Joanna Barrett, Associate Head of Policy (Devolved Nations), NSPCC Scotland, said: “The events of the last year have profoundly impacted so many lives and, sadly, are continuing to do so. We know from Childline and our other frontline services just how difficult it has been for children of all ages.
“The huge pressure on families, combined with schools being closed to most children and the disruption to protective services, has increased the risk of child abuse and neglect. Grief, isolation and uncertainty have also taken a heavy toll on children and young people’s mental health.
“And, we know, the impact on those with very young children has been considerable. Approximately 50,000 babies will have been born in Scotland over the last year, born into a society of heightened anxiety and stress. While we might think infants will be too young to remember, there is extensive evidence showing early experiences can have profound effects on lifelong development.
“And so it is vital that the Scottish Government ensures Covid-19 does not shape the future of our young children. With need increasing as a result of the pandemic, huge investment is crucial to ensure all children in our country are offered the best start in life.
“The next Scottish Government must make the social and emotional wellbeing of very young children it’s number one priority.”
An online school, established by Wey Education more than 16 years ago, has launched an ‘essential’ programme of English, Maths and Science support, delivered live by expert teachers, to help students across the UK recover the learning they have missed due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
These efforts align with the Government’s recovery support package which includes tutoring programmes, summer provision and recovery premiums for state schools, so that children and young people can catch up on missed learning and development opportunities.
The “InterHigh Essentials” package was developed as a way to alleviate the “pain” of families who were struggling with home schooling and remote learning. It offers young people in the local area the opportunity to enrol on its online platform and access lessons for three core subjects English, maths and science, plus tutorial, in an interactive and effective, yet easy-to-use format. The virtual lessons will be delivered live by experienced teachers who are qualified to teach online.
Developed by a team with over 16 years of experience with online teaching, students will be given opportunities to fully engage with their learning, in a virtual environment that is characteristic of how we will learn, work, and interact in the future.
For the equivalent of £12 a day, families can benefit from supplementary learning in a virtual environment while their child continues to be enrolled in their current school.
Emma Beer, an InterHigh parent who enrolled her son during Covid-19, said:“He’s more settled into a routine and is far more engaged in learning at home. During the first two weeks of schools closing, it was difficult to home educate my son and I struggled to find material online which engaged him, meaning I had to constantly sit next to him to keep an eye on what he was doing.
“The crisis has unveiled an amazing opportunity for my son to try a different approach to education.”
The programme is open to students in Key Stage 2, 3, and 4, and registration can be done individually by students, or by schools on their behalf. The team at InterHigh believe in transformative education which provides a community for students to learn wherever they feel most comfortable, supported, and engaged.
Jacqueline Danielle, CEO of Wey Education, said:“Our aim is to provide all young people with the opportunity to access an education that will inspire a lifelong love of learning – both pure and applied, and I believe we have achieved something truly remarkable over the past 17 years at Wey Education.
“Events this year have opened the eyes of many to the power and possibilities of online learning. We are excited to provide more families with the opportunity to study with us and experience our innovative and pioneering approach to teaching and learning in a virtual environment.”
Dr Sara de Freitas, Executive Director of Education at Wey Education, said:“During the pandemic, many students have missed out on parts of their education which can have long term negative impacts upon employment and mental health.
“Our new programme is designed to plug these gaps in young people’s education and provide the important learning they may have missed during the pandemic.
“We are thrilled to be able to offer this package to students as a supplementary offer and recommend it for all students that have been affected by school closures during this year and last year.”
For more information, including how to enrol, please visit:
Approximately 2.3 million people across the UK have not received money back for flights they could not take in the last year, with many unable to fly because of national or local lockdowns or restrictions at their destination, according to new research from Which?.
Since the UK went into its first lockdown in the middle of March last year, millions of people have had flight bookings that were not cancelled by the airline, but for reasons that were often out of their control they could not take, meaning that they were not legally entitled to a refund or guaranteed a successful claim through their travel insurance or bank.
Research from the consumer champion has found that approximately 2.3 million people across the UK have been left out of pocket for flights that were not cancelled, despite circumstances often meaning they reasonably – or in some cases, legally – could not travel to their destination.
Under EU 261 regulations, passengers flying on an EU-based carrier or flying from a country in the EU are entitled to a full refund within seven days if their flight is cancelled by the operator, but the regulations do not currently offer passengers any protection if their flight is not cancelled. However, in some circumstances where passengers couldn’t travel, it could be argued that the contract between the passenger and the airline had been frustrated.
