19/11/2015 – Eighteen months into the Scottish Living Wage Accreditation Initiative, employers across Scotland are reporting the business benefits of paying the Living Wage, including dramatic improvements in staff retention and absence rates, and increased productivity.
25/11/2015 – Anti- poverty campaigners have welcomed the UK Government’s decision not to implement the proposed changes to the threshold and taper for tax credits. However, there remains concern that there is still £12bn of cuts being made to the welfare budget and it is unclear how these will actually be made.
26/11/2015 – The European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN) Ireland today called on all parties standing in the next election to commit to awell-funded programme to end povertyin their manifestos.
EAPN Portugal, as a promoter of a National Working Group on Child Poverty, organised within that working group a Conference on the topic “A look at the welfare of children and youth under the perspective of the Children’s Rights” . This event was associated with the celebration of 10 December – The International Human Rights Day – and was an opportunity to reflect on that day, through the contributions of the various speakers on the Rights of the Child.
14/11/2015 – The Platform of the Third Sector, of which EAPN Spain is a member, condemns in the firmest way the recent terrorist attacks and use of violence in Paris against the civilian population and expresses its solidarity with the victims, their relatives and the French people.
29/10/2015 – whereas Senators just voted on a new version of the draft legislation on health, civil-society organisations stress the need to take into account the importance of access to healthcare for all. This reform is a key opportunity to finally tackle health inequalities. They call on MPs to amend the text accordingly.
06/11/2015 – The Mussel & Steak Bar based in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket has become Scotland’s first Living Wage accredited restaurant. The family run restaurant specializes in surf and turf, and currently employs 24 staff. By becoming an accredited Living Wage employer, the Mussel & Steak Bar has committed to paying their staff £8.25 per hour – the new rate announced on Monday 2 November.
EAPN members are contributing to the the EU Alliance’s efforts to gather signatures of the Written Declaration on Investing in Children from at least half of the Members of the European Parliament (i.e. 376 members) by the 7th December 2015 and to raise public awareness about the campaign. To name a few: in the context of the Cypriot Children’s Week 2015, EAPN Cyprus is organizing an event on 21st November (in co-organisation with the PCCPWC, Pancyprian Coordinating Committee for the Protection and Welfare of Children) when which 6 MEPs from Cyprus will be invited to sign the Declaration; EAPN Estonia, Germany, Portugal, Malta and Netherlands also sent requests for signatures to the MEPs of their countries and/or are raising the visibility of the campaign through their communication channels.
Living Wage Week 2015 will be begin this coming Monday 02/11 with the announcement of the new Living Wage rate. The week is a UK-wide celebration of the Living Wage and of those employers paying the Living Wage. It is coordinated by the Living Wage Foundation across the UK and by the Poverty Alliance in Scotland.
22/10/2015 – The Poverty Alliance will celebrate the close of Challenge Poverty Week 2015 by hosting the 6th Scottish Assembly for Tackling Poverty at the Royal Concert Halls in Glasgow on Friday. The Scottish Assembly for Tackling Poverty has been organised by the Poverty Alliance since 2010. Over this time the Assemblies have brought together hundreds of people with direct experience of poverty, activists, representatives of community and voluntary organsiations, trade unions, faith groups, researchers, policy makers and politicians. The events have become a become a key forum for discussion around the problems of poverty in Scotland and how they could be more effectively addressed.