#lsesu

Home is often associated with feelings of safety, connotations that have only been amplified in recent months. When even a short outing could put another person’s health at risk, it’s not surprising that our living arrangements are considered a key form of protection against the pandemic.

There have been all kinds of communications about the importance of staying in and it’s reassuring to see government guidelines being reiterated by celebrities, experts and our favourite brands. It is, however, also important to recognise that these instructions aren’t quite as clear cut for some people.

Many concerns have been raised about the impact lockdown will have on people in unsafe situations, such as those experiencing domestic violence. For some people, their home is where they feel most at risk.

Domestic violence is a complex topic and advice is hard to distil into a single blog post. That doesn’t mean it’s not out there. The government has advised that “the household isolation instruction as a result of coronavirus does not apply if you need to leave your home to escape domestic abuse” and has produced guidance on available support. Every case is different however there are specialist organisations that can provide advice on staying safe based on your individual circumstances. If it’s not safe to access these resources at home then you can do so in a safe space at your local Boots pharmacy.

Remember, abuse isn’t limited to physical violence, nor does it only impact those in heterosexual relationships. There are also intersecting factors to consider, such as cultural attitudes towards a person’s role within a marriage and the additional challenges a disabled survivor may experience. Identifying whether you’re in an abusive relationship isn’t always easy however Victim Support has some guidance on what could be a warning sign (whilst acknowledging that healthy relationships can vary greatly).

If you have experienced domestic violence then please know it is not your fault, you do not deserve it and there are people who are trained to help. The support referenced above is specific to incidents in the UK however you do not need to be a UK national to access it.

Blog written by Jen Hastings.

Jen is the Head of Student Voice in the LSE Students’ Union, and oversees the management of the Advice Team.

The LSESU Advice Team

The LSESU Advice Team is based on the 3rd floor of the Saw Swee Hock Building and we provide free, independent and confidential advice to all LSE students on academic and housing matters. We also administer the Hardship Fund, the Childcare Fund and the Graduation Gown Support Fund (GGSF).

We are extremely proud of everything that our 40 sports clubs have achieved this year and we want to take this opportunity to celebrate all of your accomplishments. In total, we received 39 nominations.

We presented digital awards on our YouTube and Facebook channel at 6pm on Thursday 6th May, 2020.

Best Initiative Award

Men's Rugby

Special Recognition to Women's Rugby

Inclusivity Award

Ultimate Frisbee

Most Altruistic Club

Men's Football

Most Improved Club

Athletics & Running

Special Recognition to Floorball

Outstanding Contribution to Sport at LSESU

Anisa Khan

Juliette Glennon-Alty

Tobias Leigh-Wood

Matthew Bedford

Charlie Baister

Raef Jackson

Milena Wyerth

Nikki Mehta

Sports Club of the Year

Lacrosse

STARS Awards

Bronze

Muay Thai

Cricket

Pool & Snooker

Swimming

Taekwondo

Silver

Women's Football

Rowing

Gold

Athletics & Running

Women's Basketball

Dance

Futsal

Kabaddi

Lacrosse

Netball

Women's Rugby

That brings us to the end of the LSESU Sports Awards 2020. We want to say thank you to everyone who nominated and everyone on the shortlisting panel.

A special thank you goes to your Activities & Development Officer, Jack Boyd, to the Athletics Union President, Harry Barber, and to all members of the AU Executive team, who have continued to uphold a strong sporting community this year at LSE.

Congratulations to all of our winners and all who were shortlisted, and well done to all of our LSESU Sports Clubs for their achievements this year.

We hope you are all well and safe, take care of yourselves and one another.

A lot can change in a month. On March 12th  2020, LSESU successfully passed a UGM motion committing LSESU to support the local homeless community as a strategic priority for the next three years.

Throughout the Lent Term, we had a range of on-campus volunteering activities planned to help the homeless in partnership with St Mungo’s; but by the end of March, those events had been postponed indefinitely and St Mungo’s had been tasked by the UK government with housing all rough sleepers– a historic undertaking.

Whilst the pandemic may have delayed our internal programme of support, there are still plenty of ways in which we as a community can support the most vulnerable at this time.

