In this evening’s COVID-19 update from Cardiff Council: extending the Free School Meals voucher scheme for another two weeks; Cardiff Council office workers redeployed to homeless service save a life; the Council offers free training to become qualified care workers; and Cardiff’s parks ‘quieter than normal’ despite bank holiday sunshine.
Free School Meal provision – voucher scheme extended
Today, Cardiff Council has again sent Free School Meal vouchers in the post to all eligible families, providing funds for a further two weeks of provision. Each voucher has a value of £40, per child.
The Council issued two weeks’ worth of vouchers before the Easter school holidays, so this latest mailing extends the voucher scheme to four weeks for the time being.
Full details of how to activate the voucher is included in an accompanying covering letter.
Click here to read see the covering letter that is being sent with the voucher:
The Council is continuing to look at different options for Free School Meal provision over the longer-term, and details of that will be shared once finalised.
If any families are still to receive their voucher sent last week, they should send an email to FreeSchool.Meals@cardiff.gov.uk to inform the Council.
Cardiff Council office workers redeployed to homeless service save a life
A homeless man’s life was saved by two redeployed Cardiff Council officers who rushed to give first aid when the man collapsed and stopped breathing.
Both officers had temporarily volunteered to take up posts with the Hostels and Outreach team as part of the council’s redeployment project to ensure frontline services continue to operate in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Val Broomfield and Ashley Evans redeployed from office-based roles with the Legal Department and the Tenancy Sustainment Team only three weeks ago. They quickly administered CPR, which revived the man.
You can read the full story here:
Care Workers Needed
Cardiff Council is offering free rolling training courses for jobseekers and volunteers to become qualified care workers.
Working in Home Care, successful candidates can earn £9.97 p/h if unemployed. We will also pay for your DBS certificate if needed.
Previously qualified care workers are welcome and can be fast-tracked into support roles.
Our next training session:
9.30am to 3.30pm, 15thto 17thApril 2020
Creative Suite, 5th Floor, Central Library, The Hayes, Cardiff CF10 1FL
Roles for drivers and non-drivers. No previous experience or qualifications needed.
Call 07970 241 918 to find out more about the course and register.
Parks Team on patrol with South Wales Police
Our parks team were Working For Cardiff out on patrol with police colleagues this weekend and despite the sunshine, Cardiff’s parks were generally quiet and the majority of people were following social distancing requirements.
We want to keep parks open as long as possible, so that people can enjoy the mental and physical health benefits of exercising in the open air, but we need your help to do that.
Stay home, stay safe, and if you are visiting your local park, please ensure you follow government instructions on social distancing – and remember, that includes when you’re using bridges over the city’s rivers. Please let people already on the bridge clear it before crossing.
Cardiff’s parks ‘quieter than normal’ despite bank holiday sunshine
Cardiff’s parks were generally quiet this weekend with the majority of people observing social distancing requirements.
Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure, Cllr Peter Bradbury said: “The message to stay home, stay safe seems to have been heeded by the majority of people this weekend.
“With sunny weather and high temperatures like we’ve had over the bank holiday weekend, Cardiff’s parks would normally be full of people, but our parks staff, who have been out on patrol with the Police every day, supported by loud hailer messages broadcast by the Coastguard, have been reporting that parks were much quieter than normal and that most people were following social distancing requirements.”
“I’d like to offer my thanks to all our residents – those who resisted the sunshine and stayed at home and those who took their daily exercise in our parks, but did so in a responsible manner.”
You can read the full story here: