ELREC are very delighted to announce the next big chapter on our “Open Arms” project journey which has been fuelled by an award from The National Lottery Community Fund, made possible by National Lottery players.
This generous funding will be used to provide life-improving services and activities including fitness classes, arts and crafts workshops and socialising events to women from minority ethnic and migrant backgrounds in Edinburgh and Lothians.
With the amazing support of the National Lottery Community Fund ELREC can help women improve their physical and mental health which has deteriorated because of loneliness and isolation. We are thrilled to have this support and to be able to transform people’s lives for the better.
NEW REPORT: TUC report shows how austerity led to unsafe staffing in public services, a broken safety net, and decimated workplace safety enforcement when the pandemic began
“Austerity cost the nation dearly. The consequences were painful and tragic. The inquiry is our chance to learn from this” says the TUC
Austerity left the UK “hugely unprepared” for the Covid pandemic, according to a new report published by the TUC yesterday.
The report looks at four pillars of the country’s pandemic preparedness:
Safe staffing levels in public services
Public service capacity and resources
A strong safety net through the social security system
Robust health and safety protections at work
It finds that in each of these key areas, funding cuts reduced the country’s capacity to respond to the pandemic.
The report was published as the TUC held a joint press conference with the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice about the lessons that must be learned through the inquiry, to save lives in the future.
Safe staffing levels in health and social care
The report details how safe staffing levels in health and social care were undermined by multiple years of pay caps and pay freezes, which impeded recruitment and increased staff turnover. This left both health and social care dangerously understaffed when the pandemic began:
Between 2010 and 2020, the number of nurses per capita in the UK grew by less than one per cent – despite demand for care rising by one-third. This is in stark contrast to the OECD average of nurses per capita rising by 10 per cent.
In 2019 the average NHS worker was earning £3,000 less in real terms than in 2010, with significant impacts on both recruitment and retention.
In social care, the turnover rate for staff in England increased from 22 per cent in 2012/13 to 31.8 per cent in 2019/20.
When the pandemic hit, a quarter (24%) of social care workers in England were employed on zero-hours contracts, with the turnover rate higher among these workers.
Public services capacity and resources
Public services capacity was damaged by steep cuts to almost every part of the public sector.
In 2020 when the pandemic hit, spending per capita was still lower than in 2010 in social care, transport, housing, childcare, schools, higher education, police, fire services, and environmental protection.
This limited the ability of public services to contribute effectively to civil contingencies, and to continue essential activities effectively such children’s education.
Between 2010 and 2020, school funding per pupil was cut by 8.3% in England, 6.4% in Wales, 2.4% in Scotland and 10.5% in Northern Ireland.
Local authority core spending power was cut by a third between 2010 and 2020. Over the same period, demographic changes increased pressures – for instance, leading to higher referrals and more complex cases in both adult and children’s social care. And new statutory duties in public health, social care and homelessness have stretched budgets further.
In 2019, capital investment in the UK health sector was 10% below 2010 levels. This forced NHS providers to close hospitals and delay equipment upgrades.
A strong safety net through the social security system
The social security safety net was damaged by direct cuts through benefit freezes, and by reforms that reduced entitlement to help and narrowed eligibility to fewer people.
Most of these benefits cuts were made in the period 2010 to 2016 when David Cameron was Prime Minister and George Osborne was Chancellor – both of whom are set to give evidence at the Covid inquiry.
The benefit cuts increased poverty levels. Living in poverty was associated with greater risks of exposure to Covid-19, and greater levels of vulnerability to more serious health consequences from being ill with Covid.
Since 2010, £14 billion has been cut from support to households through social security.
A family not in work has lost on average £1,160 a year in social security support since 2010, and a family in work has lost on average £460.
Disabled people have lost on average £1,200 of annual support, comparing 2021 with 2010.
Robust health and safety protections at work
The pandemic had a particular impact on workplaces – especially for key workers and those who could not work from home. But the enforcement of rules to keep workers safe at work was compromised by cuts that decimated public health and workplace safety regulators, and by confusion about who had responsibility to enforce the rules.
During the pandemic, when workplace risks multiplied, workplace inspections and enforcement notices fell to an all-time low, despite vast numbers of workplace-linked transmission caused by poor health and safety practice.
Funding for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE – the body responsible for workplace safety) in 2021/22 was 43% lower than in 2009/10 in real terms.
Staff numbers at the HSE have been cut by 35% since 2010.
The number of workplaces investigated by a safety inspector fell by 70% from 2010 to 2020.
TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said:“To learn lessons and save future lives, we must take an unflinching look at the choices made by our leaders in the years before the pandemic.
“In the NHS and social care, funding cuts put staff levels in the danger zone. Cuts to social security pushed many more people below the poverty line, leaving them more vulnerable to infection. And cuts to health and safety left workers exposed to rogue employers who cut corners and put their lives at risk.
