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Plug to be pulled on Poppyscotland's Highland office as part of centralisation and remote working drive


By Philip Murray

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Poppyscotland has announced plans to axe its Inverness office.
Poppyscotland has announced plans to axe its Inverness office.

POPPYSCOTLAND plans to axe its Highland office as part of a shift towards more centralisation and working from home.

The charity is planning to close its office facilities in Inverness and Kilmarnock – leaving the Edinburgh office as its only Scottish base.

It's part of wider plans to shutter 12 office sites across the UK, and leaving just six office locations in operation – in Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff, Manchester, Birmingham and London. Outside of Scotland, the move would also see the axe fall on its offices in Newcastle, Liverpool, Leeds, Aylesbury, Bristol, Derby, Southampton, Colchester, Brighton and Plymouth.

The move follows "significant shifts in the way the charity’s support services are being used and delivered in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic". Poppyscotland, and its parent charity the Royal British Legion (RBL), said it is reviewing ways of working, and if charitable funds are being spent effectively to deliver "the best service possible to those in need".

It added that the move will enable it to "expand and strengthen their support offering across the UK" with plans to invest up to £14 million into specific areas of its welfare services that are increasingly in demand.

It would also enable Poppyscotland to increase its immediate needs grants and provide further financial support to partner organisations that specialise in areas of complex need such as mental health and homelessness.

And it said that the move was also sparked by the way its staff were able to continue delivering existing programmes despite the temporary closure of its Welfare Centres when pandemic lockdowns first kicked in, adding that it had "seen that by working remotely, time and resources can be used more efficiently".

Poppyscotland Chief Executive, Mark Collins, said: “Our aim is to create better futures for our Armed Forces community and their families, using our resources as effectively as we can to provide them with the very best care and support possible. We can only achieve this if we continuously challenge ourselves to use the funds we are given in the most impactful way, and in direct response to the current needs of our community. These proposals form part of a wider piece of strategic work that began in 2019 and are a further step in us achieving our aim.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on people’s lives with many members of our Armed Forces community struggling to cope with unemployment, bereavement, complicated housing and financial issues and poor mental health and well-being as a result. We are proposing changes to ensure we can meet these new challenges and provide the right help and support that so many within our Armed Forces community are in desperate need of.

“Whilst these changes would allow the charity to operate more cost effectively, freeing up more of our funds to spend directly on supporting our Armed Forces community, we are aware of the impact they will have on not only our staff members but on the beneficiaries, volunteers and partner organisations who are based in and use our Welfare Centres. We will be working closely with our staff as we explore how these changes could impact their working arrangements and how they deliver their jobs on a day-to-day basis.”

Consultation with our staff around these proposals is expected to continue until early June, after which a decision will be announced.

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