through the project, young people will harness the power of the past by exploring the historic green spaces around Newbattle Abbey College with the task of creating innovative solutions for future energy sustainability, enabling them to become climate ambassadors for the future.
Supported by the ScottishPower Foundation, the first courses of the project will be kicking off as part of Meaningful May, a programme of activity offered to young people who are not sitting exams in school, with the aim of supporting them into a positive destination.
Melanie Hill, Executive Officer and Trustee at the ScottishPower Foundation, said:“The Energy Through Time project is helping young people to look into the past to inspire their very own future in STEM, supporting them in developing a host of skills and become the next generation of climate ambassadors.
“At the ScottishPower Foundation we always want to nurture projects that we believe will make a real difference, not only to our planet but to our local communities and the people within them. That is why it’s important for us to recognise and boost the incredible work of charities across the UK.
“It is always a challenge to narrow down the number of applications, but we sincerely believe we have selected a group of incredible organisations that we are thrilled to be in partnership with over the next year. We can’t wait to see what they all achieve.”
Jane Miller, Learning Officer at Archaeology Scotland, said:“At Archaeology Scotland we engage and connect young people with their local heritage, helping them develop new skills while raising aspirations for work and further learning.
“This project gives us the opportunity to use archaeology to grow STEM literacy amongst young people from areas where people are experiencing disadvantage across various aspects of their lives.
“We’re extremely grateful to the ScottishPower Foundation for supporting this new project which forms part of our Attainment Through Archaeology courses, designed to offer all people the chance to develop and grow, whatever their background.”
Another charity benefiting from this funding initiative is People Know How, an innovation charity in Edinburgh that aims to improve wellbeing across communities by supporting people to overcome social barriers and thrive.
The ScottishPower Foundation’s funding will support the Reconnect: Digital & Wellbeing Community Support project which seeks to help eradicate digital exclusion by providing place-based digital support in collaboration with local community partners.
By working directly with local communities, the team are creating connections between people who may otherwise feel isolated in society.
The ScottishPower Foundation will also be supporting Hope Kitchen, an Oban-based charity looking to help those in need through food, friendship and fellowship. Pilot Upcycle and Repair Shop: Oban provides affordable food, clothing and homeware whilst also reducing waste.
The funding from the ScottishPower Foundation will allow Hope Kitchen to deliver workshops and events to enable people to learn the skills to repair and upcycle, whilst the shop aims to alleviate the impacts of poverty, specifically by reducing food and textile waste.
With more than £13 million given out to charitable initiatives across Britain over the past 11 years, including more than 230 grants, the ScottishPower Foundation is continuing to support a range of worthy causes, ranging from helping the next generation into STEM careers and reducing isolation among older people to helping enhance the biodiversity of our habitats.
A full list of the 2024 ScottishPower Foundation funded projects are:
Millions of workers checking payslips tomorrow will see a tax cut
As the economy turns a corner, the government is rewarding hard work, with over £900 a year boost for typical worker
Marks another step in long-term ambition to end unfair double tax on work
There are 27 million employees in the UK, and today [Tuesday 30 April] millions of them on monthly salaries will wake up with a little more cash in their pockets, as the UK government’s Spring Budget cut to National Insurance appears in April’s pay-packets.
Since Autumn 2023, National Insurance Contributions (NICs) for workers have been slashed by a third – the largest cut to employee and self-employed NICs in history.
The main rate of employee National Insurance has been cut for 27 million workers from 12% to 8%, saving the average employee on £35,400 over £900 a year. An average full-time nurse will save £1053, a typical junior doctor £1508 and an average teacher £1270.
These cuts are possible because the economy is turning a corner, thanks to the government’s decisive action that has helped bring inflation down from 11.1% to 3.2% and ensure borrowing costs start to fall. Because of this progress, the government can now cut taxes to reward work and grow the economy.
This marks another step towards the longer-term ambition to end the unfair double tax on work and abolish employee and self-employed NICs altogether.
These tax cuts – worth over £20 billion a year – have been achievable while protecting spending including keeping the Triple Lock and the government has commitment to going further only when it’s possible to do so.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: ““At the start of last year I made to pledge to half inflation. And because of the difficult decisions we have taken, inflation has more than halved and we are now able to reward work, and cut taxes for millions of workers who are seeing the benefit in their pay checks today.
“We have now cut National Insurance by £900 because it’s unfair that workers pay double tax on their income. We need to make it much simpler and much fairer and we are going to continue cutting this tax until it’s gone – while continuing to protect pensioners with the triple lock and providing record levels of funding to the NHS.”
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said: “We’re on the right track – we’ve been able to slash National Insurance to return hundreds of pounds back into the pockets of hard-working Brits because of the decisions we’ve made to manage the economy responsibly.
“Over the years ahead we want to get rid of National Insurance completely for workers – it is an unfair double tax on work and we’ve shown we can protect spending on public services while eliminating it.”
The tax cuts to date mean that for single individuals on average salaries, personal taxes would be lower in the UK than every other G7 country, based on the most recent OECD data.
The smart nature of the tax cuts will also help grow the economy by bringing more people into the labour market. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) expects that, as a result of these combined cuts, total hours worked will increase by the equivalent of almost 200,000 full-time workers by 2028-29.
To mark the record cuts to NICs, HMRC launched an updated online tool earlier this month to help people understand how much they personally could save in National Insurance this year.
These cuts to reward work follow a raft of changes that came into force on 1 April and could save households up to £3,850 a year to help those struggling with cost-of-living while igniting the economy.
This includes a record increase in the National Living Wage from £10.42 an hour to £11.44, and a 12.3% drop in energy bills from the previous quarter.
In addition, households can benefit from a separate increase to the Local Housing Allowance that will mean some of the poorest families on either Universal Credit or Housing Benefit will gain £800 a year on average.
Who does this help?
The combined cuts to National Insurance mean:
A ‘hard-working’ family with two earners on the average salary of £35,400 each will be better off by £1,826.
An average full-time nurse on £38,900 will be better off by £1,053.
A senior nurse with five years experience on £42,618 will be better off by £1,202.
The average police officer on £44,300 will be better off by £1,270.
A cleaner working night shifts on £21,058 will be better off by £340.
A typical junior doctor on £65,000 will be better off by £1,508.
A typical self-employed plumber on £34,361 will be better off by £846.
The typical teacher on £44,300 will be better off by over £1,270.
