Finance Secretary doubles funding for councils to respond to local needs
Payments to support businesses affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic increased following the tightening of essential public health measures at Christmas.
New statistics show businesses have received £276 million through the Strategic Framework Business Fund (SFBF), the hospitality, leisure and retail top up payments and the Taxi and Private Hire Driver Support Fund since November 2020.
A total of £244 million was paid by these three funds in January alone, including £4.7 million paid to taxi and private hire drivers in the first 10 days of claims. Statistics relating to other live funds will be published in due course.
Welcoming the figures, Finance Secretary Kate Forbes also confirmed that the Local Authority Discretionary Fund will be doubled to £120 million to allow councils to respond further to local economic pressures.
Ms Forbes said: “Since the start of the pandemic we’ve done everything in our power to protect people’s livelihoods with business support accounting for over a third of total COVID-19 spend. Today’s figures demonstrate how closely we are working with colleagues in local government to ensure businesses in Scotland get the help they need.
“We understand the concerns of businesses unable to access the Strategic Framework Business Fund and that is why we are doubling the Local Authority Discretionary Fund to £120 million. This will further enable councils to respond to local economic needs and support businesses in their area.”
Edinburgh’s Electric Cycle Company has been supercharged
The Electric Cycle Company (ECC), Edinburgh, has just opened its new 4000 square foot, state-of-the-art electric bike store and workshop on Crewe Road North, making it the largest specialist e-bike shop in the UK.
Over four times the size of their previous shop, ECC have created a completely safe and welcoming retail environment with enough space to display a much larger selection of both new and established electric bike brands, quality cycle clothing, and e-bike accessories, alongside a bespoke e-bike maintenance workshop.
Following an extensive but challenging renovation project during the Covid-19 pandemic, the new shop is a far cry from the more traditional ‘stack’em high’ model of bike retail. Customers can easily walk around the store while remaining physically distanced.
The hugely knowledgeable and experienced sales team are able to safely deliver interactive and informative e-bike demonstrations and ‘talk throughs’, perfectly matching the best e-bike to a customer’s age, fitness and skill level, and general lifestyle.
With bookable sales appointments, vitally important to an unpressured e-bike purchase experience, there is a welcome reception and sales meeting desks, together with a dedicated, comfortable customer waiting area with a TV, coffee machine, and customer toilets.
Neill Hope, Managing Director of ECC, said: “I am so proud of what our small build team and the staff have achieved during the Covid-19 pandemic. The new shop is even more impressive than my original vision.
“The e-bike knowledge and the expertise in e-bike sales that we have accumulated over more than ten years has enabled us to create the most progressive bike shop in Scotland; a much more welcoming, comfortable, spacious and safe environment for our customers and staff. It just so happened that our long-term future proofing project dovetailed perfectly with the requirement for ‘pandemic proofing’.
“Having started the business in 2006, we quickly established ourselves as Scotland’s leading e-bike specialists, often being frowned upon by the purists within the bike industry who couldn’t see past 100% pedal power. We were just too leftfield. With our new shop we are again disrupting the industry by going against the grain of bike retail.
“Sadly, we can’t have a launch party right now. However, the shop is open, and we look forward to welcoming all of our customers, new and old, who travel from all over Scotland and further afield to buy and service their e-bikes, when they can safely travel again.”
It has been designed to give customers a fantastic first impression of the new store. It is also hoped that once they see the shop’s open and COVID safe environment they will be keen to visit in person when restrictions allow.
The ECC are now offering free extended warranties (+ one year) on all new Bosch and Shimano driven bikes. In order to help combat bike theft all new e-bikes will be fitted with complimentary security tags or trackers and Bikmo Insurance are giving ECC customers 14 days of free rideaway insurance.
Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, said: “I warmly welcome the opening of the Electric Cycle Company showroom and workshop on Crewe Road North.
“It’s great that there’s so much local demand for sustainable transport and I commend the Electric Cycle Company for involving the community in the e-bike revolution, by offering free repairs during the pandemic, bike loans for Key Workers and support for local community groups.
