Latest news with #LouiseMurphy
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
BEC appoints café manager for LEVELS hub in Whitehaven
SOCIAL impact property developers BEC have announced the appointment of Louise Murphy to operate the cafe in a new digital and gaming hub. LEVELS is being launched in the former Whittles furniture store in Whitehaven town centre and is due to open in late 2025. The £4.1 million redevelopment initiative is designed to create new opportunities around digital and creative careers by bringing esports, virtual reality, immersive education and training, and a vibrant social café experience to the heart of the community. As a local social enterprise champion and founder of Calderwood Coffee, Louise brings a unique blend of entrepreneurial spirit, lived experience, and a community-focused approach. Her coffee venture, developed in partnership with Time to Change West Cumbria, sources ethically traded beans that are roasted locally by Shiloh Coffee Roasters. All profits are reinvested into supporting individuals affected by homelessness and poverty in the region. Louise is excited about the future, she said: 'LEVELS café will be focused on local flavour and local impact. We'll be serving up fantastic food and beverages from local suppliers, alongside my unique Calderwood Coffee, which proudly supports a local not-for-profit organisation. It's more than just a café; it's a place for connection and community and is part of such an exciting development. 'Time to Change was there when I needed them; launching Calderwood Coffee was my way of giving back. I'm looking forward to being part of the BEC team and bringing people together in the centre of Whitehaven - whether gamers, families, or professionals.' Louise will create a vibrant atmosphere in the café, situated on the ground floor, which will offer local produce and provide guests with the opportunity to observe gaming and VR demos and e-sports tournaments through spacious viewing areas and screens. Michael Pemberton, chief executive of BEC, added: 'We're thrilled to welcome Louise to the LEVELS team. Her enthusiasm and commitment align with LEVELS' mission to ignite community connection in Whitehaven. 'This development will be one-of-a-kind and will be a strong signal that BEC, our partners and West Cumbria are serious about the future, our young people and regeneration.' LEVELS sits in the Grade II-listed building on Duke Street and is funded by Sellafield Ltd SiX, as well as BT and BEC themselves. The hub will feature an esports arena, VR and immersive zones, editing and recording studios, and digital training spaces for schools, colleges, and the wider community. BEC specialises in regenerating landmark sites for the benefit of the community and the local economy. LEVELS is a cornerstone of BEC's broader vision to inspire future generations and regenerate West Cumbria.
The Guardian
20-03-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Some disabled people could lose £10k a year in benefits by end of decade
Some disabled people could lose nearly £10,000 a year in benefits by the end of the decade under Labour's controversial disability benefits reforms that will target the living standards of poor and middle income households, experts have forecast. Plans announced on Tuesday will see 1 million ill and disabled people directly lose personal independence payments (Pip) worth between £4,2oo and £6,300 each, with hundreds of thousands more losing incapacity benefits. The planned cuts will deliver a series of 'painful income shocks' for many people at the lower end of the pay scale with no guarantee it will help them into work, the Resolution Foundation thinktank said in a detailed analysis of the plans. Tens of thousands of people will also be hit by additional knock-on impacts because Pip is a 'passport' allowing claimants and carers to qualify for other benefits, cash support and services, including carer's allowance and council tax reductions. These include unpaid carers who look after disabled loved ones, who face losing thousands of pounds a year if the person they care for loses eligibility for Pip. This will push thousands of households deeper into poverty, Carers UK said. Pip is also a 'gateway' to the Motability scheme that entitles some disabled people to swap part of their benefit for a leased accessible car. It is hoped that as this entitlement is linked to the mobility component of Pip, which is not part of the reforms, disabled people will not lose access to their cars – but the disability charity Scope warn it is 'not yet clear.' There were also warnings that 3,500 young care leavers with a disability will face 'devastating' losses of nearly £5,000 a year under changes which will prevent young adults under the age of 22 from claiming the incapacity element of universal credit (UC). Resolution Foundation said the government's changes seemed 'rushed through' to secure short-term savings and warned ministers to 'tread carefully' if they wanted to avoid repeating 'the same mistakes of previous attempts at welfare reform'. Louise Murphy, senior economist at the thinktank, said there were 'serious doubts' over whether these reforms would deliver – and warned they risked 'causing painful income shocks for many people'. She added: 'The green paper does include sensible measures to support people when they've just lost their job, or if they're close to returning to work. But it's far less clear whether the scaling back of disability benefit support will help people into work, or just make them poorer.' Resolution Foundation warned that restricting eligibility to Pip while making it the only way to access UC health payments will be see some disabled people's incomes hit twice over as a result of plans to streamline the current benefit assessment process. It estimates a single adult eligible for Pip and incapacity benefits but who no longer qualifies for the payment when they are reassessed could be £9,600 a year worse off. This is because eligibility for the incapacity element will be aligned with Pip eligibility when the work capability assessment is scrapped in 2028. There was increasing shock and anger among campaigners and Labour backbenchers at the scale and consequences of the cuts. They warned the changes will undermine the party's priorities such as tackling child poverty and supporting care leavers and unpaid carers. Helen Walker, chief executive of Carers UK, said raising the qualifying threshold for Pip would hit many people hard and could mean 'even more carers will struggle to afford essentials like food and heating'. A household where a cared-for person loses Pip will also see the linked carer's allowance payment of £4,250 a year removed from the carer, potentially depriving the family of £10,000 a year in support. The government has promised to consult on protections for people hit by these knock-on impacts. About 1 million people claim carer's allowance, half of which are currently tied to Pip claims. Around 1.2 million unpaid carers in the UK are estimated to be living in poverty, (with 400,000 in deep poverty). The care leaver charity Become urged ministers to exempt care leavers from the changes, warning it would have a 'devastating' impact on a vulnerable group that had no family to turn to for support, pushing them further to the margins of society. 'Without this lifeline, more young care leavers will struggle to afford essentials like food, rent and transport, increasing their risk of homelessness, mental health crises and long-term unemployment,' said the Become chief executive, Katharine Sacks-Jones. The government, which is legally care leavers' 'corporate parent', has pledged to improve the support provided to them. The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, and the deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, co-chair a cabinet committee on the issue. The Department for Work and Pensions was approached for comment.
