Jump to content

Sukibind

Members
  • Posts

    71
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    14

Everything posted by Sukibind

  1. There is no ‘moving on’ to other employment from COPE, most of the participants have been employed full time for the pittance they are paid for over 10 years, and they are expected to work hard, and I do mean work. I doubt if the Kitchen, Soap Shop and Garden Centre could survive if they had to employ people on the living wage to do their jobs, and the Scrapstore would struggle too. They are in fact a very cheap work force. Seeing as the total wages for all the participants is £6670.00 I somehow don’t think they are anywhere near earning what the Government says they are entitled to earn without affecting any money they get for their care. The participants that needed supervision have all been ‘let go’. The cynical amongst us might think that rather telling.
  2. I noticed that COPE’s latest accounts (2015) are on the Companies House website. https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/SC186555/filing-history I see that the number of participants has dropped from 31 last year (2014) to 24 this year - bear in mind that there were 50 participants in 2013. Management increased from 3 to 4, ( not sure why as there seems to be a lot less ‘charity’ work to be done with the drop in participants) other staff remained the same. There are 30.7 full time staff of which 7 have disabilities. COPE is providing a minimum of 100 skill development sessions a week - each of which is 3.5 hrs long and spans each of the (at my last count - 7) business units. I am wondering if the full time employees with disabilities count towards the sessions, if so they would account for 98 placements alone. The wages of the participants is £6,670 down from £8,468 last year The wages and salaries of the rest of the staff is an eye watering £612,038 up from £550,527 last year. I am beginning to wonder who benefits most from this charity. It would be nice if COPE paid the ‘living wage’ to its very poorly paid participants. I did note in the accounts that "no employee received emoluments greater than £60,000" - I wonder which employees are the lucky ones! Related party transactions : N Jamieson who is a director of COPE Ltd, was also a director of Westside Landscaping Services Ltd during the year. Purchases made from Westside Landscaping Services Ltd during the year were £7,880 with £5,543 included in the creditors at year end. I Johnson, who is a director of COPE Ltd was also director of Shaw Marketing and Design Ltd during the year. Purchases made from Shaw Marketing and Design Ltd during the year were £6,721 (£17,939 in 2014) with £233 (£9,278 in 2014) included in the creditors at year end. All transaction between the above related parties and COPE Ltd were at normal market prices. I think it would have been better if the work had been advertised and given the other businesses in Shetland a chance to earn some money, otherwise it all seems to be too cosy, and not even ‘mates rates’ for being given the work by their fellow directors!
  3. I bought a 5 kilo bag of Scottish potatoes ( Mainlands) from the Co-op and was charged £6.00. This is more than double the amount that I would pay for spuds in Tesco. I have kept the receipt - I might even frame it!!
  4. I hope everyone will make a small donation to this very worthwhile effort. He is 71% towards his target of £2,000 and every penny helps. Remember Disability Shetland helps ALL disabled people in Shetland.
  5. No problem. Just advertise your stuff on Shetlink - give 10% to Shetlink and the rest to Disability Shetland. You could even give stuff away now and then as freebies to help people in real need.
  6. I see from their Facebook page that COPE didn’t win the Social Enterprise of the Year at the UK Social Enterprise Awards in London. If only they had put as much effort into seeking other funding as they did filling in forms for this award then perhaps The Shetland Charitable Trust would be able to reduce the huge amount of funding they give to COPE and give some much needed financial support to, for example, Shetland Disability, who help ALL disabled people in Shetland. I have a good idea! if you have stuff you no longer need, why not put it to the Sale Rooms and then donate the money raised to Disability Shetland. That way you know you are helping all the disabled people in Shetland, and not just a few.
  7. Perhaps if more people had asked questions about the now disgraced Kids Company Charity it wouldnt have got as bad as it did with money being spent to fund a 'crack den landlord'.
