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CORONAVIRUS - The State of Alabama is taking direct action against workers who refuse to return to work by cutting social security benefits.

This is at a time that coronavirus infections are resurging in some US states.

Alabama has begun re-opening despite a rise in new cases, with 9,181 new infections reported in the last two weeks.

Over the two weeks up to June 21, Alabama had the second-highest number of new cases per capita in the nation.

President Trump is arguing that this is due to the extensive coronavirus testing taking place, others would argue that the US was slow in its reactions to the pandemic and have opened up the economy to early.

States under quarantine are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.

Trump needs the economy to rebound by November and his recent poorly attended rally in Tulsa could be a testimony to a declining fan base or a genuine fear by people of catching the virus in a crowded auditorium.

The State of Alabama has so far denied benefits to 909 workers who opted not to return and has stopped benefits to review 2,317 more cases. This was after employers telephoned workers and asked them to return to work and they refused.

The federal CARES Act allows workers impacted by Covid-19 to stay on unemployment benefits under some circumstances.

These include employees who currently have the disease itself, or are caring for someone infected.

In the UK employers and employees could face the same issue and recently we have seen confrontation between teachers unions and the government about the opening of schools. Schools have been open for the children of key workers and no one knows enough about the virus yet to know if the recent hot spell in the UK will kill off COVID-19 or lesson its impact, or will as some fear, there be a resurgence during the flu season, starting around October. Time will tell. 

Either way, the US government are saying that fear of coronavirus is NOT reasonable grounds as an excuse not to attend the workplace, and we may see more cutting of benefits as a stimulus for people in employment to force them to return to work.

Image: Alabama, work or starve.  

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MEDIA TRAINING - Calling all Scottish poverty warriors. Free media and communications training is available in Scotland. 

Free media and communications training for activists who have experience of living on a low income organised by the Poverty Alliance. 

 Course overview

This short online training is designed for activists who have experience of living on a low income to develop their media and communications skills. It is suitable for those with no prior experience of working with the media and for those who would like to build on existing skills. You will learn techniques for talking about poverty in a way that connects with people’s values to win hearts and minds. You’ll learn a bit about how the media works, how you can prepare yourself to work with journalists with confidence and improve your interview, writing, and public speaking skills depending on your interests. You’ll be part of a small team of activists learning together and you’ll receive one-to-one support to get your views heard by the media and policymakers. The course will also cover one session on other campaigning tactics including social media and lobbying, and we will provide briefings on the policy solutions that Poverty Alliance and our members are pushing for.

The course consists of six sessions running from the end of July to September with opportunities for media engagements in September and October.

 Who is the course for?

Places are limited but the course is open to everyone who:

• Lives in Scotland
• Has recent (or current) experience of living on a low income
• Is available on the course dates set out below
• Is keen to use the training to either speak publicly or to the media about the changes governments need to make to prevent poverty and pull people out of it.

Everybody who fits the criteria is welcome and we are especially keen to hear from parents, people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, disabled people and people who receive social security payments.

Poverty Alliance will support you to communicate your solutions to poverty in a way that will resonate with the public and be appropriate for the publication or news channel you are working with, but this will always be in the form of optional advice and the solutions to poverty you choose to talk about will be entirely up to you.

There will be 10 places available on the course. If we are oversubscribed, places will be given to people who are keen to undertake media work and are happy to talk from their own personal experience. Selections may also be made to ensure the diversity of the group.  

 How to apply

Simply email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by Friday 3 July stating your name, age, location, gender identity, ethnicity, any access requirements, along with a very brief note of why you are interested in the course and what issues you want to talk about (one or two sentences is fine). 

 Expenses

All sessions will be conducted online via Zoom. If you do not have WiFi or a device that connects to the internet we can help you cover the costs. We will also recognise the value of people’s time whenever they undertake media or public speaking engagements organised by Poverty Alliance through vouchers.

 Planned sessions

The course will be run across five 90 minute online training sessions running from late July to mid September, with up to two additional one hour one-to-ones. If you choose to undertake media engagements these will be arranged in September/October depending on your availability.Course dates

11.00 – 12.45, Tuesday 28 July: Introduction to working with the media
We’ll provide an overview of how the media works and the range of media and communications work we can support you to undertake. We’ll cover the factors that you should consider when working with the media and help you start thinking about what you might like to try.

