New Edinburgh City Council employees face two months unemployment due to paperwork delays

New council employees face two months unemployment due to paperwork delays

New mental health counsellors went meant to begin working at city schools in September 2020.

On September 14, 2020 the council announced that 20 mental health specialists had been hired and placed in Edinburgh high schools to reduce the increasing number of youths waiting months for specialist treatment.

The announcement of these new roles followed the publication of a report from Public Health Scotland earlier this year which revealed that six out of ten children and young people with referrals in Lothian are having to wait more than 18 weeks to be seen by a mental health professional.

In a statement on behalf of the local authority, Councillor Alison Dickie said the issue of young adults' mental health ‘cannot be ignored.’

She added that the creation of 20 new contracts emphasised the council's commitment to supporting young people with their mental health.

However, more than a month on from this announcement no new counsellors have started employment due to a hold up with council contracts.

Offered the job in June, 2020 and told to prepare for a September start date, counsellors say they have been left without any meaningful information since then and have been left on ‘standby’ by the council without a job.

Having struggled with the loss of income for nearly two months a number of the counsellors have had to sign up for universal credit to make ends meet.

One of the 20 counsellors, who prefers to remain nameless, told the Evening News that the whole group has grown anxious about the council’s handling of their contracts.

The unnamed counsellor said: “The situation has been very poorly handled and it does feel like the council has dropped the ball.

“I contacted the council’s HR team several times as I grew anxious about the lack of communication but they just didn’t bother replying.

“We feel like we are in no man’s land, being told to stay on standby but nearly two months on we still don’t have a start date."

Counsellors believe the delays arose due to misplacement and loss of PVG applications which all staff require before starting work in schools.

A second unnamed counsellor said: “I have applied for the required PVG membership as instructed, I was told to expect a response within ten days. I did not. When I contacted the council regarding my application I received an apology and was told it has been missed or lost and I was asked to resubmit.”

The council said that holdup has been caused due to delays processing paperwork caused by pressures relating to Covid-19 which have now been rectified.

A council spokesperson said: “We have been working hard to bring the additional mental health counsellors into our schools as quickly as possible. We’re pleased to confirm the new counsellors will be beginning to start their roles after the October break.

“In the meantime, we have been offered increased hours to existing mental health counsellors in schools, which sits alongside other mental health and wellbeing provision.”

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