staff – The NEN – North Edinburgh News

Retail crime a “crisis that demands action’

BRC survey shows a 50% increase in levels of retail violence and abuse, to 1,300 incidents a day
Cost of theft doubled to £1.8 billion in 2022/23 with over 45,000 incidents a day
60% of respondents say police response is “poor” or “very poor”

Violence and abuse against retail workers soared last year, with the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) crime survey revealing that the number of incidents rose to 1,300 per day in 2022/23 from almost 870 per day the year before.

This rise comes despite retailers investing heavily in crime prevention, spending £1.2bn on measures such as CCTV, increased security personnel, and body worn cameras, up from £722m the previous year. The cost of theft to retailers went up to £1.8bn from £953m the previous year, meaning the total cost of crime to retailers stood at £3.3bn – double the previous year.

The BRC’s annual crime survey highlights the scale of violence and abuse faced by people working in retail. Incidents, which include racial abuse, sexual harassment, physical assault, and threats with weapons, are now on a par with the levels seen during the pandemic, when staff bore the brunt of some people’s frustration with Covid safety measures.

While the total number of incidents climbed, dissatisfaction with the police increased, with 60% of respondents describing the police response to incidents as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.

Retailers are calling on the Government to introduce a standalone offence of assaulting, threatening, or abusing a retail worker. This would send a clear message that this behaviour will not be tolerated, making retail workers feel safer in the workplace.

It would also mean the police have data that allows them to understand the scale of the issue, and to allocate sufficient resources to deal with it.

This would ensure that retail workers have the same protection under the law as they do in Scotland, where a similar offence was introduced in 2021.

Helen Dickinson OBE, Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium, said:
“Despite retailers investing huge sums in crime prevention, violence and abuse against retail workers is climbing.

“With over 1,300 incidents every day, government can no longer ignore the plight of ordinary, hardworking retail colleagues. Teenagers taking on their first job, carers looking for part-time work, parents working around childcare.

“And while the violence can be over in a moment, the victims carry these experiences with them for a lifetime. And we all know the impact does not stop there – it affects their colleagues, friends, and the family our colleagues go home to. This is a crisis that demands action now.

“Criminals are being given a free pass to steal goods and to abuse and assault retail colleagues. No one should have to go to work fearing for their safety.

“The Protection of Workers Act in Scotland already provides additional protection to retail workers, so why should our hardworking colleagues south of the border be offered less protection?

“It is vital that government takes action – introducing a new standalone offence for assaulting or abusing a retail worker.”

Katy Bourne OBE, Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner and APCC Lead for Business Crime, said: “The levels of retail crime described in this report reveal an unprecedented level of selfish lawlessness.

“Every day, retail staff are facing the consequences of shoplifters’ brazen behaviour and that’s why I have supported the call for a specific offence of assault on a shopworker.

“Our courts need to work more efficiently, and shoplifters need to be deterred from re-offending. That’s why I’m calling for my fellow Police & Crime Commissioners to focus their police forces on tackling shoplifting by making it a priority in their local Police & Crime Plans.”

Aldi hiring 129 colleagues across Edinburgh and the Lothians

Aldi has announced it is currently looking to hire 129 colleagues in Edinburgh and The Lothians.

The supermarket is looking for people of all levels of experience to fill roles across the region, with pay rates of up to £12.40 an hour.

This includes full and part-time positions such as Store Management Apprentice and Store Assistant, all the way up to Deputy Manager.

Stores in Edinburgh and The Lothians, where Aldi is looking to hire, include Chesser, Dalkeith, and Hermiston Gait.

The recruitment push forms part of Aldi’s nationwide expansion drive, with the supermarket opening a number of new stores across the UK in the next year. Aldi is also currently recruiting for 450 jobs at its 11 Regional Distribution Centres up and down the country.

Giles Hurley, Chief Executive Officer of Aldi UK, said: “Demand for Aldi has never been higher as more and more people realise they can make significant savings on every shop without compromising on quality. It’s more important than ever that we are making it even easier for more people to shop with us – including by opening dozens of new stores.

“Our success is dependent on the amazing work that colleagues do, day in and day out, and we’re looking forward to welcoming thousands more colleagues to Team Aldi throughout 2023.”

Store Assistants at Aldi receive a starting pay of £11.00 an hour nationally, rising to £11.90, and £12.45 rising to £12.75, within the M25, with the supermarket also paying for breaks. Meanwhile, Aldi recently increased pay rates for around 7,000 warehouse workers, with Warehouse Selectors now receiving a minimum starting salary of £13.18 per hour.