“Austerity cost the nation dearly. It left us hugely unprepared for the pandemic. And it left far too many workers unprotected. The consequences were painful and tragic.
“The inquiry is our chance to learn the lessons – and to understand why we have to rebuild our public services so that they are strong enough to protect us in a future crisis.”
People-focused organisation sets example with new accreditation
A FLAGBEARER for the hospitality industry has become the UK’s first business in hospitality to be recognised as a Living Pension employer.
Surgeons Quarter, owned by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd), is leading the way with its implementation of numerous workplace benefits as the country faces a worsening staff mental health crisis.
The venue has been recognised by the Living Wage Foundation (LWF) for ensuring that all 159 members of staff are contributing at least 12% of their salary towards their pension. 7.5% of that comes from the employer – 4.5% more than the required minimum.
As a heavily people-focused organisation, Surgeons Quarter offers industry-leading pay comfortably above the £10.90 per hour LWF Living Wage, as well as a 50% staff discount at all Best Western Hotels, access to an employee assistance programme, Bike2Work scheme, complimentary gym membership and discount cards.
Scott Mitchell, Managing Director of Surgeons Quarter, said: “Hospitality is not a sector that is renowned for its pay and conditions and we want to be at the forefront of changing that.
“Vital hardworking staff are rewarded appropriately – but not factoring in a pension is only stacking up problems for the future.
“We are incredibly proud to be the first business in the industry to be accredited as a Living Pension employer, but it’s important we don’t stop here and strive to keep improving our offering to our talented teams.
“This is why we offer numerous opportunities and reward schemes to all of our staff members to not only benefit them at work, but also outside of the office.”
The organisation operates Edinburgh’s largest independent hotel and offers cutting-edge hospitality, operating multiple RCSEd venues in the city’s old town.
After starting at the LWF accredited firm, employees are treated to a familiarisation overnight stay where they can enjoy the venue’s Ten Hill Place luxury hotel facilities with a guest of their choice.
Living Pension accreditation launched in March 2023 and builds on the work of the real Living Wage by providing stability and security for workers now and in the future.
Director of the Living Wage Foundation, Katherine Chapman said: “We are delighted that Surgeons Quarter are the first hospitality business to sign up to be a Living Pension Employer, providing stability and security for their workers now and in the future.
“Over the last ten years the Living Wage campaign has grown in strength and numbers. Now paid by over 12,500 employers, it delivers essential pay rises to 430,000 workers every year.
“The Living Pension builds on this by encouraging employers to do more to help their workers build a pension pot that meets basic everyday needs in retirement.”
Surgeons Quarter promotes, sells and manages all commercial activities held within the RCSEd campus. It includes facilities for conferences, meetings, private events, parties, weddings and its own four-star hotel Ten Hill Place as well as Café 1505 and SQ Travel.
All profits support the charitable aims of the College which are education, assessment and advancement in surgical standards worldwide.
Click on the post below and their link to register your interest. Please share with any unpaid carers you know.
Caring for someone and juggling multiple roles can be stressful.
VOCAL’s stress management course on Wednesday 21 June at Pilton Community Health Project can help you to develop techniques to plan for and manage symptoms:
The Prime Minister’s plan to stop the boats is beginning to work, with small boat arrivals to the UK down by 20% this year.
This is the first time since the small boat phenomenon began that arrivals in the first half of the year fell compared to the year before. This is not a Europe-wide trend – small boat arrivals to Europe are up 30%.
The Prime Minister set out the progress that has been made on this, one of his five priorities, on a visit to Dover this morning. He also confirmed that:
Our French deal prevented 33,000 illegal crossings last year, 40% more than the year before
Thanks to our partnership with the Government of Albania, Albanian small boat arrivals are down 90% year-on-year and we have returned more than 1,800 Albanian illegal migrants and foreign criminals on weekly flights since December
We have increased the number of illegal working raids by more than 50%, and arrests have more than doubled
The legacy asylum backlog is down almost a fifth since December – and we are on track to deliver our target to clear this by the end of the year
During his statement, the Prime Minister made clear that we still face significant obstacles, and we will see more crossings in the months ahead, but he is determined to stay the course and do what it takes to fix this problem.
The Prime Minister also announced the next steps in the Government’s relentless efforts to get illegal migrants out of expensive hotels and into alternative sites, including confirming that the Government has secured two new vessels. These plans will see thousands moved out of hotels by the Autumn.
New plan will strengthen access to cash in a crisis
A commitment to a ‘cash-first’ approach to tackling food insecurity is at the heart of a new plan to reduce the need for people to turn to food banks.
The plan, which is the first of its kind in the UK and is underpinned by human rights, sets out nine actions which will be taken over the next three years to improve responses to food insecurity.