For that reason, I wanted to share with you the steps St Mungo’s is taking to support the vulnerable during this pandemic and recommend some ways you can support their efforts.

I am also pleased to announce that the LSESU homeless mission will continue during the next academic year under the leadership of my successor David Gordon, the LSESU General Secretary-Elect. There’s plenty more to come!

– Zulum Elumogo, LSESU General Secretary 2018-2020

“On a typical day, we might have 20 people coming to our Westminster office; last Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday it was 150 in a day. People were scared and hungry, and we just couldn’t house everyone on the day. In the end, they were saying, ‘Well, can we just have some water?’ But we’d run out of cups to give them. As well as a health crisis, this is a humanitarian crisis.” Kathleen Sims, 37,St Mungo’s Head of Outreach

How is St Mungo’s helping rough sleepers during the pandemic?

As one of the largest providers of homelessness services in the country, St Mungo’s provide 300+ services, support around 30,000 vulnerable people a year, including almost 3,000 who stay in a St Mungo’s shelter each night. People experiencing homelessness are more likely than most to have an issue with their health; the average age of death is 45 for a man, and for a woman just 43, with poor health at the root of this problem – increasing their vulnerability to this pandemic.

Our outreach teams and emergency hub staff are working round the clock to support vulnerable people sleeping rough to minimise infection and self-isolate. Alongside our charity partners we have supported nearly 2000 vulnerable people off the streets and from emergency hubs into individual hotel rooms in England over the past few weeks, with over 1,000 people being moved into hotel rooms in London.

St Mungo’s staff and volunteers have been working tirelessly to make sure everyone we are supporting has adequate access to food and essential goods. We have setup a central supplies hub in South London from there we can collate and distribute emergency supplies to our services.

Our Recovery College has begun delivering online wellbeing classes to our clients, aiming to help retain a sense of normality and alleviate the isolation that many people are experiencing. Our priority is to make this accessible to as many of the people we support as possible.

We have also been assessing the likely impact of the virus for the future, and how we can ensure that we are ready to help those we are supporting to leave homelessness behind for good. The rapid move to accommodate more people has been critical – we cannot simply let them return to the streets.

Our focus is to keep providing the people we support with help during and after the crisis to access permanent accommodation, healthcare and employment.

Stories from the frontline:

The Other Front Line – Kathleen Sims, St Mungo’s Head of Outreach, has been features in ELLE magazine highlighting the work being done to tackle COVID-19 and how St Mungo’s is helping get people off the streets during this difficult time.

Homeless swap the streets for hotel suites - an article this weekend in The Times featuring an interview with Howard Sinclair and one of our clients who has been supported into a hotel in South London.

Volunteer VLOG - Charles, a St Mungo’s volunteer, has posted a vlog talking about his experience of supporting St Mungo’s clients in our hotels.

How you can help:

StreetLink – we would urge anyone who is concerned about someone sleeping rough to refer them via StreetLink to help connect them with local services, it is critical we reach people quickly to support them during this crisis. With less people commuting, the risk that we don’t find people quickly has only increased.  

Donate essential supplies - If you have any of these resources available, please contact us. We need: for PPE (FFP2 masks, goggles, aprons and gloves), long-life individually packaged food items for our emergency food boxes, entertainment and technology, contact [email protected] if you can support.

2.6 Challenge - We would be delighted if you could support us by taking on the , open for participation at any time from now. Led by the London Marathon organisers, this national campaign is aiming to set a new world record and raise over £66 million for charities, eclipsing the £66.4million raised at last year’s London Marathon event. Luckily, there is no need to be a marathon runner to take part – this is a challenge for all ages and abilities. Just get thinking of an activity based around the numbers 26 or 2.6, with suggestions on our portal.

Join our Campaigns Team - We campaign for an end to homelessness. With the COVID-19 crisis comes new challenges to overcome. We have proven that urgent action can save lives, and that we can get people to leave the streets behind with adequate support. 

Whether you’re liable for rent or mortgage payments, housing costs are likely to constitute either the highest or second highest (after tuition fees) source of expenditure that most of you will face each month.