  8. Social Enterprise Awards Scotland 2015 I see in the Shetland Times that Ingrid Web from COPE has been ‘short listed' for section 11, the qualities on the application form (which is submitted by the company themselves) are as follows Represents excellence in their field of workInspires and empowers others to achieveDemonstrates a commitment to diversityExhibits enterprising spirit and driveProvides impactful vision within an organisation and/or the wider social enterprise sector.Displayed moral courage and vision in making and delivering tough choices. The last one in particular interests me given that the accounts for 2014 state Avg Staff in 2014 was 27 and 2013 was 29 Avg Participants in 2014 was 31 and 2013 was 50 So Staff up by 2, Participants down by 19. Certainly some very tough moral choices there.
  9. Its about time that all charities who get public funding are put under the spotlight.
  10. I am sorry to say that the driving standards on the road to Brae are as bad as ever. I had a very scary moment today - caused by some fool trying to overtake when it was just not practicable. I have only recently celebrated my 50th year, and would very much like to see my 60th, so drivers..please, accept that the roads are twisty and slow, allow time for your journey, and don't try dangerous overtaking manoeuvres ( this is really aimed at new arrivals to the Isles, most locals are courteous drivers ). I would like to make it plain that I was driving at the speed limit most of the time, only slowing down for bends, so was not pootling along admiring the view. Rant over
  11. I see COPE have been advertising for 4 more people to work for them. Its a shame they are not asking for more participants!! I also note the new website is up and running and stating that it provides over 100 placements a week - sound lovely, till you remember that a placement is either a morning or an afternoon. and that these sessions are split between: 1) The Home Co. which has 3 separate businesses the 'Scrapstore' , the Pet Shop, and the Rural Freight section2) The Kitchen Co.3) The Garden Co.4)The Soap Shop.5) The Orkney Soap Shop. So its really 7 businesses, 2 of which employ 8 people full time between them ( last time I looked) this accounts for 80 sessions ( each full time employee accounts for 2 sessions a day = 10 a week) This leaves 20 sessions, plus whatever the "over 100" in the website blurb is 1?, 5?, 10?, I somehow doubt its any more or it would be proudly announced. So lets be kind and say 30 sessions.... between the 5 business... not so wonderful now! I am, as usual, happy to be corrected by COPE.
  12. It costs over a million pounds a year to run COPE according to the last 5 years worth of accounts submitted to OCSR. Just where does it all go? https://www.oscr.org.uk//charities/search-scottish-charity-register/charity-details?charitynumber=sc028022 Income this year: £1,051,07.00 Fund raising £2,358.00 Interest and investment income £228.00 Government funding £504,036.00 Income from Charitable activities £533,772.00 Other income resources £10,681.00 Expenditure this year £1,042,130.00 Cost of charitable activities £1,024,530.00 Governance costs £17,600.00
  13. But is it additional work placements? The 15 placements could well be existing placements or the ability for 15 new people to attend their "business sessions". This is funding from the government, not from the national lottery; the latter organisation won't fund ongoing positions last time I checked resulting in many charities keeping the same positions but inventing new job titles and 'new' projects simply to keep people in basically the same positions. The actual full text does not refer to "work placements" but states:- COPE Ltd COPE Ltd provides employment and skill development opportunities for adults with disabilities through a variety of social businesses across Shetland, and provides around 120 skill development sessions and 43 supported business sessions every week for adults with disabilities. The organisation has 32 full-time staff, three part-time staff, one sessional worker and two volunteers. The Enterprise Ready Fund award of £112,312 will enable COPE Ltd to provide an estimated 10 to 15 additional placements, while also providing opportunities for participants to move on to secure employment within other local businesses within the islands. In addition, it will allow the business to make a number of improvements to its social enterprise premises, and allow for the recruitment of a temporary member of staff to formalise its skills and development opportunities and help it to achieve the PQCASSO award level three, a nationally recognised quality mark. Ingrid Webb, COPE Ltd General Manager, said: “We are delighted that we have been awarded funding through the Enterprise Ready Fund, as it will assist us to fill long term plans in working towards sustainability and developing organisational excellence throughout our social enterprise. “Funding will allow us to introduce improvements to the physical structures of our business units, whilst implementing quality frameworks for staff and participants. Most importantly the funding will allow COPE Ltd to provide formal recognition of its