“I look forward to visiting when restrictions allow and it is safe to do so.”
There are plans for the ECC’s old shop on Granton Road.
It is soon to become the base for a new Community Interest Company, Urban Initiatives, focusing on e-bike and e-Cargo bike hire, bike maintenance and training, together with local guided rides on eBikes.
More than one million people at greatest risk from Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland have had their first dose of the vaccine.
The landmark of one million was reached on Wednesday 10 February. 69 year old John Loch from Bearsden was among those vaccinated on the day the milestone was reached. The retired businessman received his first dose at NHS Louisa Jordan in Glasgow.
The programme has now reached more than a fifth (22%) of the 4.5 million people who will be offered a vaccine.
The biggest vaccination programme ever undertaken is now moving at pace through the 70-79 age group following the opening of new mass vaccination centres at Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) and P&J Live in Aberdeen and other large sites across the country.
The programme remains on track to complete first doses for all those in this age group by the end of this week. Those aged 65 and over are also receiving invitations for their appointment.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: “This is an important milestone in the biggest vaccination programme ever delivered in Scotland and I would like to thank everyone involved and all those who have taken up their offer of a vaccine.
“We have now given first doses to more than a million people in the groups which were prioritised to address 99 per cent of preventable deaths associated with COVID-19. These include elderly care home residents and staff, frontline health and social care workers and those who are at risk of serious harm and death from this virus.
“Scotland’s COVID-19 vaccination programme is delivering ahead of our expectations. Our aim is to vaccinate as many people as possible with both their first and second doses as quickly as possible but the speed at which we can do this depends on supply and we expect a dip in supplies UK wide towards the end of this month.
“We hope to see a significant drop in the disease due to the vaccination programme, however this will take a number of months to evaluate fully. In the shorter term, we are monitoring the uptake rate but we also have a comprehensive surveillance system in place to monitor outcome of vaccine efficacy and disease reduction.
“Each health board is working hard to get the vaccine into people’s arms as quickly as possible, and everyone eligible will be offered the vaccine as we work our way through the priority groups.”
“We continue to urge everyone to take up their appointment when they are offered one. The vaccination programme is one of three key ways we are working to beat this virus, along with our expanded testing programme to identify cases and break chains of transmission and the important lockdown restrictions everyone in Scotland must follow. All these measures work to greatest effect when they work together.”
John Loch said: “I am delighted to have received my vaccine, particularly on the day Scotland reached a million doses. It is exciting to be a part of this milestone moment.
“I would like to thank all the staff at the Louisa Jordan for being so reassuring and making the process so simple and straightforward.”
NHS LOTHIAN VACCINATION FIGURES
Lothian MSP, Miles Briggs, said yesterday: “It is positive that we have seen the number of people vaccinated increase by over 50% since the introduction of mass vaccinations centres last week.
“There are some concerns that NHS Lothian is behind other health boards in the percentage of people vaccinated, but it is important that we keep up the momentum.
“The sooner the people who are most vulnerable to Covid-19 are vaccinated the sooner we can get pupils back to school and reopen the economy with confidence.
“A huge thank you to all NHS Lothian staff working tirelessly in getting the vaccine rolled out and to members of the public for keeping social distanced to suppress the virus, whilst vaccines are rolled out.”
With the country now in its third and hopefully final lockdown there are many businesses unable to operate from their usual premises under current government guidelines, many employees have reverted to working remotely from their homes.
While focus has been on transitioning equipment and employees, many business leaders may not have yet had time to consider their insurance policies and the potential impact of remote working over the longer term.
To support businesses, leading insurance provider,Insurance2go, has shared advice on business insurance cover for those with employees who continue to work remotely.
Check your policy
This may seem like an obvious first step, but it is important to check that you are still covered by your insurance while employees work from home.
The good news is that, generally, your insurance will cover your business when it’s not in its regular location. Where you operate from doesn’t really matter, as long as you’re still in the UK. However, you may need to check your contents insurance and whether it covers use of items such as laptops, for example, beyond your normal premises. If it doesn’t, you may need to extend your cover as you cannot rely on your employee’s home insurance to include business use.
