This feature describes how a Scottish Council has successfully used prepayment cards to make crisis payments from its welfare fund.

Fife Council is third largest Scottish Council, providing hundreds of different services to the residents, businesses and visitors of Fife. In 2015, Fife Council first started working with one of the leading UK payment specialist allpay, to disburse crisis payments for the Council’s Scottish Welfare Fund scheme through allpay’s prepaid card solution. The programme provides cardholders with funds to purchase items classed as living expenses, fuel, food, clothing, travel, utility payments and essential and day to day living expenses. In 2018 alone, the Council loaded more than £85k onto prepaid card accounts.

Read more on FIFE COUNCIL MAKES CRISIS PAYMENTS WITH PREPAID CARDS…

Mike Winter, CEO of MIW Water Cooler Experts, explains how drinking fountains can counter the blight of plastic waste.

Barely a day goes by when we don’t see a story in the media about the blight of plastic on our society – its effect on wildlife, rising litter levels in our rivers and on our beaches, and the emergence of microplastics in some fish and seafood. According to DEFRA, the UK recycling rate for waste from households is steadily increasing (up to nearly 46% in 2017), and we seem to be on track to meet the 2020 target of recycling at least 50% of household waste; but recycling alone will not solve the problem – we need to take steps to reduce the amount of plastic we actually use on a daily basis.

Read more on HOW THE PUBLIC SECTOR CAN REDUCE PLASTIC WASTE…

Information management expert David Jones
discusses why digital transformation may be being held back

For some it’s an overused phrase, but every
organisation really is on some kind of a Digital Transformation journey. The
heart of such a journey: understanding, anticipating, and redefining internal
and external customer experiences.

Read more on THE PUBLIC SECTOR AND THE LOOMING PROBLEM OF ‘INFORMATION CHAOS’…

Last week the Government launched its annual Green GB Week
to highlight the opportunities clean growth offers the UK and raise
understanding of how business and the public can contribute to tackling climate
change.  A key theme of the week was
financing the low carbon economy and clean growth.  Heat networks are expected to be at the
forefront of this growth.

Read more on FINANCING THE LOW CARBON ECONOMY: HEAT NETWORKS…

Cloud technology is becoming popular in the public sector, but there are downsides. Martin Lipka, Head of Connectivity Architecture at Pulsant, offers advice about taking a migration decision and offers suggestions for minimising the problems that can arise and for getting the full benefits.

Read more on BL.UE-SKY THINKING…

João Fernandes looks at the way navigation software has the potential to bring a whole range of improvements to everyday life.

Outdoor navigation technology matured many years ago; we now walk around with a detailed map of the world in our pockets. But what happens when you enter a building? The navigation drops out. That’s because map technology is enabled via GPS (satellite technology) is rubbish at picking up phone frequencies from within buildings.

Read more on NAVIGATE AROUND OUR FUTURE TOWNS AND CITIES…

Emma Toublic, head of education information and business systems at Essex County Council, talks about the local authority’s quest to create a single record of a child from birth to adulthood, and the positive impact this is having on the lives of children and families.

Read more on THE KNOWLEDGE HUB SUPPORTING CHILDREN AND FAMILIES IN ESSEX…

Students find difficulty in presenting their limited experience to a potential employer. Edd Williams offers advice on how to approach the challenge.

For 14 years, Edd Williams has helped people get jobs. He’s worked with global corporations and tiny SMEs, he has spoken to CEOs and graduate trainees. He has found engineers in South Korea and nuclear scientists who speak French to work in Norway on contracts. He’s spoken to literally thousands of people to understand what they are looking for in a job or what they are looking for in an employee. He’s coached them through interviews, to actively listen, to mirror body language, to ask the right questions, to be confident but not arrogant, the right way to shake hands, how to close the deal.

Read more on PRESENTING EXPERIENCE TO POTENTIAL EMPLOYERS…

The career path of a performer can be quite rocky. With little stability and a huge amount of competition for each job, trying to find financial stability can be very challenging.

Read more on CAREERS FOR RETIRED PERFORMERS…

The government launched its first ever anti-littering strategy for England in April. Patience Atkinson-Gregory of litter bin manufacturers Amberol (www.amberol.co.uk) explains how the new strategy could affect councils around the country and offers advice on reducing levels of litter.

Read more on HOW THE ANTI-LITTERING STRATEGY COULD AFFECT COUNCILS…