Many passengers have been prevented from travelling because of local or national lockdowns, restrictions preventing entry at their destination, or the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) advising against non-essential travel.
Passengers in these circumstances would often have only been given the choice of rebooking their flight or losing their money. Rebooking may have meant paying a significant difference in fare if the new flights were more expensive, and trying to choose new dates without knowing when international travel is likely to resume again.
Of those who told Which? they didn’t get their money back, half (49%) claimed they could not travel because of national or regional lockdown restrictions instructing them to stay at home. While during the first national and local lockdowns instructions against non-essential travel were not always written into law, many passengers did not fly due to government guidance.
At the beginning of 2020, Rebekah Evans, from Barry in Wales, booked flights from Bristol to Turkey in October with Easyjet via an online travel agent, costing over £2,000.
Two weeks before their holiday, Vale of Glamorgan entered a local lockdown that was set to be reviewed the day before they were due to fly. Rebekah did not rebook the flights or accept a voucher in the hope that they would be allowed to fly if the local lockdown was lifted.
When the day arrived though, the Welsh government announced a rolling lockdown, instructing people not to leave Wales unless for emergencies. At the time, England was not in a lockdown, so the flight went ahead. Rebekah initially missed out on the opportunity to claim a voucher for the cost of her flight, but since Which? intervened, Easyjet has agreed to offer Rebekah a voucher as a gesture of goodwill.
While travel under this lockdown was not prevented by law, during the November lockdown and under the current national lockdown restrictions, all non-essential travel has been illegal. Despite this, some airlines are currently still operating flights and refusing refunds for those who cannot legally travel.
Ayesha Ellis, from Essex, had flights for her and her family booked with Ryanair to fly to Gran Canaria on February 13th 2021. These were booked almost a year earlier in March 2020, before the UK went into its first lockdown.
Despite the UK’s current lockdown preventing any non-essential travel, the flight went ahead as scheduled.
Ayesha paid more than £1,600 for her flights, but was told if she wanted to rearrange them, she would have to pay a fee of €95 per person per flight. Because the flights were booked before Ryanair dropped its flight change fee, this would have come to a total of €760 more for her family of four, plus the price difference of the new flights. Ayesha, a travel agent, has still not been refunded the £1,600 and told Which? she will never use the airline again, both personally and in her job.
Just over a quarter (27%) of those left out of pocket said they were unable to fly because of restrictions in place at their destination that would prevent them from entering the country.
Stephen Middleton, from Manchester, booked flights with Ryanair to Spain with his fiancée in July 2020, after the government allowed foreign travel again. They were due to fly in August, but paid more than £280 to move the flights to Christmas Eve after it was announced they would have to quarantine on their arrival back to the UK.
But when the time came for them to take their rearranged flight, they were again unable to travel because of restrictions at the Spanish border preventing them from entering the country. Stephen was told he could move his flights again, but would have had to pay more money to do so.
Others said they were unable to travel because the FCDO had advised against all non-essential travel to their destination, with nearly four in 10 (37%) citing this as their reason for not flying.
While those with package holidays would have had their bookings cancelled by the provider in these circumstances, entitling them to a full refund, many airlines continued to operate flights to countries with an FCDO warning against non-essential travel, on the basis that they needed to operate them as scheduled in order to facilitate essential travel.
While not illegal, travelling against FCDO advice usually invalidates travel insurance, and could potentially put your health at risk by visiting a country with high rates of infection. Additionally, many of those returning from these destinations would have also had to quarantine for two weeks after returning to the UK, with three in 10 (28%) people saying the need to quarantine prevented them from travelling.
Which? first raised the issue of people being unable to get their money back for flights they couldn’t take because of lockdown with both the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in March 2020.
While not all passengers who told Which? they hadn’t received their money back were legally prohibited from flying, the consumer champion has shared its findings with the CMA to aid its investigation into whether airlines have breached consumers’ legal rights by failing to offer cash refunds for flights they could not lawfully take because of lockdown restrictions.
Which? is advising anyone considering booking flights for this summer to wait until the situation around international travel becomes clearer, and when the time comes, to book a package holiday rather than a flight-only booking for stronger passenger protections, and only with a trusted provider that offers a generous and flexible booking policy.
Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said:“For almost a year now, Which? has been hearing from frustrated passengers who’ve been left out of pocket for flights they were unable to take, often through no fault of their own, because the flight went ahead as scheduled.
“While some have successfully been able to claim on their travel insurance or through their bank, others have been left high and dry.
“With non-essential travel currently illegal, airlines must play their part in protecting public health by ensuring no one is left out of pocket for abiding by the law and not travelling. All airlines should allow passengers the option to cancel for a full refund, as well as fee-free rebooking options, while these restrictions remain in place.”
Pupils at Hermitage Park Primary in Leith are sitting comfortably while learning from home, thanks to Hibernian Community Foundation’s donations of multi-purpose lap desks.
Depute Head Teacher Lisa Black explained: “Hermitage Park Primary is a Hibernian Community Foundation partner school. The foundation is keen to help us remove any barriers to learning our pupils may face.
“When I approached them to share my concern that many of our pupils did not have a desk space for home learning, they were keen to help”.
Lisa was troubled by survey findings from ‘The second wave of the Understanding Society COVID-19 survey’: “I read that over 30% of children lived in homes that did not have enough desk space for them to undertake home learning. This percentage increases to almost 40% for children living in low income households.
“Many of our pupils were working from their bed. Whilst this is not ideal, the lap desks give them a hard surface on which to work. This has benefits for their learning as well as their physical health promoting better posture,” Lisa continued.
“It also tackles the issue of overcrowded homes as pupils can carry their desk to any convenient spot and work at a place which suits them”.
They are already proving a hit with pupils who say their home learning has improved since getting a lap desk:
“My handwriting is better because I have something to lean on” says P6 pupil Brandyn.
“I like the pockets as I can organise myself and that makes me feel less stressed” says Jenna P7.
P7 Abdul’s mum is a fan because he says, “I don’t leave all my work scattered on the floor!”
Lisa concluded: “We appreciate the challenges families face when undertaking home learning.
“This helps us to improve the physical environment for our pupils and we are grateful to Hibernian community foundation for their continued support.”
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:
As schools remain shut, homeschooling is something that all parents are coming to terms with during this latest lockdown. It can be hard thinking of new ways to keep kids entertained, as well as learning whilst they are out of school.
Lex-GO! is the super-fast word game from Waddingtons No. 1, that is not only fun and exciting but also helps kids with spelling and vocabulary.
Waddingtons No.1 of London is an iconic British heritage brand that as been around for over 130 years.
In this game race against other players to get rid of your word tiles by swapping letters and even stealing your opponents’ tiles. There are two versions; Harry Potter and Disney and both include special tiles that help you win the game.
EXPELLIARMUS – disarm another player by messing up their tiles
DEPULSO – banish one of your tiles from the round if you need to
REVELIO – allows the holder to look at any number of tiles in the draw pile before choosing which to swap
STUPEFY – choose a player to close their eyes and count out loud for 10 seconds, before they re-join the round
The POLYJUICE tile may be nominated as any letter in a word. Once used in a word the player must announce what letter it is and it remains that letter throughout the round
GENIE – your wish is granted! You can take a total of any 3 tiles from any other players
WRECK IT RALPH – it’s time to wreck it! Shuffle one player’s words
OLAF – whoops! Olaf walked over your tiles and now they’re frozen in place for 10 seconds
ARIEL – here’s one to add to your collection! You can take any tile from another player if it completes a word for you
The MICKY tile may be nominated as any letter in a word. Once used in a word the player must announce what letter it is and it remains that letter throughout the round
Making the most out of existing space could drastically add to the value of a property, with additional bedrooms increasing the value by as much as 20% according to experts, or £51,200 considering the average house price in England (£256,000).
The research by self-storage company, Space Station, found several ways in which homeowners can increase the value of their homes without paying for an extension, and instead simply making the most of existing space in a property.
Creating an open plan living area, installing an additional bathroom, or adding another bedroom can all be accomplished for a lot less than the cost of an extension, and in many cases, this does not require planning permission.
Here are five ways you can maximise existing space to increase property value:
1. Convert a room into a bedroom (20% increase in value, £51K of average house price)
Converting the purpose of a room can add extra value to a property and costs very little to do effectively.
Having an office or a games room may seem desirable, but when it comes to adding value, the number of bedrooms is the figure buyers pay the most attention to, so converting a room into a bedroom will see the greatest increase in value.