Health and safety checks
Interestingly, The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 makes no distinction between home and in-office workers. The regulations require employers to carry out a risk assessment of their employees’ workplace, to identify any potential risks so the employer can then seek to remove or mitigate the risk.
It is not necessary to visit the employee’s home to carry out a risk assessment, particularly during the ongoing pandemic. However, HR managers can provide the employee with a detailed self-assessment questionnaire as part of a firm’s legal responsibilities for homeworkers.
If your company does not have one already, there are many free templates available online.
Your business needs to be able to show that is has done everything by the book, just in case a circumstance arises where an employee says you didn’t set them up to work from home properly and suffered as a result of it, or there is a data breach. Keep a record of everything you have done, including reasons and the dates they happened.
It is important to have a home working policy that staff can access and read to ensure it is clear what is expected from both parties.
Home working policies should cover key areas including:
when employees will be available to work
how and how regularly they’ll keep in touch
how their performance will be managed
health and safety expectations
rules around confidentiality, IT security, storing information and data protection
who employees should contact if they’re experiencing any problems.
Get cyber insurance
During 2020, the NCSA (National Cyber Security Centre) reported an increase in cyber-security threats, most likely as a result of employees working from home with serious breach affecting a business’s reputation1.
Firstly, make sure IT teams have undertaken checks on all laptops, desktops, and tablets to make sure they are as protected as possible. Also ensure secure connections are set up from the worker’s home station to the company network.
As cybercrimes become more sophisticated it is important not to rely on checks alone, having cyber insurance in place will help to mitigate further risks.
Keep your insurer informed
Most likely your business has changed due to the pandemic if you’ve seen a period of rapid expansion and growth. Whatever your circumstances then get in touch with your insurer. If you’re unsure, err on the side of caution and provide the updates, rather than running the risk of invalidating your policy.
On the other hand, if your business is now having to operate remotely, you should check with your individual insurance providers as to whether they require you to check and maintain security systems while the premises are vacant.
Richard Gray, Head of Marketing and Digital, at Insurance2go says:“It has been an unforeseen time for businesses and employees alike, and for many business leaders it can be hard to predict what the future looks like for their employees in terms of working remotely.
“It’s more important than ever that businesses protect themselves from any unplanned expenses and we hope this advice helps people understand what is required from an insurance point of view, to continue to operate effectively and safely while working from home.”
For more information on business insurance, please visit:
The UK’s testing capacity for Covid-19 may be helping to avert a further rise in case numbers – but the waste produced means a disposal disaster is looming.
According to Government figures, the UK is now testing over 580,000 people per day – or over 4 million people per week – for the Covid-19 virus which is circulating amongst the population.
This number includes tests taken at Covid testing centres, door-to-door tests, and the quicker lateral flow tests being used in workplaces and schools – but does not include antibody tests, which check if a person has had the virus previously, so the true number of daily test kits used is likely to be much higher.
Rubbish removal experts Divert.co.uk have raised the alarm over the sheer volume of testing kits being used daily and concerns of the accuracy as low as 57.5% making this a very dangerous problem. There is a mounting problem for testing centres and facilities: what to do with hundreds of thousands of used tests daily?
As the Covid-19 testing process involves either nasal or throat swabs (or, for antibody testing, blood samples) the kits must then be disposed of as clinical waste, in incinerators. In the past, individual hospitals often had their own incinerators to dispose of medical waste, but this idea was short-lived as the resulting pollution was a concern, and private contractors have handled the waste since the 1990s.
But these contractors are now raising the alarm that their incinerators are at full capacity, and have been for a while, with medical waste quite literally piling up, as a result, the instantly-recognizable yellow medical waste bins overflowing. In turn, this has angered those in the industry who say they have been warning the government ‘for years’ about the need for increased capacity.
NHS chiefs admitted in 2018 that there was a national capacity issue amid growing backlogs of medical waste and clinical waste management firms being forced to store waste above their permitted allowance as a result. Despite this, waste management firms are once again warning of mounting problems as Covid-19 testing places unexpected stress on the system.