11.00 – 12.45, Tuesday 4 August: Framing poverty to win hearts and minds

We’ll present findings from research on public attitudes towards poverty and share ways you can talk about problems and solutions that have been proven to resonate even with people who don’t agree with you. A short writing/sharing exercise will help you think about how you can implement these in practice.

11.00 – 12.45, Tuesday 11 August: Speaking from your own experience

In this session you’ll share the issues and policy solutions you want to talk about. From this you’ll develop your own core narrative and translate this into key messages which you’ll use for any media work. You’ll also start to think about the kinds of media or communications work you might like to do.

 Week commencing 17 August at a time of your choosing: Individual two hour one-to-ones to discuss how you’d like to put what we’ve learned into practice.

11.00 – 12.45, Tuesday 1 September: Optional session on campaigning, lobbying and social media

The content of this optional session will be tailored to the interests of the group but can cover campaign organising, social media and/or lobbying politicians.

11.00 – 12.45, Tuesday 15 September: Putting it into practice

We’ll undertake practice interviews/draft articles/record video clips based on what group members have identified they’d like to do.

If you choose to undertake media engagements these will be arranged in September/October depending on your availability. We will also arrange a feedback session in mid-October to share our reflections on the course. If there is interest it may be possible to continue working together.

Image: Challenge Poverty with the Poverty Alliance, media & communications training.

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HOUSING - The Scottish Government are upbeat about delivering affordable homes. 

Commenting on the publication of the Housing statistics quarterly update: June 2020, Housing Minister Kevin Stewart said:

“I am proud that we have now delivered over 95,000 affordable homes since 2007 with more than 66,000 of these for social rent. We were on track to deliver our target of 50,000 affordable homes by the end of March 2021, but the impact of Covid-19 has caused a necessary pause to activity.

“We will continue to work with partners across the housing sector to deliver the remainder of these homes, as quickly as it is safe to do so and I look forward to construction resuming in a new safe way.”

ABC Note: Some good news from Scotland. Housing has slipped off the radar in the coronavirus news blitz. Let’s hope we here more positive news from England and Wales.

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DEBT - The SNP has called on the UK government to change the law to make debt letters supportive rather than threatening – after concerns were raised about the devastating impact they are having on people’s mental health during the coronavirus crisis.

Image: SNP MP Dr Lisa Cameron. 

SNP MP Dr Lisa Cameron has written a joint letter with Money and Mental Health, signed by cross-party MPs and peers, to the Treasury calling for regulations to be amended under the Consumer Credit Act to ensure debt collection letters are helpful. Under the current law, lenders are currently compelled to send these debt letters to customers even if they have been granted a payment holiday.
 
The letter highlights research by the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, that shows how risk of falling into debt as a result of rising unemployment, increased living costs and reduced household incomes are significant risk factors for suicide. Research shows that financial difficulty can be a significant risk factor for suicide, with people in problem debt three times more likely to have considered taking their own life.
 
The letter follows the call made by Money Saving Expert founder Martin Lewis - who chairs the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute - for the Tory government to do more to help people with mental health problems during the Coronavirus outbreak.
 
Dr Cameron, who is an Advisory Board Member for the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute and Clinical Psychologist by profession said:
 
“The Government needs to end intimidating debt letters now to save lives. I have signed a joint letter with a group of cross-party MPs and Peers, to raise concerns about the serious impact that intimidating debt collection letters have on peoples’ mental health and calling for a change in the law.
 
“The coronavirus crisis, lockdown and the hard-hitting impacts of a recession can be triggers to significant mental health problems. While the reasons that lead someone to contemplate suicide are often complex, one trigger that can leave someone feeling like there’s no way out is the intimidating and threatening debt letters they receive from lenders. We can change this now.”
 
“Changing the law to make debt collection letters more supportive can remove this cause of unnecessary distress and confusion for thousands of people — the Government can change this now, it would only require a few, straightforward changes to the Consumer Credit regulations, but these changes could save lives.”

Image: Debt worries can become a source of mental health issues.  

