We need to retain and recruit healthcare staff. There are estimated to be well over a 100,000 vanccancies within the NHS. To put this into context, £6.2bn was spent on agency and bank staff last year to cover staff shortages and keep the NHS afloat! We are now dependent on bank or agency staff to help plug the gaps, mainly to fill nursing roles. Staff state that the quality of care is “compromised” and one in six said “patient safety was put at risk. NHS staff have been forced to work outside of their skill remit and contracted hours of work to meet the demands of a failing workforce. There have been initiatives to recruit overseas nurses to bridge these gaps however this is not feasible due to the travel restriction at this time. In order to recruit and retain staff the NHS needs to be a safe working environment that puts patient safety and the health and wellbeing of its staff first. It is astonishing that NHS professionals cannot afford to live and are using food banks or exhausting themselves with second jobs to make ends meet. NHS staff need to be paid in line with other healthcares workers and pay inequality needs to be addressed by the NHS Pay Review Body (NHSPRB). This petition is very important, the only report covering pay satisfaction was conducted in England and from the data collected it is clear that only a small proportion of staff were satisfied with pay the they received on AFC. The evidence states that staff satisfaction increased from 29% in 2017, before the pay agreement, to 36% in 2019. Therefore every signature counts towards evidence. Please sign this petition.

Over 75% of the UK National Trust members voted against hunting last year at the AGM...I am one of them.

The 60+ Oyster Card and Freedom Pass are currently under threat. Peak time travel with these concessionary passes has been suspended for some months but the Mayor has now been told to remove the passes altogether. Given the prohibitive price of travel in London, such an action would be catastrophic for older Londoners, many of whom are already struggling to make ends meet, and may lead to widespread social isolation and depression.

Jo Gideon, Conservative MP for Stoke on Trent Central, voted against the motion to provide meals for the children of poor/vulnerable families during the Christmas holidays. As a Trustee of the Charity, she should be supporting every single endeavour to provide food for those who need it; that’s what Feeding Britain is all about. Her action is extremely hypocritical and her position as a Trustee is incongruous.

MPs have voted against extending free school meals into the holidays for the poorest children in the UK, in the middle of a pandemic. They should under no circumstances benefit from free or subsidised meals out of public funds themselves. If the public purse cannot afford to feed the poorest in our society, why are we feeding those least in need? Already well paid public servants, set to receive yet another generous pay increase, whilst millions face hardship, job losses and poverty, do not need the public to pay for their food and drink. Public funds should be spent on those most in need of them. Read more about what expenses MPs can claim for food here: https://fullfact.org/online/mps-free-housing-alcohol/ UPDATE 23/10/2020: Portia Lawrie, who started the petition, said: "I only started this petition yesterday because I was so angry that some MPs had rejected the chance in parliament, and Marcus Rashford's campaign, to extend free school meals into the school holiday. I wanted to point out the clear hypocrisy between that and the food and drink the public subsidise for MP's whilst denying support to those most in need of it." "I couldn't quite believe what I was watching unfold as hundreds of thousands of people threw their support behind it in less than 24 hours. It’s simply unfair that the government is refusing to use OUR money for one of the most basic responsibilities of a compassionate society - feeding hungry children. And the level of support this petition is getting shows clearly the level of hurt caused by those who voted against it." "Many MPs are pushing for free school meals to be extended into the school holidays, and I applaud them. But It’s time for the government to listen to them, and us, and make sure children across the UK do not go hungry any longer. Enough is enough."

The Covid-19 pandemic has unleashed chaos on all our lives, however, it's hit our elderly the hardest. The very people who were asked to shield away from loved ones for months and were warned they were most susceptible to the deadly virus, are now facing a lengthy wait for this vital protection. This mess must be fixed. Hundreds of readers have got in touch with the Glasgow Times as the threat of winter flu season looms. Many of the people we’ve spoken to feel the NHS boards simply don’t care about their health because of their age. This is a national scandal and it must stop. Please sign our petition to help us give our OAPS a shot.

On 5th October, National Museums Liverpool issued a press release announcing that they were considering redundancies across its organisation due to the Covid pandemic. They explained that they would allow employees within the charity arm of the organisation to apply for voluntary redundancy as an initial stage, but compulsory redundancies might take place later, but not before March 2021. What was not disclosed is that within the commercial arm of the museums (National Museums Liverpool Trading), a process started to make staff compulsory redundant by the first week of November, giving just 4 weeks notice to employees working in cafés, shops and events. This is a kick in the teeth for those staff who returned to work back in July and were deemed as ‘essential workers for the reopening of the museum’. Staff who are risking their health and possibly their lives to keep the museums and galleries open during a global pandemic are being rewarded with every chance of losing their jobs with very little notice. The Trading Company does not recognise Trade Unions and despite making more than 20 employees redundant, has refused to engage with a collective consultation. This is unacceptable and morally wrong. In a time when jobs are more scarce than ever, when people on low wages are getting paid less but their bills and rent/mortgages are the same, when there is a backlog of benefit claims as more and more people are laid off, NMLT has chosen to give its staff only 4 weeks to arrange new jobs or other forms of income. Many of the staff will receive little to no redundancy compensation. Staff are also expected to re-apply for their jobs but with less contracted hours and less jobs available.