Firms, fearful of repercussions like those seen by waste management businesses who were penalised during the 2018 crisis, are turning away contracts for Covid-19 test centre waste, leading many to call the issue a public health ‘emergency’.
Spokesperson Mark Hall of Divert.co.uk said:“It’s important to note that, of course, the huge scale of Covid-19 testing in the United Kingdom is a good thing – it allows us to track the spread of the virus, which is enormously important in tackling the pandemic and allowing us to return to pre-Covid life.
“However, the sheer number of testing kits being processed each day without adequate disposal capacity to handle the waste generated, combined with the accuracy of some lateral flow tests being as low as 57.5% makes it a serious cause for concern, and we hope it will spark further conversations in the medical manufacturing industry about the way in which we approach the issue of medical waste.
“Hundreds of thousands of pieces of single-use plastic are disposed of daily by the medical industry, from syringes to gloves to the Covid test kits, and many of these seem unavoidable.”
Experts in the field such as Tony Capon, director of the Monash Sustainable Development Institute – speaking to the BBC – are clear that there are long term steps that could be taken to reduce unnecessary medical waste.
He said: “When I was beginning my medical career, it was standard practice for things to be cleaned and autoclaved. Medical equipment was routinely cleaned up, sterilised and reused.”
Others note that changes in practices – such as encouraging handwashing rather than glove use, where appropriate – could help decrease excessive waste.
Mark Hall continues:“We’d like there to be a greater focus on ensuring sustainability in the healthcare field overall. Firstly, by promoting a more sustainably-minded culture where medical workers actively choose to take safe steps to reduce waste, and secondly by minimising waste in the design and manufacturing of single-use items.
“Creating items which can be safely sterilised and re-used could, over time, lead to huge shifts in how we tackle medical waste as a problem – and it is, in its current format, undeniably becoming a problem.”
It’s a long road to recovery for many who have contracted COVID-19. In Scotland over 185,000 people have tested positive for the virus, with over 57,000 of these cases recorded within Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
NHSGGC’s Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy teams have created a new online resource to help anyone who is recovering from the virus, having distilled what they have learned from helping people recover both at home and in hospital.
The new self-management resource is available to the public and is aimed at anyone managing the many types of symptoms associated with COVID-19. It also notes the pace of recovery may be slower than expected.
Common symptoms can include: fatigue, breathlessness, reduced exercise tolerance and lack of physical strength. The resource offers advice on recovering from the virus, managing breathlessness, general wellbeing, managing fatigue, exercise programmes and more.
Lynn Glen, Physiotherapist, NHSGGC, said: “We know that the lingering effects of COVID-19 can vary from person to person. We’ve had younger and older patients admitted to wards and intensive care units, some dealing with debilitating fatigue and breathlessness for months after being diagnosed, requiring weeks and months of rehab and physiotherapy input.
“Other patients may only require physiotherapy input for a shorter period. The length of time recovering from COVID-19 can also vary so we had to find a way to support people at home.
“We wanted to help people get back on their feet, to gain knowledge about the virus, learn how to manage their symptoms and ultimately recover with this new resource.”
You can access the new NHSGGC online resource here:
Lorna Graham, 27, who has been a nurse for three years, was diagnosed with COVID on 8 April 2020 and has not yet fully recovered. She was off work for six months and has since been diagnosed as suffering from Long COVID.
Lorna said: “The acute phase of my illness lasted a few weeks and I can truly say I felt like I was dying. Without question it was the worst I have felt in my life. It’s not that I haven’t been ill before. I have had sepsis and swine flu but this was different. It felt like I was drowning; at times I couldn’t get a breath.
“This all happened despite me being a fit 26 year old. I wasn’t a fitness fanatic, but I was active on my days off. I would go hillwalking regularly, so you could say I was fit and obviously young too.
“In the first few weeks I was at the COVID assessment centre a few times and was sent to hospital, although never admitted. I had a temperature, no taste or smell and just slept and slept.