As a compromise, consider making a room dual purpose, allowing it to serve as both a guest bedroom and a home office.
Holly Herbert, from We Buy Any House, said: “Not every homeowner is in a position to renovate their property, so thankfully there are other things that they can do on a budget instead.
“A great option is to use an existing room as another bedroom, especially if you have office space. Adding a bedroom to a property can increase the value by up to 20% and can be done easily enough with some redecorating and reorganising.”
2. Convert your loft space (20% increase in value, £51K of average house price)
Alternatively, a more expensive solution is to invest in a loft conversion. This is especially useful if you do not have spare rooms which you’re able to convert, or if you want to increase the number of bedrooms whilst keeping your office space.
As lofts are generally used for storage, some homeowners may be left with a temporary shortage of space for these items. This can easily be solved however by temporarily renting storage whilst you undertake the work. Long term, you can find inventive and creative ways to create storage as part of the loft conversion, by installing storage units in the dead space.
Holly said: “For homeowners who are keen to add an extra room but don’t have an office space or dining area to sacrifice, a loft conversion can be the perfect solution.
“You will need to make sure that if you’re intending to advertise your loft conversion as another bedroom that it’s up to regulations, as it will need to be a certain size and have a door, as well as being safe.”
3. Create an open-plan living area (15% increase in value, £38K of average house price)
Open plan living areas are incredibly desirable for house-hunters, and they are a great way to make your living area and kitchen feel modern and bigger than they would as separate rooms.
Knocking down the interior walls could be a DIY job, but it’s important that you establish whether the wall is load bearing. If it is then you will need to ask for expert help to find a solution, as knocking down a load bearing wall could have disastrous consequences.
Holly said: “Creating an open-plan living area can increase your value by up to as much as 15% when done well and will almost always encourage potential viewers to make an offer on the property.”
4. Install additional toilets or bathrooms (5% increase in value, £13K of average house price)
A spare storage room or under-stairs cupboard could be converted into an additional toilet, and you can even add an extra bathroom to a property if you have the room.
This is especially worthwhile for homes with a limited number of existing bathrooms, but you should beware of losing a bedroom. A good option would be to create a small en-suite if you have a large bedroom.
Adding extra bathroom facilities could increase the property value by as much as 5%2 and is especially worthwhile in older houses that may have fewer existing bathrooms.
5. Create storage solutions out of spare space (up to 5% increase in value, £13K of average house price)
Making the most out of nooks and crannies in your home can really make features stand out, as well as adding value.
Converting under-stairs cupboards or alcoves into storage areas helps to make your living areas more practical, as well as adding value by making your home look more unique and functional.
Holly says: “The value added by storage is difficult to pin down and varies hugely depending on the storage in question. Large scale projects like a wine cellar or basement renovation can add a significant amount to the value, whereas low key storage solutions will increase it by a lower amount.
“However, storage is very appealing to buyers, so even if it does not significantly increase the overall value, it will help to make a property more desirable.”
Vlatka Lake, Marketing Manager at Space Station, said: “Adding value to your property is something that can be easily done by any homeowner, and whatever the size of their budget.
“We hope that these tips can inspire people to make the most of their spare space, helping them to maximise their property value when they come to sell.”
As Scottish families adjust to a third national lockdown and the challenges of homeschooling again, Uswitch surveyed parents to find out how the nation’s homeschooling parents and children are coping this time around.
Lack of homeschooling resources for Edinburgh kids
More than half of Scottish children don’t have full-time access to a laptop for school work.
A third of Edinburgh pupils are having to share a laptop with siblings.
A third of Edinburgh parents have had to supply homeschool tech for their kids.
1 in 10 Scottish families have sought out tutor support to fill knowledge gaps, while a quarter of parents have had to spend on a homeschool set up.
On average Scottish parents have paid £158 on homeschooling costs, £61 less than the UK average.
In total, the UK’s struggling parents have been left with a £3.7 billion bill due to homeschooling costs.
Scottish homeschooling families failing to connect online
A quarter of Scottish parents are struggling to homeschool due to broadband problems.
The biggest broadband concern is slow speeds disrupting the school day.
Despite this, only 10% of Scottish families have switched or upgraded their broadband provider.
Scottish kids falling behind due to homeschooling
A quarter of Scottish kids don’t get all their school work finished during the school day.
