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Council signs up to charter for ethical homecare

Sheffield Council have signed up to UNISON’s Ethical Care Charter including commitments to care workers’ rights and an end to zero hours contracts. Under the charter, the local authority will work with Sheffield’s care providers to help them replace zero hours contracts with guaranteed hours and to reflect travel time between home care visits in care workers’ pay. The authority has also pledged to work with care providers to help them move towards paying the Living Wage Foundation’s recommended minimum £8.45 per hour to all of their employees. Baillor Jalloh reports for Sheffield Live!

One in two parents have not made a will, says Will Aid charity

According to new research carried out by the charity Will Aid, 57 percent of Yorkshire parents with children under eighteen have not made a will. Will Aid is promoting an annual campaign in partnership with leading law firms to offer a free will writing service with a suggested donation to raise funds for charitable causes. Last year the campaign raised over £1m for its charity partners. Sheffield Live! reporter Azz Mohammed spoke to Alex Gibbons from Buchanan and Co.

Council to kick-start new housing development

Sheffield Council has committed over £3 million in loan funding to build 1,000 new homes as part of a deal with developer Sheffield Housing Company. The agreement will support new housing in the Manor, Norfolk Park, Parsons Cross and other locations where the Council has land available. Azz Mohammed reports for Sheffield Live!

Unions call for end to public sector pay cap

Trade unions and public sector workers held a rally at Sheffield Peace Gardens to demand an end to the public sector pay cap as part of a TUC national day of action. Sheffield Live! reporter Baillor Jalloh spoke to Martin Mayer, general secretary of the Sheffield Trades Union Council.

Awareness week puts hate crime in the spotlight

An information stall on all forms of hate crime has been set up in the Moor Markets as part of National Hate Crime Awareness Week 2017. Hate crime reports have soared over the last eighteen months with peaks after the Brexit referendum and following terror attacks in London and Manchester. Reporting of disability hate crime has doubled in the last two years. Azz Mohammed spoke to Saskia Peat, coordinator of Sheffield Safe Spaces.

South Yorkshire restaurants join Rohingya support action

More than 50 restaurants in South Yorkshire and North East Derbyshire have teamed up to organise a dinner evening to raise money for Rohingya refugees. According to the United Nations, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya muslims have arrived in Bangladesh with minimal belongings gathered as they fled Myanmar in the wake of sectarian violence and persecution. Baillor Jalloh reports for Sheffield Live!

Sheffield drivers to face 20mph city centre speed limit

A new 20mph per hour speed limit is to be introduced in Sheffield’s city centre following a Council-led public consultation. The aim is to cut speed and accidents as well as reducing pollution. Sheffield Council are planning for the new speed limit to come in to effect by the end of the year. Sheffield Live! reporter Azz Mohammed spoke to Councillors Jack Scott and Moya O Rourke.

Charity car wash in aid of Rohingya refugees

A community group in Darnall are organising a charity car wash to raise funds for the Rohingya people that are fleeing Myanmar in the face of widespread killings and sectarian violence. Over half a million Rohingya men, women and children have fled the country since the violence began, according to the United Nations. Most have sought refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh. Azz Mohammed reports for Sheffield Live!

Campaigner climbs Vernon Oak to stop felling

A masked campaigner has climbed into the branches of the 150 year old Vernon Oak in Dore in a bid to save the tree from being felled. The oak, a familiar landmark on Vernon Road, is scheduled to be taken down by council contractors Amey as part of its Streets Ahead highway maintenance programme. The tree climbing campaigner says he is ready to stay on the tree for as long it takes to save the tree. Baillor Jalloh reports for Sheffield Live!

Sheffield MP criticises government Brexit strategy

Shadow Brexit Secretary and Sheffield Central MP Paul Blomfield has accused the government of handling the Brexit negotiations “extremely badly”. The criticism comes as the Prime Minister travels to Brussels for a dinner with European Union leaders in a bid to end the stalemate over arrangements for Britain’s exit from the EU. The meeting, with chief negotiator Michel Barnier and Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, comes days after the pair said talks were in “deadlock”. Later this week the Prime Minister and Brexit Secretary David Davis, will be meeting their EU counterparts to continue the Brexit negotiation.