Actions include establishing a new £1.8 million Cash-First Programme to help reduce the demand for emergency food parcels by improving urgent access to cash in crisis and associated support.
The Scottish Government will work with councils, the third sector and community food initiatives to help prevent future need by integrating money advice and wider support into crisis responses.
Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “Whilst none of us want food banks, we recognise the important role they play for people in need. This plan, the first of its kind by any UK Government, will support people who face food insecurity and will move us closer to our longer-term ambition of a country where there is no need for food banks.
“We want to ensure we reach people in need and by providing a cash-first approach, backed by advice and support, we will support people to strengthen their incomes and prevent future hardship and crisis, allowing them more choice and dignity.
“Tackling poverty and protecting people from harm is one of the Scottish Government’s three critical missions. The Trussell Trust suggests that our Scottish Child Payment may have helped to slow the pace of demand for emergency food parcels last year.
“Without the full economic and fiscal powers of an independent nation we can’t eradicate poverty, but we are taking all the action we can to support people within our limited powers and fixed budget.”
The plan also includes up to £623,000 funding for the British Red Cross to continue a Scottish Crisis Fund, which provides people at risk of destitution – including survivors of domestic abuse, and those no recourse to public funds – with emergency grants to purchase the food and other essentials.
Phil Arnold, Head of Refugee Support for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, British Red Cross said: “The Scottish Crisis Fund is a lifeline emergency payment for people in crisis.
“The fund enables people to continue accessing essential food, clothing, hygiene products and transport to get to key appointments, at an acute period of distress in their lives.
“The increased cost of living, widening dispersal of people seeking asylum to areas without specialist support, and reduced rights for people seeking protection in the UK, all underline the importance of a joined-up, properly resourced safety net which this fund plays an important role in providing.”
Polly Jones, head of Scotland for the Trussell Trust said: “We welcome this first plan to end the need for food banks from any government in the UK, and it comes at a time when the use of food banks is at an all-time high. Ending the need for charitable food aid requires significant leadership and urgency from all levels of government.
“The Trussell Trust is committed to working with the Scottish Government to support it to do what charities cannot and deliver bold long-term action to increase people’s income and ensure everyone can afford the essentials.”
Sabine Goodwin, Coordinator of the Independent Food Aid Network, said: “The Scottish Government has powers to reduce food insecurity and adopt a truly cash-first, income-focused strategy to end the need for charitable food aid in Scotland.
“As the poverty crisis deepens, frontline teams across Scotland are eager to see a time when no one needs to turn to any form of charitable food aid provision to get by. We welcome this plan and the Scottish Government’s commitment to critical steps towards that cash-first future.”
SUCCESS FOR MORNINGSIDE’s OPEN DOOR CAFE MUSIC PROJECT
Nine hard-working Scottish community groups have won up to £70,000 each of National Lottery funding in this year’s The People’s Projects. The vital funding was awarded after they won the public over with their plans to make a life-changing difference in their local communities.
The groups were among 95 worthwhile projects across the UK in the running to share over £4 million in National Lottery funding as part of this year’s The People’s Projects.
The People’s Projects sees The National Lottery Community Fund, ITV, UTV and the Sunday Mail (in Scotland) working together to give the public a unique say in how National Lottery funding should be invested in their local area.
One of the winners was The Open Door Edinburgh’s Music for Health and Wellbeing project.
The Morningside project will use the power of music – songs, sounds and rhythms – to improve the health and well-being of older people with dementia and other support needs. They will also provide a range of Daycare services that helps the elderly, and the most vulnerable in the community, to age well.
Since The People’s Projects started in 2005, it has awarded around £45 million to over 1,000 good causes, delivering vital grants to the heart of UK communities.
Kate Still, Scotland Chair, The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “The People’s Projects highlights the incredible work of inspiring community groups in Scotland and throughout the UK. We are proud to have given local people throughout the country a say in where over £4 million of vital National Lottery funding will go.
“We congratulate this year’s winners and look forward to seeing them make a life-changing difference in their communities.”
The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, distributes money raised by National Lottery players, who raise over £30 million each week across the UK for good causes.
Last year, it awarded over half a billion pounds (£579.8 million) of life-changing funding to communities across the UK, supporting over 14,500 projects. Over the last three years, its funding has reached every constituency and every local authority in the UK.
USING more recycled metal can massively help to beat plastic pollution, one of the country’s leading recycling associations says today.
The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) is urging people celebrating World Environment Day to stop and think about the reasons why recycling more metal can make a real difference.
As part of an awareness-drive, the BMRA also shared ten benefits of recycling metal which comes as rising numbers of people switch to reusable containers, such as drinks flasks for hot and cold drinks and as others make the move from plastic bottles to metal cans.
James Kelly, the CEO of the BMRA said: “This World Environment Day, the BMRA is asking people to take a moment and think: What is the alternative? Do I need to buy this? And can it be easily recycled?