Those interested in applying for a career with Aldi can visit:

www.aldirecruitment.co.uk.

Care Home Operator to Provide Sanitary Products for Staff

Leading Scottish care home group, Renaissance Care, has set out plans to increase inclusivity and security among its workforce.

The Group, which operates 16 care homes throughout Scotland with over 1,200 staff, launched the initiative in January with a commitment to supplying sanitary items for female staff in all its facilities with the provision of sanitary towels and tampons in all staff bathrooms.

The move is part of the group’s efforts to create a safe and happy working environment and comes following calls from The British Medical Association for these essentials to be accessible to all healthcare staff throughout Scotland.

Corinne Morrison-Gillies, Interim People Services, said: “Sanitary items are not a luxury; they are a necessity and should be treated as such by employers. The nature of our job in the care sector means our staff do not have regular working patterns therefore can easily be caught off guard by their menstrual cycle, adding undue pressure to what can be a challenging job.

“Our staff work incredibly hard, and the last thing they should have to worry about is having access to, what we consider, bare essentials. By having free period products available in all our care homes we hope to remove barriers and create an open and safe working environment for our employees.”

Renaissance Care Group has a strong people service strategy which focuses on learning and development for individual staff members, as well as onus on creating a person-centered culture of inclusivity and care.

‘Test to Release’: England’s frontline health and care staff can work rather than self-isolate

Frontline NHS and social care staff can attend work rather than self-isolate with testing mitigations in exceptional circumstances under updated guidance announced this morning.

From today (Monday 19 July), double vaccinated frontline NHS and social care staff in England who have been told to self-isolate will be permitted to attend work in exceptional circumstances and replaced by testing mitigations.

This will include staff who have been contacted as a close contact of a case of COVID-19 by NHS Test and Trace, or advised to self-isolate by the NHS Covid-19 app.

This measure is being introduced to alleviate pressure on NHS and social care services and will be contingent on staff members only working after having a negative PCR test and also taking daily negative lateral flow tests for a minimum of seven days, and up to 10 days or completion of the identified self-isolation period.

This measure is being introduced to alleviate pressure on NHS and social care services and will be contingent on staff members only working after having a negative PCR test and daily negative lateral flow tests.

The government is clear the change applies only to frontline NHS and social care staff where their absence may lead to a significant risk of harm.

The decision to allow NHS and social care staff to attend work after being told to self-isolate should be made on a case-by-case basis, and only after a risk assessment by the organisation’s management.

This must be authorised by the organisation’s local Director of Infection Prevention and Control, the lead professional for health protection, or the Director of Public Health relevant to the organisation.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: “As we learn to live with this virus, it’s important that we ensure frontline staff can keep providing the best possible care and support to people up and down the country.

“The government has backed healthcare services at every turn through this global pandemic and these new rules will fortify our collective defences against this awful virus, by allowing fully vaccinated frontline NHS and social care staff to continue to work when needed.”

Careful consideration should be given by local NHS and social care organisations to the risk of onward transmission compared to the risk to delivery of critical services.

Staff who are permitted to attend work will remain under a legal duty to self-isolate as a close contact when not at work, but will be considered to have a ‘reasonable excuse’ under the Self-Isolation regulations to leave self-isolation to attend work where their absence could result in harm. They will continue to receive self-isolation reminders.

UK Health Security Agency Chief Executive, Jenny Harries, said: “With the number of cases continuing to rise, it is imperative that we do everything we can to manage this virus and support our NHS and social care services under the strain of increased demand and sustained pressure.

“We have provided specific guidance to NHS and social care settings for circumstances where there is a significant risk to health or safety resulting from staff absence or a critical service cannot run.

“This measure only applies to double vaccinated staff, who will only be able to attend work after testing negative on PCR and daily lateral flow tests, and following a risk assessment and the supervision of the health service.”

In order to mitigate the increased risk associated with attending work, the following mitigations must be implemented:

The staff member should be fully vaccinated, defined as having received both doses of an MHRA approved vaccination, with 14 days having elapsed since the final dose.
The staff member should undertake a PCR test and should self-isolate until they receive the result. They should only attend work if this result is negative.
They should undertake daily LFD tests prior to starting work each day. Test results should be reported to NHS Test and Trace via the web portal and to their duty manager. Any staff member who has a positive LFD test during this period should not attend work and should arrange a PCR test as soon as possible.
If the staff member develops any COVID symptoms, they should stay at home and immediately arrange a PCR test.
Staff working during this 10-day period should comply with all relevant infection control precautions and PPE should be properly worn throughout the day. Any breaches should be reported immediately to their line manager.
The staff member should not work with clinically extremely vulnerable patients or residents, as determined by the organisation.