“I waited to recover fully and it just never came. It was October before I felt able to go back to work.”
Nearly ten months on, Lorna’s health has yet to recover fully.
Top Ten Tips for Recovering from COVID-19:
Take it slow – recovery may take longer than you expect.
Eat well – your body needs nutrients to get better. This can be difficult when you lose your sense of taste / smell but just as important.
Sleep well – your body needs rest, take it easy.
Plan your day – especially important if you’re feeling fatigued. Plan your day and week to include consistent activity, rather than boom and bust cycles which may leave you more tired.
Deep breathing – sit in a relaxed position, breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth, lying on your front can also help.
Stay active – your physical strength may be impacted so build yourself back up with regular activity like walking or at home exercises.
Get up – easy to forget in lockdown, make sure you are regularly standing, set a timer to make sure you’re getting up once an hour.
Get out – make sure to get outside with nature proven to improve our wellbeing.
Relax – remember to relax your mind however that may be. Some people find meditation helpful.
Stay connected – speak to your loved ones regularly about your recovery and how you’re doing. We all need support.
A Health and Sport Committee report into the future of social care has said those delivering and receiving care must be at the heart of social care reform with the current model described as unsustainable.
The Committee say a national conversation on the future of social care is needed and that the myriad issues facing staff must be addressed in the development of any new system. The Committee’s report says the problems faced by the care sector have been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Committee express concern over the lack of value placed on social care and social care staff, in stark contrast to NHS staff. The report emphasises the ongoing difficulty the sector faces in attracting and retaining staff; citing a lack of training and staff development opportunities, alongside low pay as the key reasons for this.
A number of problems with the current care model are highlighted by the Committee including the continued lack of progress on health and social care integration. They also recommend the Scottish Government seek alternative models of commissioning and procurement with the current ones described as ‘counter-intuitive’.
The Committee describe the current model of crisis driven, reactive care as unsustainable and say more must be done to shift the focus to a preventative model, involving local communities in the future planning of health and social care services.
Lewis Macdonald MSP, Convener of the Health and Sport Committee, said: “Throughout this inquiry the message we have been given from those receiving care, and from paid and unpaid carers, is that they have not felt listened to and have been undervalued. That’s why it is essential that they are at the centre of much needed reform of the social care system.
“There is no doubt the current model of care is unsustainable, with some of the issues facing the sector exposed by the pandemic. We want to see a nationwide conversation held into the future of social care and we hope that the findings of our report, and the independent review, can help in shaping this future.
“We are grateful to all of those from across the care sector who provided evidence to our inquiry and gave their keen insight into how it is experienced in Scotland.
“I’d like to put on record our thanks to the tireless and passionate workforce, both paid and unpaid, who undoubtedly deserve better.”
All arrivals to Scotland from outside the Common Travel Area must book and pay for managed isolation in quarantine hotels to help protect against the importation of Coronavirus (COVID-19) from Monday (15 February).
Six hotels close to Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow airports with a combined capacity of 1,300 rooms will be used to implement the quarantine at a cost of £1,750 per individual traveller. Final costs for those not travelling alone are currently being worked through, as well as the details for a Managed Isolation Welfare Fund which will be launched for those who cannot afford the charge.
All arrivals must quarantine for at least ten days and will be tested twice for the virus – once on day two and once on day eight after arrival.
Existing travel exemptions will be strengthened, including limiting overseas training for elite sportspeople to athletes and coaches preparing for the Olympics and Paralympics.
A small number of arrivals will not be required to isolate, such as those involved in essential supply chains for goods coming into Scotland.
The Scottish Government will continue to engage with airports and discussions to secure a four nations approach to contracting the security, transport and accommodation services required are already under way.
As regulations to support the introduction of managed isolation are developed a range of offences and penalties to help ensure compliance will be considered.
It is still the case that all non-essential international travel is not permitted.
In a statement to Parliament the Transport Secretary urged the UK Government to match the comprehensive approach being taken by the Scottish Government.