I had residents complaining to me about unmanaged fireworks affecting our UK elderly, sickly, people working shifts, and our pets, once again last night. The bins in Liden Lagoon were destroyed last night. The damage of public items and anti-social behaviour that happens when people get together to set off loud firework explosions in the night is unacceptable to residents. I have notified Swindon Nythe, Eldene and Liden NEL Parish & Police have been advised to act. I have asked Swindon Borough Council to issue letters to perpetrators for no exploding of loud fireworks close to residential housing for Liden, Eldene, Nythe, Park South & Swindon wide. Please report the noise nuisance & Anti-Social behavior to your local police, councils, and governments.

Shropshire County Council has given money that was intended to help businesses struggling because of COVID...to fox hunting groups. While shops on our high streets close their doors, aid that's meant to help them weather the Covid-19 crisis has gone to fund cruel bloodsports instead. Animal welfare groups and some MPs are already kicking up a fuss. Now what's needed is a massive outcry from the public - to show we don't want public funds going to groups that are propping up this cruel practice. Will you sign the petition now?

Since the early part of this year, Sinfin Health Centre has been closed for face-to-face consultations with patients. This has meant that we have had to travel to the Heatherton Village branch of the practice. Without a car this means four bus journeys or a taxi fare of £8 to £9 each way. The doctors and other staff are much appreciated by many of us and we do understand the effect that Covid 19 has had on our NHS. However, we feel it to be unfair for one patient group to have to struggle in this way, especially as Sinfin is home to many elderly people and young families on lower incomes. We therefore ask our doctors to consider the impact of their decision and to reopen Sinfin Health Centre now.

In just under a month the suspension on the Minimum Income Floor (MIF) for Universal Credit payments will end. [1] This may seem like an insignificant fact but the suspension of the MIF has been the only lifeline for self-employed people like myself and 3 million others who fell through the gaps in the various coronavirus employment support packages [2]. What the reintroduction of MIF means is that any individual who earns less than £1,322 (after expenses) per calendar month will be considered unemployed even if they submit a tax return. They will be expected to be looking for work for 35 hours a week and to take any job that is offered even if it might clash with their pre-existing self-employment [3]. Their existing profession will not be considered viable. My sector has been on standby on the instruction of the government in the interests of public health. My business is only temporarily interrupted because of the closures of venues which will eventually reopen, and yet I have not received a penny in Covid-related support from either furlough or the SEISS. Like many others like me, I have managed to survive on Universal Credit and/or through the generosity of friends. With the reintroduction of the Minimum Income Floor, not only will I be forced to close my business, I will also not be able to afford to retrain in anything that I have the potential to succeed at. This will force self-employed artists like myself into precarious unskilled jobs, if available, and poverty. Productivity will drop and recovery of the arts sector post-pandemic will be delayed by a generation. It’s also a real slap in the face to artists who already make huge financial and personal sacrifices to be able to create joy and escapism for other people. The arts are viable, and we’re important. For the last 8 month, we’ve been largely ignored by the government despite their assertions that they won't "leave anyone behind" [4]. The removal of the MIF will be the last straw. __________________________ References: [1] The Social Security (Coronavirus) Regulations | "Section 2 deals with MIF suspension. Section 10 deals with the expiry of this legisaltion which says "(2) Regulations 2, 6, 7, 8 and 9 cease to have effect at the end of the period of eight months beginning on 13th March 2020." | https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/371/made?fbclid=IwAR1aIcgQ62JmRfKr98sKkQDlqJV_mO1En8rLb281xz_KGEHRJsPVuP3Fy7Y [2] Calculation for the 3 million taxpayers excluded from UK Government Covid-19 financial support | ExcludedUK | "Self-employed excluded: 1.6 million, CJRS excluded – ltd company directors: 710,000, CJRS excluded – other employees: 790,000" | https://www.excludeduk.org/three-million-breakdown [3] Universal Credit: Your Responsibilities | https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit/your-responsibilities [4] "You have not been forgotten. We will not leave you behind. We are all in this together." | Rishi Sunak (Chancellor of the Exchequer) | https://twitter.com/RishiSunak/status/1243235450908803072

Redirect this budget to families, food, heat, warmth and keeping businesses open for people to earn.