We are grateful to Rebecca Dickson, Development Officer at the Community One Stop Shop for our second guest blog.
At the Community One Stop Shop, we operate a food bank, and an employability and advice service located in Broomhouse, serving the South West of Edinburgh. Our advisers provide support with welfare benefits, housing, debt and other money matters; and our employability worker assists individuals to secure training, education and employment.
In more ordinary times, we were able to offer the full range of our services, in-person. This includes the provision of our popular holiday support programme for families and our Calders Outreach Project, held at a Community Flat in the Calders residential area of Edinburgh.
Since March 2020, we have made various changes to ensure the safest possible environment for staff, volunteers and clients: Our advisers are now working from home, providing advice entirely through telephone appointments; We no longer invite clients into our office, as food parcels are now safely provided with the support of a dividing screen at the front of our office; and our employability service has been scaled back to reflect reduced need to access employment support.
In working together with new and existing partners, we have adapted our services to get food to those who need it while also keeping each other safe. Our volunteer drivers have been carrying out deliveries to those who are self-isolating, we are producing snack and soup packs for children and families over the school holidays, and we are in a position to provide additional support to individuals and families who have been referred to us by either the local high school, or our partners, including Big Hearts and The Broomhouse Hub.
With regards to our advice provision, we have had some changes to the enquiries we receive, but also some issues continue as before: One change is that we have had an increase in enquiries where domestic abuse has either been the main issue or a contributing factor. As before the lockdown, we continue to support clients who find the telephone and internet-based administration of their benefits difficult or overwhelming.
A clear change as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic is that food insecurity in our community has increased. In the months prior to March 2020, we would distribute on average 260 emergency food parcels each month, feeding around 453 people. Since lockdown measures were put in place, we have seen the need for emergency food support soar with 430 food parcels given out to feed 1074 individuals in May alone.
We are hearing a variety of reasons from clients to explain the increase in food insecurity: for those in work, some do not qualify for support under the available government schemes and others have lost their jobs or reduced their hours as businesses have been impacted. However, it is those who remain employed but still require food bank support that illustrates a key issue for many of our clients: their wages are not sufficient to maintain their or their families’ needs. For those workers who were previously secure and who qualify for 80% of their wages under the Government scheme, a 20% reduction may indeed be enough to push them into food insecurity. As a Living Wage Employer, we advocate the need to ensure employees are paid responsibly for the work done.
A large portion of our advice and food bank client base is unemployed due to ill-health or disability and caring responsibilities. For those individuals, and indeed for much of society, it is important to note the impacts of the Pandemic on mental health. Where many of us have struggled with not seeing friends and family, having our movements restricted, and coming up with innovate ways to occupy our time, those who live with a disability, ill health or are carers will feel even further isolated and restricted due to barriers already existing in their lives.
It was well highlighted in The Poverty Commission’s interim report that there has been a “shared emotional response” to the effects of the Pandemic. We have been frontline participants and spectators to the positive and practical elements of this response: from the influx of monetary and food donations from companies and individuals, to the increase in joint-working between third sector and public partners, to individuals looking out for vulnerable neighbours in our community, so many have taken part and done their bit towards supporting each other.
It is now for us, and others in the third and public sectors to make plans going forward to ensure we continue to support those who are most in need as Scotland begins to wind down the lockdown measures. We have met the recent challenges with innovation, hard work and the kindness of others. We will continue to do so, so long as we look out for each other, and continue to have support from local, city-wide and national partners.
At the Community One Stop Shop, we operate a food bank, and an employability and advice service located in Broomhouse, serving the South West of Edinburgh. Our advisers provide support with welfare benefits, housing, debt and other money matters; and our employability worker assists individuals to secure training, education and employment.
In more ordinary times, we were able to offer the full range of our services, in-person. This includes the provision of our popular holiday support programme for families and our Calders Outreach Project, held at a Community Flat in the Calders residential area of Edinburgh.
Since March 2020, we have made various changes to ensure the safest possible environment for staff, volunteers and clients: Our advisers are now working from home, providing advice entirely through telephone appointments; We no longer invite clients into our office, as food parcels are now safely provided with the support of a dividing screen at the front of our office; and our employability service has been scaled back to reflect reduced need to access employment support.
In working together with new and existing partners, we have adapted our services to get food to those who need it while also keeping each other safe. Our volunteer drivers have been carrying out deliveries to those who are self-isolating, we are producing snack and soup packs for children and families over the school holidays, and we are in a position to provide additional support to individuals and families who have been referred to us by either the local high school, or our partners, including Big Hearts and The Broomhouse Hub.
With regards to our advice provision, we have had some changes to the enquiries we receive, but also some issues continue as before: One change is that we have had an increase in enquiries where domestic abuse has either been the main issue or a contributing factor. As before the lockdown, we continue to support clients who find the telephone and internet-based administration of their benefits difficult or overwhelming.
A clear change as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic is that food insecurity in our community has increased. In the months prior to March 2020, we would distribute on average 260 emergency food parcels each month, feeding around 453 people. Since lockdown measures were put in place, we have seen the need for emergency food support soar with 430 food parcels given out to feed 1074 individuals in May alone.
We are hearing a variety of reasons from clients to explain the increase in food insecurity: for those in work, some do not qualify for support under the available government schemes and others have lost their jobs or reduced their hours as businesses have been impacted. However, it is those who remain employed but still require food bank support that illustrates a key issue for many of our clients: their wages are not sufficient to maintain their or their families’ needs. For those workers who were previously secure and who qualify for 80% of their wages under the Government scheme, a 20% reduction may indeed be enough to push them into food insecurity. As a Living Wage Employer, we advocate the need to ensure employees are paid responsibly for the work done.
A large portion of our advice and food bank client base is unemployed due to ill-health or disability and caring responsibilities. For those individuals, and indeed for much of society, it is important to note the impacts of the Pandemic on mental health. Where many of us have struggled with not seeing friends and family, having our movements restricted, and coming up with innovate ways to occupy our time, those who live with a disability, ill health or are carers will feel even further isolated and restricted due to barriers already existing in their lives.
It was well highlighted in The Poverty Commission’s interim report that there has been a “shared emotional response” to the effects of the Pandemic. We have been frontline participants and spectators to the positive and practical elements of this response: from the influx of monetary and food donations from companies and individuals, to the increase in joint-working between third sector and public partners, to individuals looking out for vulnerable neighbours in our community, so many have taken part and done their bit towards supporting each other.
It is now for us, and others in the third and public sectors to make plans going forward to ensure we continue to support those who are most in need as Scotland begins to wind down the lockdown measures. We have met the recent challenges with innovation, hard work and the kindness of others. We will continue to do so, so long as we look out for each other, and continue to have support from local, city-wide and national partners.
Great article.