“Aluminium drinks cans, for example, are part of a closed loop recycling system. As long as they are placed in the recycling, they can be back in the shops as a new can in as little as 60 days.
“Even by carrying a metal straw or your food in a metal container, it means that the item can be used many times over and recycled at the end of its useful life.
He continued: “Any initiative that educates people, that asks them to consider the most sustainable alternative and shows them how to ensure it is recycled correctly is welcomed. We all play a part, but there needs to be greater opportunity for recycling and disposal of waste, not just in the home, but when people are out and about.
“Due to metals’ 100% recyclability, we are using World Environment Day to remind people why they should recycle their metal.”
Meanwhile, the BMRA says it would also like a deposit return scheme to use a variable rate, instead of the fixed rate of 20p proposed for all container sizes whether plastic, glass or metal.
Mr Kelly added: “A fixed-rate deposit scheme could see consumers favour plastic bottles over metal cans, which could potentially see a rise in plastic pollution which is completely against the ethos of World Environment Day.”
Outlining ten reasons to recycle metal the BMRA said:
About 80% of all the known chemical elements in the world are categorised as metals. Metal comes from the Earth. Let’s try and keep it there.
Metal is 100% recyclable. It is permanent, and it can be recycled forever, over and over again. It contributes to the Circular Economy, avoiding landfill, as well as saving the destruction of natural habitats caused by the mining of metal ore.
Recycling one tonne of steel can save one and half tonnes of iron ore from being mined. Iron is a metal, but steel is a man-made alloy. Steel is made by mixing iron and carbon together.
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (known as WEEE) generally covers products that have a plug or need a battery, such as fridges, vacuum cleaners, and computer equipment. As funny as that acronym is, it is important WEEE is recycled correctly. Not only does WEEE contain metal, but it can also contain lithium and lithium-ion batteries that are incredibly dangerous. If they are damaged, the batteries can cause fires.
The metal in your mobile phone could be recycled into an Olympic medal. Tokyo’s Olympic medals were made from 78,985 tons of recycled electronic devices, including mobile phones. It can contain gold, lithium, aluminium, cobalt, copper, lead, nickel, silver, and zinc. One tonne of smartphones can contain 300 times more gold than one tonne of gold ore.
You can get paid for your scrap metal. Ensuring you have the appropriate identification, you can go to a metal recycler and be paid by BACS, cheque or eTransfer. Cash for your scrap is illegal, however, so do report it if you are offered it.
Recycling steel uses 70% less energy than mining and refining ore. Steel is the most widely used metal. It is easily identifiable as it is magnetic and can be easily separated from general waste. It is used to make many different items including cars, bridges, and playpark equipment.
Recycling metal avoids sending a permanent material to landfill. There is a process called urban mining, whereby materials like metal and WEEE previously discarded in general waste, can be reclaimed from the ground. While this ensures even more metal can be recycled, it is easier. cheaper and safer to recycle it correctly first time.
Recycling metal emits 80% less CO2 than production from raw materials. It is credentials like this that make metals recycling a key driver in the Government achieving its net zero targets.
An aluminium drinks can can be back on the shelf of a supermarket as a new drinks can, 60 days after it was originally bought. Aluminium can also be used for aeroplane parts, a beer keg or foil for your lunchtime sandwich.
Anticipation is building as work nears completion on the enhanced tour at The Scotch Whisky Experience, located at the top of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile.
Following a major investment of £3 million the new tour is expected to launch in July.
The Scotch Whisky Experience has been sharing the delights of Scotch whisky to a global audience of 8.5 million visitors for more than 35 years and is one of Edinburgh’s five-star attractions.
Susan Morrison, Chief Executive of The Scotch Whisky Experience, said “it has been so exciting to see the development of our new immersive visitor experience and we cannot wait to share it. This unusual technology and our brilliant team of guides will lead visitors through the distilling process using a unique method of storytelling.”
More than just a liquid, Scotch whisky is an expression of Scotland and its rich traditions and natural heritage. The new tour promises to take visitors on a captivating journey across the country to discover what makes whisky the spirit of Scotland.
As well as learning about the distilling process, the immersive experience will also give visitors an appreciation of the importance wood has on the character and flavour of Scotch before the angels have their share.
Excitement is palpable amongst staff who will shortly begin their training with the new technology.
Ellie Nichols, Senior Visitor Assistant at The Scotch Whisky Experience, said; ”working at The Scotch whisky Experience sparks joy and I love teaching people about whisky.
“I can’t wait to spark the same joy in our visitors. This new, completely immersive, experience is going to capture their attention from the minute they step through the doors. This is such a unique place, and I can’t wait to be part of the future of The Scotch Whisky Experience.”
The July launch of this enhanced tour at The Scotch Whisky Experience will ensure even more visitors are welcomed into the extraordinary world of Scotland’s whisky heritage.
