Falkirk Council thanks staff and community for all their efforts

And there’s no doubt that local councils have been at the heart of the response.

In a matter of days, services that impact massively on our lives – from education to social care to bin collections – all had to be redesigned as schools, community centres, offices, leisure centres and hubs closed their doors.

Chief executive Kenneth Lawrie said: “We always knew there was a risk of pandemic flu outbreak at some stage so our planning for that has been helpful – but having said that things have changed very quickly.

“The greatest clue in relation to lockdown was what was happening on the continent – as you know, countries like Italy and Spain were notably ahead of the UK in the outbreak and the progression.

“So a couple of weeks in 
advance we knew it was a possibility, but it was put in place very quickly – it wasn’t as if 
we had any prior warning at all.”

The task facing councils, including Falkirk, was monumental.

As schools closed, they had to set up hubs for the children of key workers and vulnerable children, while trying to make it safe for the staff working there.

Social care staff had to get people out of hospitals and into other care settings – a process that often takes weeks, even months, had to be done in days. 

Bin collections had to change so staff could stay safe and keep their distance while working.

Mr Lawrie said: “We’ve had to be very much on our toes and react quickly and in different ways to how we might have done these things normally.”

But he and council leader, Cecil Meiklejohn, say that the way staff reacted was “magnificent” with 400 of them offering to do jobs other than their own to keep services running.

She said:”There has been fantastic collaborative work within and across the council services – everybody has stepped up and carried out their role in some very difficult circumstances.

“Many who have been working from home have ended up working very long hours to make things happen and without them giving that dedication we wouldn’t have had such a response as we’ve had.”

But they are also aware that working from home is not an option for everyone.

Mrs Meiklejohn said: “Our home carers have continued to be out there on the frontline, caring for our most vulnerable at a time when they must feel quite anxious for themselves and their own families.

“We can’t forget that ask and our staff have been absolutely fantastic in continuing to support our community and we have to thank them for that.”

But those who are working from home are also vital.

Thanks to them, the council’s housing department is able to continue helping homeless people including those who had to flee from domestic abuse.

Others took on new responsibilities, such as work to support local businesses financially – so far, council staff have organised £15.4 million of grants to 1352 different businesses.

Another new team tackled perhaps the biggest challenge of all – how to look after the 4500 vulnerable people who are ‘shielding’ from the virus.

At least they had no shortage of people to ask to help; 500 volunteers came through the CVS website alone, while another 700 came via the government’s appeal for volunteers.

That’s not counting hundreds who already volunteer with charities and community groups locally.

Council leader Meiklejohn is very grateful for that fantastic response.

She said: “If it hadn’t been for the people just stepping up and getting themselves organised in that first week to ten days until we were able to redeploy staff we could well have had people that wouldn’t have got what they needed and got the support that they needed.”

After just a few days, the council’s Support for People helpline was set up and it has since received well over 2000 calls.

Staff have also tried to contact all of the 4500 within the shielded category, and have so far made 353 referrals to get the Scottish Government’s food parcels, even organising people to help carry the large parcels inside if necessary.

“Our senior management stepped up tremendously to pull things together so quickly,” said Mrs Meiklejohn.

“Our Support for People programme was brought together from very little by way of resources into something that has been copied by other authorities which is actually a great compliment to those who have been involved.”