Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 26 January 2021 be confirmed.

Councillor Jane Loffhagen declared a Personal Interest with regard to the agenda item titled 'Kate Edgar - Development Plus'.

Reason: She was on the board of Development Plus.

1)    To understand the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on businesses, identifying support already provided, whether there are any gaps and how the City Council can provide additional support.

2)    To understand the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on individuals from the perspective of jobs and employment and whether the City Council can provide additional support.

Councillor Jane Loffhagen, Chair of the Community Leadership Scrutiny Committee, opened the meeting and provided the Committee with a brief introduction of the topic for review which was the impact on businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic.

She explained that the purpose of the review was to understand the impact of

the Covid-19 pandemic and how it had affected businesses, whilst also identifying support already being provided and whether there were any gaps of which the City of Lincoln Council could provide further support. Not only would the review look at businesses, it would also look at how the pandemic had affected individuals from the perspective of jobs and employment.

The Chair advised that Kate Ellis had been unable to attend the meeting due to illness and advised that this item would be deferred. She suggested that an informal briefing be held with members and officers to discuss the evidence gathered and to draw out recommendations to put forward to Council.

Councillor Loffhagen welcomed Graham Metcalfe, Department  for Work and Pensions, who had been invited to provide information on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on employment.

Mr Metcalfe provided an overview of the statistics in relation to the employment rate in Lincoln over the last year and the support that had been put in place to help those that had been affected. The following points were noted:

·         People on Universal Credit - The data showed the total number of people claiming Universal Credit, irrespective of regime.

o   In December 2019 there were 8852 people on Universal Credit compared to December 2020 there were 17,973 people on Universal Credit. This showed a 103.04% uplift in the figures for the year. The main increase was at the start of the pandemic from mid to late March in 2020 and there had been a gradual increase from September onwards. The figures showed that the increase in Lincoln was lower than the national average.

·         People on Universal Credit by age:

o   Age 16-24 – In December 2019 there were 1685 people on Universal Credit compared to 3491 on Universal Credit. This showed an uplift in figures of 107.18% for the year.

o   Age 25-49 - In December 2019 there were 5555 people on Universal Credit compared to 11136 on Universal Credit. This showed an uplift in figures of 100.47% for the year.

o   Age 50+ - In December 2019 there were 1605 people on Universal Credit compared to 3346 on Universal Credit. This showed an uplift in figures of 108.47% for the year.

·         Youth Unemployment – The claimant count was for people aged 18-24 and combined the total of those claiming Jobseekers Allowance and those in receipt of Universal Credit who were required to seek work.

o   In December 2019 there were 760 claimants compared to 1430 claimants in December 2020. This showed an increase of 88.16% for the Claimant Count at the Lincoln Orchard Street Job Centre.

o   For the Local Authority area Lincoln showed an increase of 78.43%.

·         Support mechanisms that had been put in place since the start of the pandemic:

Jobs and Careers Fair

o   An online jobs and careers fair had been arranged in partnership with the Local Enterprise Partnership

o   This was held via zoom and the fair held on the 25^th January had 800 attendees from across Lincolnshire.

o   A generic fair was held initially and it was followed up with a Care focussed fair as there were a lot of opportunities available in the care sector.

o   The jobs fairs were held monthly and provided an opportunity for both employers and potential employees to connect. The airs were for anyone that was considering a career change.

Redundancy Toolkit

o   Jobcentre Plus provided a Rapid Response service to advise employers and employees in redundancy situations.

o   The employer help websites offered a range of advice to help businesses overcome challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

o   Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce HR Support Forum provided support to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

Members commented that they had not received a copy of the report that was circulated to them prior to the meeting and suggested that this item be deferred to provide an opportunity for them to read the detailed report.

Kate Edgar, Development Plus advised that the report that had been circulated provided detail from 2019 which would be useful to compare to the recent position. She confirmed that she would be happy to attend a future meeting to give her presentation.

The committee briefly discussed the funding position of the charity and noted the following:

·         There was a massive funding issue for charities that were not running specifically for Covid-19 support.

·         The support that was provided by Development plus was participant led which made it more difficult to apply for funding as the criteria did not meet the ‘tick box funding’

·         Furlough had not been an option for Development Plus as they provided support for people that fall through the gap with other support and we decided to carry on the best that we could.

RESOLVED that that Kate Edgar, Development Plus be invited to attend a future meeting of Community Leadership Scrutiny Committee to give her presentation.