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UNEMPLOYMENT – The full effect of the Covid-19 pandemic has yet to be seen. The overall unemployment rate stayed at 3.9% in the three months to April. The big problem ahead is when employers must pay National Insurance and pension contributions, then 10% of pay from September, rising to 20% in October. Companies under financial pressure may start to make workers redundant.

Also, the current layoffs have yet to show in the figures.

For the three months ending April 2020, the highest employment rate estimate in the UK was in the South East (79.5%) and the lowest was in Northern Ireland (71.6%).

For the three months ending April 2020, the highest unemployment rate estimate in the UK was in the North East (5.2%) and the lowest was in Northern Ireland (2.3%); a joint record low unemployment rate.

For the three months ending April 2020, the highest economic inactivity rate estimate in the UK was in Northern Ireland (26.7%) and the lowest was in the South East (17.9%).

Between December 2019 and March 2020, the largest estimated increase in workforce jobs in the UK was in the East of England at 35,000, while the largest decrease was in the South East at 61,000.

In March 2020, the region with the highest estimated proportion of workforce jobs in the services sector was London at 91.8%, while the East Midlands had the highest proportion of jobs in the production sector at 13.2%.

The highest average estimated actual weekly hours worked, for the 12 months ending December 2019, was in London at 33.8 hours and the lowest was in the North East at 30.9 hours; for full-time and part-time workers, it was highest for both in Northern Ireland, at 38.4 hours and 17.0 hours respectively.

In Northern Ireland specifically

The March 2020 Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) was published online at 7:00am this morning. The key points are:

• The number of (seasonally adjusted) employee jobs in March 2020 was estimated at 783,500. This was an increase of 3,120 jobs (0.4%) over the quarter and 7,930 jobs (1.0%) over the year. Neither the quarterly nor the annual changes in employee jobs were found to be statistically significant.

• Manufacturing was the only broad industry sector to experience a decrease in employee jobs (seasonally adjusted) over the year of -1.4% (-1,220 jobs). This was the first annual decrease in manufacturing employee jobs since June 2013.

• The numbers of (seasonally adjusted) employee jobs in the services (636,790 jobs) and other (24,450 jobs) sectors reached the highest levels on record in March 2020.

• The two largest industry sections in the economy, wholesale and retail trade and human health and social work activities, accounted for a third of all employee jobs in March 2020.

• The annualised growth rate of total employee jobs has fallen every quarter between March 2018 (2.3%) and March 2020 (1.2%).

• Private sector jobs increased over the quarter (0.6% or 3,320 jobs) and increased over the year (1.0% or 5,540 jobs).

• Public sector jobs decreased over the quarter (-0.2% or -430 jobs) but increased over the year (1.1% or 2,350 jobs). There are now 17,080 fewer public sector jobs than the series peak in September 2009 (-7.5%).

• In the last five years, employee jobs have increased by 8.3% (60,060 jobs) and by 13.3% (92,220 jobs) from the low in March 2012.

ABC NOTE: According to Citizens Advice:

• Between 8-12 June the charity’s frontline advisers helped one person every two minutes with a redundancy issue in England and Wales
• Since lockdown, the number of people Citizens Advice has helped with redundancy issues has almost tripled compared to the same period last year
• The charity’s redundancy web pages have been viewed more than half a million times during lockdown
• On 12 June three of the top-five most-viewed advice pages were redundancy pages

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THE DWP - have produced a range of BSL videos on coronavirus and benefit changes. These include new content for Universal Credit and Statutory Sick Pay.

You can view these videos on the DWP YouTube Sign channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/dwpsign

THE DWP - have produced a range of BSL videos on coronavirus and benefit changes. These include new content for Universal Credit and Statutory Sick Pay.

ABC Note: British Sign Language is a sign language used in the United Kingdom, and is the first or preferred language of some deaf people in the UK. There are 125,000 deaf adults in the UK who use BSL, plus an estimated 20,000 children. 

If you want to learn how to sign watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMNHvXSW4iE

ABC Comment have your say below:

JOBSEEKING - With 2.3 million new claims to Universal Credit and many more people feeling uncertain about their futures, the DWP have launched two practical online support platforms through their new ‘Good Place to Start’ campaign.

jobhelp offers essential advice to those looking for work, on which sectors are recruiting now, how to make the best of transferable skills and how to secure a new role. employerhelp offers business advice on recruiting including the matching service Find a Job.