1 in 10 Edinburgh children are having to work longer hours to keep up with their workload, while another 1 in 10 pupils’ work goes regularly unfinished.
68% of Scottish kids are supported by school for less than half a day leaving parents to fill in the gaps despite working.
More than a third of Scottish children don’t have any live video call lessons, with just 1% of children receiving a full school day of live video teacher support.
Mental health concerns for Scottish children
1 in 3 Scottish parents surveyed stated homeschooling has had a negative impact on their child.
Of these parents, 53% said their child is more isolated and detached socially
More than half think their child’s motivation to learn and concentrate has worsened.
A third said homeschooling has negatively impacted their child’s mental health, stress and learning.
More than 1 in 4 parents expressed concern about their child’s fitness and while a third are stressed their child’s anxiety has suffered at home.
While 22% of parents said poor sleep such as bad dreams and sleeping later are an issue for their child because of remote learning.
A fifth of Scottish parents are concerned about their child’s happiness overall.
Meanwhile Scottish parents are experiencing increased guilt, with over a quarter of Edinburgh parents identifying feelings of guilt due to the challenges of remote learning.
Nick Baker, broadband expert at Uswitch.com, comments:“As UK families adjust to a third national lockdown, many parents are feeling increased pressure to successfully navigate homeschooling while working remotely.
“To take off some of the pressure, take advantage of helpful learning tools available online, such as the BBC education programming available daily. Additionally, if you’re concerned your child is falling behind due to a lack of resources, speak with their school to find out if you qualify for extra help and the Government Get Help With Technology Scheme.
“With children logging on to learn online, you’ll likely have more devices than usual connected to your broadband during the day. Ensuring your internet is up to speed will help elevate connection stress and keep the school day running smoothly.
“If you are having trouble with your broadband, try these top tips and check out our homeschooling Wi-Fi issues guide to solve your most common home Wi-Fi problems:
Reboot your router – the classic ‘unplug it, leave it 30 seconds and plug it back in’.
Location, location, location – if your router is located further away than it needs to be, try moving it to the room you’re most active in or the center of your home.
Disconnect unnecessary devices – turn the Wi-Fi off on gadgets you’re not using, even if they’re in a drawer. They may be using bandwidth in the background.
Run a speed test – this will determine whether your router is running at the speeds you signed up for.
Purchase a Wi-Fi extender or ‘booster’ – this will optimise your broadband for faster and stronger connections.
As a dark and dreary January draws to a close, I’m pleased to share at least one wee nugget of positive news.
The NEN blog passed a memorable milestone this week. Your community news website reached and passed the one million hits mark on Thursday.
It’s taken a while – the NEN blog was set up ten years ago this month (the first post was made on 19 January 2011) – but we got there in the end!
Since that first blog post there have been more than 18,300 more. The blog has over 5,000 subscribers and thousands more followers on Facebook and Twitter
When that first post was written, I’m pretty sure the word ‘coronavirus’ didn’t exist. And I know I would have been using ‘lock in’ a lot more than ‘lockdown’ back then. Social distancing. Face Coverings. Blended learning. PPE. Nightingale hospitals. These words and phrases are part of our everyday language now.
It’s twelve months to the day since the first cases of the new virus were confirmed in the UK, on 31 January. Life has changed so much since then, perhaps forever. It’s a darker, more uncertain world.
The NEN first mentioned coronvirus in a post on 25th January 2020. Since then, coronavirus has been tagged 1300 times, COVID-19 1700 times and vaccine close to 300 times in NEN posts.
It’s been a relentless litany of grim statistics and horror stories, lightened only sometimes by tales of heroic workers and volunteers working flat out to support the most vulnerable people in our poorest communities.
But despite the daily awfulness of it all, I do think it’s important to record it. One day, we’ll look back on these unprecedented times to establish what we could have done better – and sooner – and where our leaders got it horribly wrong.
But for now, it’s encouraging that the word ‘vaccine’ is being used more and more in NEN posts; goodness knows we’ve needed a glimmer of light at the end of a terribly dark tunnel.
Last week, the UK death toll surpassed 100,000. One hundred thousand people; each and every one of those deaths will have affected so many friends and families. Coronavirus will leave it’s mark on us all for years to come – perhaps forever – but there will be life after the virus.
As more and more vaccines come on stream, the future is looking an awful lot brighter than it did a few short months ago. IF enough of us remain sensible – and there are still a surprising number of foolish people out there – we will get there.
