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As the Chief Executive said in his video to staff last week, we really appreciate the goodwill, hard work and resilience of the whole team in responding to the unprecedented challenges we are dealing with. The response of our staff has been fantastic.
For your information, the staff briefing below is to provide you with an overview of some of the excellent work that has been ongoing throughout this time:
 Workforce
Work continues to deliver services right across the region. Staff are continuing to come to work to make sure this happens. Over 250 of our staff have now been redeployed from their day to day role to help delivery critical service areas across the council. We want to thank staff who have wanted to be redeployed and have risen to the challenge of learning new skills at this tough time.
925 of our staff are currently working from home. Despite some early connection issues, BTS have improved access to the network for those working from home.
HR issued a briefing to all staff last week (2 April 2020) with information on a number of topic areas including absence from work, adjustments to normal working conditions, pay, conditions and contractual obligations and working from home.
Our HR colleagues are continuing to liaise with the Trade Unions throughout this period. To date, they have been fully supportive of working with the Council to ensure we have enough staff to work in essential areas to deliver our services.
Support for Businesses
The Economic Recovery cell is a combination of staff from Economic Development, Finance, Wellbeing and Revenues, Business Gateway, Environmental Health and Trading Standards. These teams are focussing on distributing immediate Government financial support for businesses, and the current economic emergency and aftermath caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which will require an Economic Recovery Plan to be developed.
We were one of the first councils to distribute this funding to local businesses. We were aware of how essential the money would be to local businesses who would depend on it at this difficult time, so we did our best to make sure they received it.
The teams set up a designated helpline within the first couple of days of businesses being forced to close and encouraged people to get in touch so that grants could be allocated as soon as possible to those affected by business closures.
In the first week of setting up this cell they had received 1,314 applications and almost £3/4 million pounds been paid out through £10k and £25k grants, depending on eligibility. The commitment and hard work of the staff involved in processing applications and providing Helpline support to businesses has been tremendous.
The team are also looking at ways to support businesses and enterprises who do not meet the current criteria to make sure that as many businesses as possible weather the storm and make it through the crisis. This work is being taken forward in partnership with the new South of Scotland Enterprise agency and Scottish Borders Council.
 Shielding
We are working in partnership with a wide range of agencies to provide a safety net system for people with underlying health conditions which mean they are a high risk for contracting COVID-19. The aim is to deliver essential life-line services to those residents without alternative means of support that provide a shield from social contact in order to protect the NHS and save lives.
A Shielding team has been established within social work services and are contacting individuals who are clinically at highest risk of severe illness if they contract Covid-19 and may have limited access to support. The team assess what help and social assistance an individual might need to support them (shielding) to remain at home for a 12-week period of social isolation.
Arrangements are well advanced to be able to offer as much support as possible with the help of a range of partner organisations and volunteers. This will include ensuring that people have regular access to food, supplies and medication as well as someone to talk to and assist with the impact of loneliness and feelings of isolation throughout this planned period.
The work of the Shielding time is essential at this time. For more information on shielding, visit the council website: www.dumgal.gov.uk/shielding
Financial Update
The team in Finance have been working to make sure payments (internally/externally) continue to be processed at this time:
Our Council has been providing information for customers who may be struggling financially at this time. Details for customers on how to claim for financial support during Covid has been added to the crisis grants pages on the website. Also, information for those struggling to pay their council tax at this time has also been added. The financial wellbeing team are continuing to field an increasing number of calls from the public but have realigned staffing resource to meet this demand.
Payment to suppliers/individuals are progressing with a handful of key staff in the office to run key processes. Payment of Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF) and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLGF) continue. Correspondence was added to the Council website and communicated on Social Media regarding how suppliers can submit invoices to ensure payment is made promptly.
Work continues to progress in relation to the April 15 payroll. Contact has been made with all services who normally submit timesheets etc, to ensure that that processes are in place to get hours authorised and everything is submitted.
 Waste
Collecting household waste is one of the activities that we are committed to continuing right across the region.
Our front-line waste staff have been collecting the same amount of waste as they did prior to COVID-19, whilst having a 40% reduction in regular waste collection staff due to the pandemic. To assist, staff have been redeployed to the waste team from other teams to support waste services.
Following government advice in relation to social distancing and stopping all but essential travel, the Council has taken the decision to close all the Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) in Dumfries and Galloway until further notice, so some of our staff from these facilities are now supporting waste collection also. As Customer Services facilities have closed not all customers were able to collect their purple bags, so the team are also using additional staff to help deliver the bags to homes across the region.
Our waste teams will be out collecting waste as normal on Good Friday (10 April 2020) and Easter Monday (13 April 2020).
Delivering food packages
One of the big challenges our council has faced is making sure we continue to deliver free school meals to young people who are entitled to them. Our team in logistics and transport have been working away on making sure that food packages have been supplied to those who need them. Over the past week, they have gathered the details of those requiring food packages
Following the release of the registration form early last week, numbers have continued to increase for the delivery of food packages. The packages are being prepared with either 3 (Tuesday – Thursday) or 4 (Friday – Monday) days’ worth of meals. The teams are putting the packages together at 5 different locations across the region. All food packages will either be delivered to the individual’s home or to their chosen collection point. They will receive their food packages twice a week – on a Tuesday and on a Friday.
In addition, Social Work have also identified several vulnerable individuals across the region who the team have also delivered food packages to.
Further information can be found on the council’s website: www.dumgal.gov.uk/cv19schoolmeals
Education
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