The DWP have produced a jobhelp stakeholder toolkit and an employerhelp stakeholder toolkit. You will find emails, newsletter content and social media posts you can use to share the message in your own channels.

jobhelp is here: https://jobhelp.campaign.gov.uk/

employerhelp: https://employerhelp.dwp.gov.uk

jobhelp stakeholder toolkit: https://jobhelp.campaign.gov.uk/stakeholder-toolkit/

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SHOPS OPEN MONDAY - Good news that shops are open Monday 15th June but worth mentioning that toilet facilities will not be open in many stores.

Do not get caught short!

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DALES STORY - The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has been highlighting the issues of poverty and homelessness.

Here Dale talks about his experience of family breakdown and being made homeless at 11.

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UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME – is to be trialled in Scotland. This is a very exciting development and it will be watched with great interest.

The SNP has welcomed the recommendation of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) pilot scheme in Scotland after the Citizens’ Basic Income Feasibility Study Steering Group released its final report.

The steering group - made up of Glasgow, Fife, Edinburgh and North Ayrshire local authorities and partners including Public Health Scotland - was established to explore the feasibility of conducting a basic income pilot scheme.

Its report published today concludes that, while a basic income pilot is desirable, it is not feasible within the current devolved settlement as necessary welfare and tax powers remain with the UK Government through the DWP and HMRC.

In welcoming the report, the SNP stressed that the Scottish Government does not alone hold the necessary powers to conduct such a pilot and called for the full cooperation of the Westminster Government.

Image: Shona Robison MSP.

Shona Robison MSP, convener of the SNP's Social Justice and Fairness Commission, said: "This report is hugely welcome, and we will comprehensively consider its findings in the Social Justice & Fairness Commission.

"As a Commission, we have been considering different models to deliver a secure income for all - one which eradicates poverty, provides an adequate safety net, and also values unpaid work such as caring and volunteering in the community.

"A universal income is an instinctively attractive option for delivering on these aims but there are also significant questions to consider going forward about how it could be delivered and at what level, which is why the pilot scheme with support of all levels of government would be very welcome."

Image: Inverclyde MP Ronnie Cowan.

Inverclyde MP Ronnie Cowan, a long-term supporter of UBI, said: “A pilot scheme is essential to inform discussions around UBI and the report lays out important steps towards piloting UBI in Scotland.

“Scotland is willing to lead the world in UBI research to provide citizens with an adequate level of financial security. However, a pilot scheme cannot happen without full co-operation and collaboration of the UK Government.

“Such a scheme would allow both governments to understand the benefits of a UBI and what it could do to tackle poverty and inequality.

“The Tory Government has systematically dismantled the safety net of social security over the past decade and while the damage has been obvious for years, the current pandemic has shown it even more starkly.

“The current levels of Government support is not enough for people to live on and many are being pushed into poverty and hardship because of Westminster policies.

“And don’t just take the SNP’s word for it, this is a view shared and continually highlighted by anti-poverty, children’s organisations and the UN Rapporteur.

“Even with a pilot, such a systematic change to the welfare state would take many years to introduce. But a UBI pilot would rigorously test if there is a new way to respond to tackling poverty that would support people out of poverty

“If the Westminster Government and its relevant departments refuse to fully engage with this process it will yet again demonstrate that policies for the betterment of Scotland can only be implemented through the full range of powers that come with Independence.”

Background

The Scottish Government committed £250,000 over 2018/19 and 2019/20 to fund four the local authorities to explore the feasibility of piloting a Citizens’ Basic Income, sometimes described as a ‘universal basic income’, in Scotland.

You can read the Citizens’ Basic Income Feasibility Study Steering Group’s final report online. 

You can read more about the Social Justice and Fairness Commission at https://www.socialjustice.scot/ 

Ronnie Cowan MP had the first ever debate at Westminster on UBI in 2016 -https://bit.ly/2NGo1uf. 

ABC Note: Who else has Universal Basic Income? Kenya, where a big experiment in universal basic income (UBI) is underway; Iran, which has a nationwide unconditional cash transfer program; and Alaska, which gives an annual dividend to everyone in the state. 

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