Transport Secretary Michael Matheson said: “To manage the risk of importing new variants, and to give vaccine deployment the best chance of bringing us closer to normality here in Scotland, we have to place further limits on international travel.
“The UK Government has only committed to adopting this for travellers returning from “red list” countries. However, we know that is not sufficient and we will go further.
“The clinical advice is clear that a comprehensive system of managed quarantine is essential to minimise the impact of new COVID-19 variants.”
Westminster’s Women and Equalities Committee has published its report on coronavirus and the gendered economic impact. The report has found that the economic impact of coronavirus has affected men and women differently. This is because of existing gendered economic inequalities, the over-representation of women in certain types of work and the actions the Government has taken.
Conduct an Equality Impact Assessment of the Job Retention Scheme and the Self Employed Income Support Scheme. This should draw on existing inequalities and would better protect those already at a disadvantage in the labour market, including women. It could also inform more effective responses to future crises.
Assess the equality impact of the Industrial Strategy and the New Deal, and analyse who has benefited from the industrial strategy. Priorities for recovery are heavily gendered in nature, with investment plans skewing towards male dominated sectors.
Conduct an economic growth assessment of the care-led recovery proposals made by the Women’s Budget Group. (Treasury)
Maintain increases in support, including the £20 increase to the Universal Credit standard allowance. (Department for Work and Pensions)
Review the adequacy of and eligibility for Statutory Sick Pay. Women are over represented among those who are not eligible.
Legislate to extend redundancy protection to pregnant women and new mothers.
Review childcare provision to provide support for working parents and those who are job seeking or retraining.
Reinstate gender pay gap reporting and include parental leave policies, ethnicity and disability.
Provide better data to improve reporting and analysis on how gender, ethnicity, disability, age and socio-economic status interact to compound disadvantage.
Ensure that the Government Equalities Office and Minister for Women are more ambitious and proactive.
Committee Chair Caroline Nokes said: “As the pandemic struck, the Government had to act quickly to protect jobs and adapt welfare benefits. “These have provided a vital safety net for millions of people. But it overlooked the labour market and caring inequalities faced by women.
“These are not a mystery, they are specific and well understood. And yet the Government has repeatedly failed to consider them.
“This passive approach to gender equality is not enough. And for many women it has made existing equality problems worse: in the support to self-employed people, to pregnant women and new mothers, to the professional childcare sector, and for women claiming benefits. And it risks doing the same in its plans for economic recovery.
“We heard evidence from a wide range of organisations, including Maternity Action, the National Hair and Beauty Federation, the TUC, the Professional Association of Childcare and Early Years, the single parents campaign group Gingerbread, the Young Women’s Trust and the Women’s Budget Group. And written evidence from many more.
“The message from our evidence is clear: Government policies have repeatedly skewed towards men—and it keeps happening.
“We need to see more than good intentions and hoping for the best. The Government must start actively analysing and assessing the equality impact of every policy, or it risks turning the clock back.
“Our report sets out a package of twenty recommendations for change and a timescale. Taken together, these will go a long way towards tackling the problems and creating the more equal future that so many women—and men—want to see.
“The Government should seize this opportunity.”
Responding to today’s report by the Woman and Equalities Committee, which sets out how women have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady (above) said: “Women have been put in an impossible situation during the pandemic – often expected to work and look after children at the same time.
“Too many working mums are having to cut their hours or being forced to leave their jobs because they cannot manage.
“If ministers don’t act, women will be pushed out of the labour market. And that means women’s and children’s poverty will soar.
“Ministers must give all parents a temporary right to be furloughed now.
“And they must fix the UK’s lamentable support for working parents. That means giving all parents at least ten days’ paid parental leave each year, making real flexible working available to all, and funding childcare properly.
“Unless ministers strengthen rights and support for working parents, women’s equality risks being set back decades.”
On the committee’s recommendation to carry out and publish an equality impact assessment on how government policies have affected women, Frances O’Grady added: “The government must urgently carry out and publish equality impact assessments of all its policies during this pandemic.