Existing guidance will be updated by Public Health England today (Monday 19 July), and shared with NHS trusts and relevant social care organisations across England.

These changes apply in England only. The Scottish Government will announce any changes to exisiting arrangements, if necessary, in due course.

Bield launches award to celebrate acts of kindness

One of Scotland’s leading housing providers has launched an initiative to celebrate its community for their acts of kindness.

Housing and care provider, Bield, has launched a platform to recognise individuals going above and beyond in the community, naming the award – ‘You are one of a Kind’.

Running until March 2022, customers, owners, service users, staff and members of the local community will have the chance every month to nominate their local heroes or heroines who have gone out of their way to lend a helping hand.

At the end of each month, a board of judges will select a Bield customer along with a Bield staff member or volunteer to receive the One of a Kind Award and a £50 voucher.

This comes as Bield is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and is looking to get as many people as possible involved in the milestone.

Chief Executive of Bield, Dr Lynne Douglas said: “Many things can go unnoticed as people go about their day to day life and this award gives us the perfect opportunity to recognise all the little things that make a big difference to individuals and their communities – especially in the current climate.

“The community at Bield has rallied together throughout the pandemic so we are really excited to launch this initiative and give those people a platform to share their amazing efforts.

“Our first series of nominations have started to come through and the stories so far have been incredible – it is wonderful to see individuals supporting each other.

“The Bield community is truly one of a kind and we felt this award will help showcase and celebrate the amazing people we interact with on a daily basis.”

This award further amplifies the importance the provider has put on kindness, last year it was added to its core values, building on the ethos staff and customers live by.

Customers, staff and volunteers can cast vote here:

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=Sw49M7C0qUOtpRsCxgri41WlGYsudCRGkIdsKknXwItURUZVOEFCMVpUSDNMNFRaU0VNTEpBMFZTQS4u

Bield is a registered charity which grew from humble beginnings, starting out with one housing development in Bo’ness which has gone on to become a major provider of housing and care services for around 20,000 older people across 22 local authority areas.

To find out more about Bield and its developments, visit www.bield.co.uk or follow on Facebook @bieldhousingandcare and Twitter @BieldScotland.

More support for school staff

Package will include help with mental health

School staff will be offered new support as part of a £1.5 million funding package to help manage additional pressures as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Barnardo’s Scotland and mental health charity Place2Be will offer new mental health support for staff with the intention this will be available after the October break.

Education Scotland and the General Teaching Council for Scotland will also offer new professional learning opportunities for post-probation teachers and develop a new coaching and mentoring offer for teachers who need it most.

The funding package also includes the continuation of the Scottish Government’s commitment, in partnership with the Hunter Foundation, to the values-based leadership programmes delivered by social enterprise and charity Columba 1400.

The package of support for school staff has been developed in partnership with organisations represented on the Education Recovery Group.

Education Secretary John Swinney said: “Supporting the health and wellbeing of teachers and other staff is of paramount importance.

“This was true before COVID-19, but it is of crucial importance as school staff support our children and young people to recover from the pandemic. This additional package of measures will complement the excellent practice which is already taking place to support the wellbeing of staff in schools across Scotland.”

Ken Muir, Chief Executive, of the General Teaching Council for Scotland, said: “GTC Scotland is pleased to deliver this important support to hard-working teachers in collaboration with our partners in education.

“GTC Scotland has invested heavily in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of education professionals and we look forward to continuing to do so.”

Gillian Hamilton, Strategic Director at Education Scotland, said: “Ensuring school staff feel well supported, particularly at this time, is essential.

“This new support package, designed collaboratively with partners in the Education Recovery Group, provides direct access to a range of focused supports including coaching, reflective supervision and opportunities for school staff to learn together through the challenges presented by COVID-19.”

Laurence Findlay, Aberdeenshire Council Director of Education and Children’s Services, said: “I am delighted with the support package being put forward as part of ongoing efforts to support the education workforce. I hope as many practitioners as possible make use of these resources.”

Morrisons thanks staff with threefold increase in bonus for next 12 months

Full time colleagues will earn a bonus of £1,050 compared to around £350 average last year
The special bonus is the largest for frontline supermarket staff announced in recent weeks

Morrisons is recognising the huge effort by its colleagues who are helping to feed the nation during the coronavirus outbreak by increasing this year’s annual bonus payout threefold from last year.

