Coronavirus (COVID-19): letter to the retail sector
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Letter from the Minister for Small Business, Consumers & Labour Markets, Paul Scully, to those working in retail.
Charity Commission agrees terms for independent review of Professional Footballers’ Association Charity’s management and governance
News story
The review will examine the charity’s governance, management and finances
The Charity Commission has agreed the terms of an independent review of the governance, management and finances of the Professional Footballers’ Association Charity.
A statutory inquiry, launched by the Charity Commission in December 2019 into the charity’s management and governance, remains underway.
The trustees proposed appointing an independent reviewer, and the Commission has worked with them to expand the scope of the issues to be considered. The reviewer will work closely with the Commission’s statutory inquiry and will inform the regulator of any information that may be relevant to the ongoing inquiry.
The independent review will be carried out by a specialist charity lawyer and will make recommendations to the trustees on relevant matters, including future arrangements for the charity.
The Commission will publish a report setting out its own findings on conclusion of the inquiry. Reports of previous inquiries are available on GOV.UK.
The scope of the Commission’s inquiry into the PFA charity can be viewed on the Commission’s website.
Published 15 June 2020
Life cover for frontline health workers
News story
GAD was involved in the analysis and planning of the new life assurance scheme for frontline NHS staff and social care workers in England.
The Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) was involved in the analysis, planning and discussions of the new life assurance scheme for frontline NHS staff and social care workers in England.
The Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock made the announcement at the daily press briefing at the end of April. The scheme will provide a £60,000 payment to families of eligible workers who die from coronavirus in the course of their essential frontline work. GAD played a role in supporting the introduction of this scheme.
Cross-government working
We worked closely with the Department of Health and Social Care to support discussions across government to consider possible approaches and costings.
Bereaved family members will receive a £60,000 lump sum worth roughly twice the average pensionable pay for NHS staff, with the cost met by the government. This will cover full, part-time or locum NHS and public health workers, including GPs, dentists, retired staff and second and final year students taking up paid frontline roles. The scheme is now live on the website of the NHS Business Services Authority.
GAD’s calculations
GAD actuary Garry Swann was involved with the discussions and said: “We provided some initial advice to assist with the formulation of the policy.
“We then carried out more detailed analysis to illustrate various potential costs across a range of health workers, including those not currently in the workforce, for example returning from recent retirement.”
As part of these calculations, GAD also carried out calculations to demonstrate the potential sensitivity of these costs as well as the impact of varying assumptions, such as the size of the workforce.
Published 15 June 2020
Funding for Dorset communities
The money has been granted to Dorset Council to support the community near to the Winfrith site during the coronavirus pandemic.
The council plans to invest the money into three foodbanks in the area, providing personal protective equipment for volunteers and the provision of arts and craft resources to help with schoolwork and other activities for vulnerable youngsters.
The funding forms part of the 12 grants, worth £300,000 in total, Magnox has made available to local authorities or charities where a Magnox site is located.
Gwen Parry-Jones, Magnox Chief Executive, said:
Many community groups are carrying out positive work, supporting the most vulnerable in their areas. This work is vital, and a key part of Magnox’s response to COVID-19 is to help other organisations deal with the pandemic wherever we can.
In this time of national crisis, Magnox has agreed with the NDA that we should make available up to £25,000 at each site from the Magnox Socio-economic Scheme for use by local community groups on COVID-19 related activities. Magnox is committed to assisting the communities surrounding our sites, as our communities have supported us for over 50 years, and we hope this funding will go some way to supporting the essential work being delivered.
Councillor Laura Miller, Dorset Council’s portfolio holder for Adult Social Care and Health, added: “On behalf of everyone at Dorset Council, I would like to whole-heartedly thank Magnox for their generous donation.
“We have arrangements in place across the council area to ensure emergency community food provision is available – free of charge – for those who need it.
“This significant Magnox donation will go some way in ensuring that we have sufficient foodbank stock ready as we continue to keep our volunteers, foodbank and community hub staff safe as they provide a lifeline service to some of the most vulnerable residents in our communities.
“I have seen first-hand the work carried out by the foodbank, their volunteers and our community voluntary sector over the last few weeks who are doing such a fantastic job in very challenging circumstances and I can’t praise them highly enough.”
Furloughed workers help the government tackle coronavirus
- Volunteers took on a variety of roles including analytical and digital projects
- Government benefited from volunteers’ knowledge and volunteers gained valuable experience
More than 100 people who have been furloughed from their normal day jobs because of coronavirus have been able to volunteer to help the government tackle the crisis.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the government launched the Industry Partnering Voluntary Scheme to utilise the skills of people who could no longer do their normal jobs.
The project has seen more than 100 people matched to short-term voluntary roles in government, ranging from analytical and digital projects to work focused on the frontline response to the virus.
The government’s Chief People Officer, Rupert McNeil, said:
I am pleased to see so many people get involved in this important scheme which supports the national effort in maintaining public services during the Covid-19 crisis.
I thank everyone who has been involved from the businesses, government departments, Civil Service HR colleagues, and particularly the volunteers themselves, who are applying their transferable skills for the greater public good.
As part of the project, volunteers received all the training necessary to work in central government and went through all the necessary security checks.
The volunteers worked with a wide range of departments and public sector organisations, giving them the experience of working within government and giving the government the benefit of their skills and business knowledge.
Companies whose employees took part in the project include: Harvey Nichols, British Airways, Wincanton, Eastern Airways, Easyjet, DFS, Gobeyond Partners, Hays, Heathrow Airport, Marstons, Moto, PA Consulting, Superdrug, TUI, the British Council, The Football Association and David Lloyd Leisure.
All of the volunteers gave as many hours as they were able to and continued to be paid their agreed salary or furlough rate from their usual employer.