“This crisis, and the government’s response to it, is deepening inequalities for women at work.”
A TUC survey of 52,000 working mums published earlier this month revealed that 9 in 10 had experienced higher levels of anxiety and stress levels during this latest lockdown.
Nearly three-quarters (71%) of those who had applied for furlough following the latest school closures have had their requests turned down.
The TUC says this situation results from the UK’s failure to help families balance paid work and childcare.
It is calling on the government to introduce:
A new temporary right to furlough for groups who cannot work because of coronavirus restrictions – both parents and those who are clinically extremely vulnerable and required to shield.
Ten days’ paid parental leave, from day one in a job, for all parents. Currently parents have no statutory right to paid leave to look after their children.
A right to flexible work for all parents. Flexible working can take lots of different forms, including having predictable or set hours, working from home, job-sharing, compressed hours and term-time working.
Give additional financial support to the childcare sector so that childcare providers can continue to offer support to working parents.
An increase in sick pay to at least the level of the real Living Wage, for everyone in work, to ensure workers can afford to self-isolate if they need to.
Newly self-employed parents to have access the self-employment income support scheme (SEISS).
The Chancellor must maintain for another year ‘at the very least’ the £20 per week increase in Universal Credit (UC) and Working Tax Credit introduced to support families during the coronavirus pandemic, MPs say today.
Work and Pensions Committee calls for year-long extension of increase ‘at the very least’
Removal in April while pandemic still being felt would plunge hundreds of thousands of families into poverty
Any plans to replace rise with one-off payments must be abandoned amid concerns over fraud and impact on vulnerable
The report from the Work and Pensions Committee notes that since March the number of people claiming UC has doubled to around six million, while job vacancies remain far below pre-pandemic levels.
It warns that removing the payment as planned in April, while the effects of the pandemic are still being felt, would ‘plunge hundreds of thousands of households, including children into poverty’ while dragging those already in poverty ‘down into destitution’.
While the Committee recognises that continuing with the increase would come at a ‘substantial cost’, the Committee argues that this should be seen in the context of the Treasury’s own £280bn figure for total spending on coronavirus support measures this year. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has estimated that keeping the £20 rise would cost around £6.4bn in the next financial year.
The report also calls on the Government to abandon any plans for one-off payments to replace the weekly rise. The Secretary of State confirmed to the Committee last week that the DWP had been asked to investigate such an option but said it was not ‘one of the Department’s preferred approaches to providing that financial support’.
Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP, Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, said: “Removing the extra payment in March would represent a failure by Government – failure to recognise the reality of people struggling.
“Without regular support, hundreds of thousands of families will be swept into poverty or even destitution. Government must end the uncertainty and commit to extending this lifeline.
“The Chancellor faces difficult decisions about the public finances. He may find it hard at present to make the increase permanent. But the pandemic’s impact on the economy and livelihoods will, sadly, be with us for some time. An extension for a year should be the bare minimum.
“We must also hope that Rishi Sunak will listen to the groundswell of arguments against one-off payments as an alternative, including from his cabinet colleague at our Committee last week. There is broad agreement that a steady income is necessary to support people.”
Report findings and recommendations
Impact of removing the £20 per week increase (Chapter 2)
Analysis by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has concluded that withdrawing the temporary increase ‘will risk sweeping 700,000 more people, including 300,000 more children, into poverty’
One-off payments (Chapter 3)
The Committee shares the Secretary of State’s view that a steady income is the best way to support people and is concerned that one-off payments could increase the risk of fraud and about the risks to vulnerable people.
The proposed way forward (Chapter 4)
The Committee has previously called on the Government to make the £20 per week increase permanent with annual inflation-based increases. The report acknowledges however that ‘in the short term, the Chancellor faces some very difficult decisions about the public finances amid a great deal of uncertainty about the future.’
If the Chancellor cannot yet commit to making the increase permanent, he should at the very least extend it for a further 12 months. The Government should then announce its future plans for the rate of Universal Credit no later than the Autumn Statement 2021, to give claimants enough time to plan and budget.