Morrisons annual colleague bonus will become a ‘thank you’ bonus with the increase lasting for the next 12 months.

Because it will be a percentage of the entire year’s pay, frontline colleagues at Morrisons will see the largest special bonus of those announced over the last few weeks in the supermarket sector.

Morrisons colleagues have worked tirelessly to help meet demand and to thank them they will see these changes to the current bonus scheme:

All frontline colleagues will receive a 6% bonus on their earnings for the next 12 months rather than just the next 8-12 weeks
The changes represent a bonus payment of £1,050 for a full-time frontline colleague compared to the £351 that would have been paid last year
The bonus will be guaranteed in recognition of the effort made by very hard working colleagues
It will be paid quarterly so colleagues don’t have to wait until next year to be paid
The bonus will continue to be paid as a percentage of actual earnings as per previous years
Colleagues who are off sick or are self-isolating will remain eligible
Both permanent and temporary colleagues will be eligible in recognition of the thousands of new colleagues who have joined Morrisons in recent weeks.

Clare Grainger, Group People Director said: “Our highly valued colleagues have stood tall amidst the coronavirus pandemic, playing their full part in feeding the nation.

“We want to thank every single one of them for their continued hard work during these unprecedented times by paying a much higher guaranteed bonus for the whole year in recognition of their effort.”

Morrisons frontline salaried managers are also guaranteed to receive a bonus that will be twice their maximum yearly amount in a normal year, again guaranteed and paid quarterly.

The bonus overhaul is the latest change that Morrisons has put in place for its highly valued colleagues.

Previous measures include paying extremely vulnerable and high risk colleagues 12 weeks paid leave to self isolate as well as paying 12 weeks paid leave to colleagues who live with someone who is high risk and extremely vulnerable.

In store, perspex screens have been installed to protect colleagues and customers while paying for groceries at the checkouts and social distancing measures have been introduced.

#ItsMoreThanOurJob

Surgeons Quarter pledges to pay all staff for three months

ONE of Edinburgh’s largest hospitality businesses has committed to paying in full all 76 salaried and contracted staff over at least the next three months – despite the severe impact of COVID-19.

Surgeons Quarter, the operator of Edinburgh’s largest independent hotel and some of the capital’s busiest events venues has made the pledge to protect staff and give them vital financial certainty over the next quarter.

While many hospitality organisations will not be in a position to offer this guarantee, Surgeons Quarter’s management believes this is the correct approach while the city and wider world awaits to see how the pandemic unfolds.

The promise comes following a bold move to offer use of its four star Ten Hill Place hotel free of charge to all key clinical and medical workers at Edinburgh’s hospitals.

Owned by parent body, The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd), it has also signalled its willingness to the Chief Medical Officer for the hotel to be adopted by the health service should hospitals overflow.

Scott Mitchell, Managing Director of Surgeons Quarter, said: “In these uncertain and rapidly changing times, it is absolutely essential that we stand behind our highly talented workforce and give them financial certainty.

“When we come out the other end of this current situation we will need all of our team to be ready to regrow our business and I, the Company and the College will do everything in our power to avoid cutting our workforce.”

As a company, Surgeons Quarter does not have a company sick pay scheme and would normally operate using Statutory Sick Pay. In these unusual times, it has moved to add discretionary sick pay at full pay levels for those team members required to self-isolate for either the seven or 14 day period.

Professor Michael Griffin, President of the College, said: “Surgeons Quarter in normal times services College and external events and provides excellent accommodation and service in Ten Hill Place, Café 1505 and all parts of the College.

“These activities provide the College with supplementary funds to improve patient outcomes around the world. It is therefore only right in these unusual times that the College stands behind and protects the Surgeons Quarter team.

I would personally like to thank Scott and all the Surgeons Quarter team for their ongoing efforts in supporting the College and now the key workers within the Medical and Clinical workforce.”

Expanded and fully refurbished in 2018, Ten Hill Place is now the city’s largest independently-owned hotel.

Surgeons Quarter promotes, sells and manages all commercial activities held within the RCSEd campus. All profits support the charitable aims of the College which are education, assessment and advancement in surgical standards worldwide.

It typically boasts a year-round calendar of events and national and international conferences, making full use of the wide range of venues within the college campus.

Ten Hill Place Hotel can be contacted on 0131 662 2080.

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