Today at our Full Council meeting, we passed a motion calling on the Government to retain the ?20 a week increase to Universal Credit made at the beginning of the pandemic and extend the payment to claimants of legacy benefits who are currently excluded from the additional support.

Covid has cruelly exposed the inadequacy of the current welfare system, and we risk exposing some of country?s most vulnerable and disadvantaged families to an entrenched poverty without fixing the system and making it adequate to meet people?s needs. The uplift in Universal Credit was brought in to help low-income families bear the extra cost of the Covid outbreak and time is fast running out to support families struggling through no fault of their own. With an estimated 35,000 people on Universal Credit in Nottingham, an inadequate welfare system could have a significant detrimental impact locally.

The Office for National Statistics revealed that unemployment has risen sharply with the number of redundancies at a record high and millions more seeing their incomes slashed. We want to see the Government perform an urgent U-turn on the planned cuts to Universal Credit and make the ?20 uplift permanent.

Some of the first city residents have been getting their vaccination for Covid-19 ? like 93-year-old John. John attended the new vaccination centre at the Cripps Medical Centre at the University of Nottingham. All over-80s in the city will shortly be receiving a letter from the NHS inviting them for their vaccination. I?m pleased to see our older and more vulnerable citizens getting the protection they need. We now need to make sure as many people as possible get their vaccination.

If you are over 80 or you know someone who is look out for the letter that will arrive in the next few days and support them to book an appointment, details of how to do this are all in the letter. Please also be aware that fraudsters are contacting people claiming they need to give personal info or even bank details to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. This is a scam. Fake text messages are also pretending to be from the NHS. Please help everyone to be on their guard: official NHS letters will invite people for vaccination. Find out more COVID-19 Vaccination in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire

January is a time of New Year resolutions and for Nottingham women if one of your resolutions is to increase your fitness and fun at the same time then the local This Girl Can group may be for you.

This Girl Can aims to inspire women to be more physically active, to find an activity they will enjoy and to facilitate a group of local women to support each other through their fitness journey.

The group is open all Nottingham women. You can join their Facebook community group or find out more here www.nottsgirlscan.co.uk