So while passing the one million mark is a reason to celebrate in these cheerless times, I will put the celebration on hold until life gets back to something like normal again when I will enjoy a real pint in an open pub!
Until then, if you keep reading I’ll keep writing. Deal?
A group bookings provider is urging the public to support their local bars and restaurants once lockdown restrictions are lifted.
The county is once again in lockdown, and pubs, restaurants and hotels are forced to shut their doors. Many see this as the third major blow to the hospitality sector across the UK.
This hardship to hospitality is tough to take for many, and Bradley Gough, CEO and Founder of Groubook, calls for more support for independent businesses working in the hospitality sector.
Mr Gough welcomes the new government grants to help keep businesses afloat until spring whilst we are all in lockdown, but warns it is not enough.
He says businesses are continuing to incur mounting debt and the £9,000 of support offered will quickly run out. It is not enough to cover the costs of many businesses and certainly will not underpin longer-term business viability for the sector.
Bradley is now calling for a clear plan on what happens next, especially for those sectors which have incurred massive losses throughout – but he is also calling for the British public to play their part and support the local businesses that need it so much.
Bradley Gough, CEO of Groubook said: “With the uncertainty of Brexit and COVID-19, it’s been a tough year for the hospitality sector, and the future of the industry is less known. Nobody has had any guidance on when we can re-open.
“Unfortunately, many bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants will not survive the strict new regulations across the UK.
“We don’t want to see the industry disappear and that’s what’s slowly happening.
So, we call on the British public to spearhead the rescue mission and support their local bars, cafes and restaurants when lockdown restrictions are lifted.
“We get it – some people will be excited to be back out eating, drinking, and socialising, and some will think it’s all too soon and want to stay home. Both are OK and we need to be more aware and tolerant of each other. But whether you choose to stay at home, or go out, we can all do our bit to help rescue the hospitality sector.”
Here are eight ways customers can support local businesses in the current climate:
Book a table
When safe to do and lockdown restrictions are lifted, you will be able to visit SOME of your favourite places again. Others will open days, weeks or months later when they are ready. And when you are ready and comfortable, book a table. When the restaurants see the bookings come in, it will give them the confidence to get back going again!
Don’t forget to visit midweek, not just at the weekends too.
Order takeaway if preferred
This is also possible during lockdown for many local hospitality businesses, but rest assured most places will continue this even if they’re “open” again.
So if you don’t want to attend in person, order the products to take away. It’s still supporting the business.
It’s worth checking the best way to deliver or collect, as many delivery apps take a commission from the business.
Cook at home
Quite a few local restaurants are offering DIY packs, ready meals and “finish at home” style packs. You just need to be prepared to do the final bit of effort, in heating up and presenting it.
Invest in vouchers
A lot of establishments in the hospitality sector have vouchers available to buy and they can be used in the future.
Having the money come in from vouchers is great for business confidence, and it’s good for consumers to have something to look forward to.
Vouchers also make great gifts!
Don’t forget the high street
Even through lockdown, various local shops that sold food remained open, such as delicatessens. More will reopen and spring back to life when safe and allowed, so keep tabs on the local high street outlets as you can get great fresh produce from delis etc. saving you visiting the supermarket.
It’s also worth mentioning that some traders make a living off doing pop-ups in places like pub car parks. So when safe to do so, keep an eye on your favourite traders via social media so you don’t miss out.
Share on social media
Speaking of social media, something as simple as a quick post on social media reporting on a great visit or meal can lead to more bookings. As customers, we need to be cheerleaders for our favourite independents, as they need all the publicity they can get.
Sharing your positive experience means a lot to the independent businesses but also helps others find great sources to use in future.
Turn up to your bookings
If you book a table at a restaurant in the coming weeks and months, make sure you turn up. In previous lockdowns, many independent businesses were hit by a wave of no-shows since reopening, and these affect small restaurants more than you might think.
But we are human so if, for any reason, you’re no longer able to make a booking, simply contact the restaurant and let them know in advance.
Normalise deposits
Learning from previous lockdowns, independents have been forced to ask for deposits with their bookings, requiring customers to put down a small, refundable fee to reduce the risk of people not turning up.
If you’re looking to book a table at one of your favourite restaurants, don’t be put off if they ask for a deposit. It will come off your bill!