It is therefore hardly surprising that so many of you have reported your housing concerns to us since the first lockdown measures were introduced back in March.

This blog will aim to provide some information and suggestions linked to the most common enquiries we’ve been receiving. However, much like any other source of information, it cannot cover everything, so if you’re still unsure what to do, or simply need advice more tailored to your particular situation, we’re just at the other end of an email.

Breaking a contract

With all lectures and assessments now online, many students have quite reasonably decided to leave London and head back home. The problem some have faced has been how to leave without being remaining financially liable for what is left of the contract.

The first point to make is that a housing contract is a legally binding document. Once you sign it, therefore, you are committing yourself to covering the rent until the tenancy end date.

However, whilst it is not always easy, there are ways to get out of a contract early. The simplest way is via what is called a break clause. If you have one, a break clause outlines the conditions under which you can exit your contract before the agreed date. If you’re thinking of going back home and don’t want to continue paying rent for a place where you’re no longer living, then tracking down that contract is the best place to start. We do appreciate that these aren’t the easiest of documents to read, however, and so if you’re finding it difficult to make sense of yours, drop us an email with your contract and we’ll do our best to help.

If you don’t have a break clause then you’ll have to negotiate with your landlord or letting agent. A common response to such an enquiry tends to be that they’ll let you leave as long as you find a replacement tenant. For obvious reasons, at the moment, that’s not going to be easy. That said, just because you can’t find a replacement doesn’t mean that they won’t let you out of the contract. The pandemic has shown some great examples of human generosity and compassion and landlords, believe it or not, are human beings too, so it’s always worth asking. Remember, if you don't ask, you don't get!

Halls of residence

If you’re living in a hall of residence, the situation is a bit different. Fortunately most halls that house LSE students have already announced that they’ll be releasing those who need to vacate their rooms. The process will vary from provider to provider, but for LSE halls you’ll need to submit an Early Leaver Form (email [email protected] for more information). Unfortunately, at the time of writing there is still one LSE provider (Sanctuary – who manage Lillian Knowles) who are refusing to release students from their contracts. Whilst this is disappointing, the LSESU Sabbatical Officer Team are doing all they can to pressure both Sanctuary and the School to try to find a solution that ensures that Lillian Knowles residents are not left in a disadvantageous situation versus students in other LSE halls. We’ll endeavour to keep students posted on any developments so keep an eye on our social media channels for any updates.

If you’re in Lillian Knowles (or anywhere else for that matter) and would like to discuss your particular housing concerns then drop us an email at [email protected] or visit our Student Hub page to book a call or virtual meeting. You can also let our Officers know your thoughts on this (and other LSE Coronavirus issues) by filling in this form.

Worried about meeting rent or mortgage payments

Rent concerns

The number one issue students are approaching us about at the moment is COVID-19-related financial hardship, particularly with regards to rent. Whilst Government measures announced last month protect most renters who fall behind with payments during this period from being evicted, it doesn’t prevent the arrears themselves from mounting. If you find yourself in this situation you might want to reach out to one of the hardship funds available to you as an LSE student – the one we administer or the one administered by the LSE’s Financial Support Office.

We’re helping dozens of students in this situation at the moment so if you’re struggling and are concerned, submit an application.

Mortgage concerns

If you’re unable to cover your mortgage payments then you should speak to your lender as soon as possible. Another Government measure announced last month means that banks and building societies should be able to provide payment breaks up to 90 days, easing the financial pressure on those with these commitments.

Rent/mortgage concerns for those back at home

Finally, many of you might now also be living back at home, with parents or guardians who are themselves struggling to cover rent/mortgage payments. If your household is in this situation then you might want to explore whether there are any social security options they can pursue. It is beyond the capacity of this blog to detail the options available in other countries, but in the UK both Universal Credit (UC) and Local Housing Allowance (LHA) have increased from April and therefore might, alongside the other aforementioned solutions, provide some much needed support at this extraordinarily challenging time.

Sources of advice

In addition to the LSESU Advice Service, there are a host of services you can turn to for housing advice. Here are a few of the ones we’d most recommend:

-       University of London Housing Services (ULHS)

-       Shelter

-       Citizens Advice

Final thought

However bad your housing situation seems right now, try to remain positive. Just because your situation feels insurmountable, doesn’t mean it has to be, or even that it will be. Things often appear worse than they are, particularly when you’re living them. The best way to counter that feeling? Talk to someone. Get help. If you take one thing from this blog, let it be that. Support is out there, so reach out and grab it.

  Blog written by Ricardo Visinho.

Ricardo is the Advice Manager in the LSE Students’ Union and a member of the Advice Team.

The LSESU Advice Team

The LSESU Advice Team is based on the 3rd floor of the Saw Swee Hock Building and we provide free, independent and confidential advice to all LSE students on academic and housing matters. We also administer the Hardship Fund, the Childcare Fund and the Graduation Gown Support Fund (GGSF).

A note on assessment and exceptional circumstances from your Education Officer, Martha Ojo.

I write to you with an important update regarding the structure of the Students’ Union and what this means for you and the organisation going forwards.

Back in 2009 the Arts Students’ Union (Arts SU) entered into a partnership with the London School of Economics (LSE) students’ union (known as LSESU). This partnership arose primarily for financial reasons and enabled the two separate organisations to pool together resources, thereby reducing costs. From August 2019, this partnership will be coming to an end.

We’re in a partnership with LSESU? How does that work?

In practice, it doesn’t really affect what most students will have experienced, which is why you (most likely) would not have been aware of the arrangement prior to this email.

The main difference between our current arrangement and a more orthodox Students’ Union structure is that for the past ten years, LSESU and Arts SU have shared many of the same members of staff, and operated in a very similar staffing format. For example, the entire Students’ Union directorate team (the CEO, the COO and the Director of Membership) and many positions underneath these (although not all), from the Communications Manager to the Student Advisers are shared between the two organisations (i.e. they work for 50% of the week at one institution; 50% at the other).

Hold on… does this mean that they are currently the same organisation?

Good question, but no. LSESU and Arts SU have always been two legally separate entities. They have different strategic plans and objectives, are led by different elected student officers and are governed by different Trustee Boards. And the members – i.e. you guys; the students – are, of course, separate too.

Ok. So if you are already separate, and it seems to be working well, why does the partnership need to come to an end?

The partnership has brought many benefits to Arts SU, and in 2009, there were sound financial reasons for its establishment. However, the partnership was always intended to have a shelf life. That is why last year, as we neared the partnership’s ten-year anniversary, both trustee boards decided to commission an independent review into the arrangement; to gauge what would be better for our members – to maintain the partnership, or to split.

The recommendations that came back were clear. Ending the partnership would be more beneficial for both UAL and LSE students, as well as for the organisations as a whole, including the permanent staff team. Parting ways will enable each union going forwards to devote 100% of its time exclusively to its members, thereby providing better services for all. That’s the reason why the recommendation was accepted and this summer the partnership will be coming to an end.

Anything else I should be aware of?

That’s it for now. But there will be opportunities for you, as students, to have your say on what you think the Students’ Union should prioritise, so keep your eyes peeled. In the meanwhile, keep doing what you’re doing and making use of all the awesome activities and services at your disposal (and which will continue to operate as normal during this period).

There will be amazing opportunities in a separate Arts SU and as our members, your role will be crucial. We look forward to working with you all on this exciting journey of change.

Olivia Kellett,

LSESU steps up commitment to transparency with key documents now available online

As part of our commitment to transparency, LSESU have made key governance and financial documents available on our website dating as far back as 2011, and confirm plans to maintain this practice on an ongoing basis.

LSESU is run by students for students, and exists for the benefit of all students during their time at LSE. We aim to ensure students can flourish and achieve their potential. To encourage an open and honest environment, and to ensure our accountability to our membership, we want accurate, relevant and up-to-date information about our plans, decision-making, standards and performance to be available to all. 

We believe our members and any other interested parties who would like to find out more about LSESU or any aspect of the way that we work should be able to do so quickly and easily. As such, we have published our Trustee Board meeting minutes from 2014 to the present, and our Annual Accounts from 2011-12 to the present on our website.

All of these papers are now more accessible than ever and can be found at bit.ly/LSESUTrustee.