participant’s employment skill development and therefore assist individuals’ longer term employability prospects and within the local community. “Being able to move ahead confidently with these improvements is key to underpinning COPE Ltd’s future and longer term sustainability. We are delighted to have been successful in attracting this funding to our company.” For more information contact Sarah Jackson, Assistant Manager 01595696889. I used the words 'work placements' as that was what was said in the Press and Journal article. https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/islands/shetland/5493/shetland-enterprise-gets-funding/ I have done a bit of checking and have found these comments. It seems clear that placement is refering to the person, and sessions to the hours spent working. Which is what I have always thought too. I would hope that a charity wouldnt use clever phrasing to avoid providing 10 to 15 placements.
  14. Thank you for the link, I have made good use of it. I do have concerns regarding the use of grants given to provide an estimated 10 to 15 placements, not appearing to provide any at all. As I said earlier I would be delighted to be proved wrong.
  15. What i wonder is whether it is ethical for a small charity to hire so many friends of the board of directors and general manager, is it not a fact that the general manager and finance manager (newly appointed ) are sisters, and other family and friends have been also employed. Is this what the council grant is funding? It certainly has the ring of nepotism about it.
  16. Ask how many long standing COPE employees have left in the past 3 years.. Answer.. Nearly all. Yes, that sounds like a happy work place where folks enjoy their work.
  17. Well, its 10 months since COPE received £112,312.00 to "Provide up to 15 work placements" for people with disabilities and as far as I can ascertain there has not been so much as 1 place provided. I would be delighted if COPE could correct me on that point and tell me that several new placements have been provided. What I do know is that the old Scrapstore has been 're-furbished' and that the 'pet project' soap shop have had huge amounts of money splurged on them, and to what effect? This is Shetland where we are more impressed with what you do, rather than what you have. I also note that the prices in the Scrapstore have reached 'London' prices!! It would seem to be that it now thinks of its self as a fashionable antique store... Has it lost sight of the fact that most of its content is donated? and that the people that do donate would like their items to help POOR people to replace/ furnish their homes. It seems to me that COPE scrapsore has lost its way, where once it was the place that people in need could turn to for help in furnishing a modest home, it now seems to be trying to be some sort of fashionable home design ...thing.. Which is the only word I could come up with to describe what COPE has turned into, and poor folks can, well, look elsewhere... ,
  18. If you stiffle all arguments, and delete any posts that someone might find unpleasant.. Well you are left with a forum that no one bothers to post on. I personally think that forums are better for a bit of argy bargy, after all real life is full of disagreements and bickering, trying to over control this very human trait is a huge mistake. Mods take note
  19. Well, I see that the bulk of the grant has gone into tarting up the garden centre. Its a pity that the Plantiecrub and other small independent nurseries here in Shetland dont have access to such huge sums to improve their premises.
  20. What good news! I know of at least one person who will be hoping to get taken back, and plenty more who will be happy at the chance to work.
  21. Was in again this week, still over priced.
  22. No, I wouldnt phone.. I might get some pompous windbag with nothing better to do than make smart remarks on the line.
  23. I can see that some hospital waste needs particular care, but medicines are gathered by pharmacies, so cant be high risk.I had a quick google and there seems to be no reason not to burn them with household waste.There could be safeguards put in place to ensure they were burnt.
  24. It costs NHS Shetland £10,000 a year to ship medical waste south for destruction, would it not be cheaper to destroy in the Lerwick incinerator? http://www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/2014/05/06/six-figure-bill-for-destroying-medical-waste/
  25. The baby stuff always used to be very affordable, but now they want silly prices. If you are going to a second hand place place for baby stuff its because you cant afford new prices. No new parent wants to buy second hand, so if you have to go to places like the scrapstore its because you have very little money. Stop trying to rip people off, all the things there have been donated. Help people who need help!
×
×
  • Create New...