Brothers scaling ‘mountains’ by using stairs
TWO brothers are seeking to scale the height of Ben Nevis and Mount Everest – by walking up and down their stairs.
Ben and Sam Turpie, from Cardrona, near Peebles, in the Borders, are scaling the equivalent of 4,411ft high Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest mountain, and 29,029ft Everest, the world’s highest peak, for charity.
The siblings, both Scouts, will carry out their mammoth efforts by climbing up and down their house stairs over 60 gruelling days.
Ben, 11, and 14-year-old Sam, an Explorer Scout, worked out the height of the mountains and the height of their stairs and created their own charts to record their progress over two months.
Ben worked this out at roughly 10 flights of stairs a day, while Sam has to complete a daily set of 60.
Face-to-face Scouting ceased in the middle of March, but the movement is continuing through virtual meetings, online challenges, and The Great Indoors initiative.
Despite the restrictions imposed by the UK Government, the Turpie brothers are determined to show their scouting spirit.
They are raising funds for local charity The Food Foundation, which is run by volunteers and is delivering free meals to elderly and vulnerable people who are self-isolating during the lockdown.
THERE are “heartbreaking” cases of employees being made redundant after being denied help from the Government’s job retention scheme, Citizens Advice has said.
The charity fears the Government’s action to protect workers during the pandemic could be undermined by confusion and “patchy use” of the scheme by some employers.
Advisers are seeing daily cases of people who are at risk of slipping through the safety net despite potentially being entitled to support.
Research by the charity shows around six million people in the UK have had their hours cut, been laid off or made redundant.
Almost four out of 10 have lost household income because of the crisis, with nearly one in 12 losing 80 per cent of household income.
Demand for the charity’s redundancy advice has doubled, with its web page titled “What to do if your employer has told you not to work” being the most-read page this month, with more than 175,000 views.
Dame Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: “The Government has unveiled a remarkable package of support to help people keep their heads above water during this crisis.
“It must now ensure employers are using this to protect their workers, as well as opening it up to cover even more people.
“We’re already starting to see heartbreaking cases where employees have been denied help from the scheme and have instead been made redundant.
“While it’s not clear how much of this is due to confusion, cash flow fears, or the need to downsize, we think the Government needs a clear plan to protect people if the support is not filtering through.”
Earlier this month, the Government offered to help pay wages to try to stop people losing their jobs due to the pandemic.
The Coronavirus Job Retention scheme gives people 80% of their usual earnings, meaning they can be furloughed rather than laid off from their place of work.
Citizens Advice highlighted the case of a father-of-four called Mark who returned to work as an HGV driver in February, after spending eight months caring for his daughter, who is undergoing treatment for a rare cancer.
In March, the family were told they needed to self-isolate as his daughter is one of the 1.5 million who must be shielded.
Mark was made redundant the next day as he could not return to work. He said: “I spoke to my manager and explained that if someone in my home caught coronavirus and passed it on to my daughter the chances are she would die. They said that as a driver I would not be in contact with many people and could I not just self-isolate in my cabin. I said that wouldn’t be possible.
“My family and their wellbeing comes first, so I have to accept I no longer have a job.
“It’s just really insensitive and feels wrong that they can let me go for following the Government guidelines to shield my daughter as she is high risk.”
Citizens Advice is also calling on the Government to look again at those who are not yet covered by the job retention scheme.
The charity said they include people at higher risk of coronavirus, such as those who are pregnant or have diabetes, but who are unable to work from home.
Citizens Advice is also concerned about those who have recently become self-employed but are not covered by the Self-employed Income Support Scheme.
Daniel Heath, 29, from Haverhill, near Cambridge, is manager at Nuclear High Ropes in Essex, and said he cannot be furloughed as he started the job after the Government’s cut-off date of February 28.
Mr Heath said he is being almost forced to break the Government guidelines about staying at home to go out looking for work.
“It’s putting myself at risk, and many others, I’d imagine, because we’re trying to search for a job to fill the gap,” he said.