Guide

A hate crime is any criminal offence that is motivated by hostility or prejudice based on the victim's:

• disability
• race
• religion or belief
• sexual orientation
• transgender.

We believe that there is no excuse for any form of hate crime: it is simply not acceptable and it will not be tolerated.

When it does happen, we want the justice system to deal with such crimes effectively so that victims have the confidence to report it, secure in the knowledge that they will receive a good level of service from the police and other agencies.

Disability hate crime

A crime becomes a disability hate crime when it is 'perceived by the victim or any other person to be motivated by malice or ill will based on a persons disability or perceived disability'.

Anyone can commit a disability hate crime.

They can be a:

• young person who shout abuse when a disabled person walks by
• carer who takes advantage of a disabled person by taking their money
• student who bullies another disabled student
• retired person who harasses their disabled neighbour because they have a disabled parking bay.

Mate crime

There are also some people who might make friends with a disabled person so that they can take advantage of them. 

They use their friendship to cover the fact that they are committing crimes at the disabled person's expense. Some disability organisations call this 'mate crime'. 

'Mate' covers a wide number of people including friends, family and carers. 

Sometimes the exploitation may not be an illegal act but still has a negative effect on the individual.

Why you should report it

It is important that all hate crimes are reported to the police. It helps Strathclyde Police in tackling hate crime. 

Challenging these people can stop this from happening to someone else.

Anyone can report a hate crime - whether they are: 

• the victim
• someone who witnesses a hate crime
• someone the victim or witness tells about a crime. 

No matter how trivial or unimportant you think it is, your complaint will be taken seriously when you choose to report it.

The information you provide is valuable because it helps the police to identify areas of concern or patterns of behaviour and could lead to the prosecution of offenders.

How to report hate crime

You can report a hate crime to the police:

• in person at a police station or speak to police on the street
• by phone - call 101 for non-emergencies or 999 if it's an emergency
• online on the Police Scotland (Poileas Alba) website
• in a third party reporting centre such as a library.

You do not need to know the victim or give their name when reporting a disability hate crime.

Who will get replacements

We’ll survey every council home. If your kitchen, bathroom, wiring, heating or boiler is worn out, we’ll replace it. Not all homes will get upgrades.

Home survey

We’ll survey your home with the contractors we’re working with. 

We’ll go through any proposed works with you in more detail during the survey. You can ask us any questions or tell us anything we need to know, like any relevant medical conditions, or times and dates when you won’t be at home. 

Once we have surveyed your home and decided it needs replacements:

• we’ll write to you with a date for when the contractor will start work in your home
• you’ll get at least 7 days’ notice of the date the works will begin.

You must confirm if this date is suitable or tell us of any times where you will not be available because of holidays, appointments, or other reasons, and ask for another date and time. 
 

What replacements you’ll get

Kitchen replacements

Kitchen replacements will include:

• a stainless-steel sink and taps set into the countertop, new kitchen units, and worktops
• installation of a splashback above worktops and a stainless-steel splashback at your cooker space – a splashback is a layer attached to the wall to protect your kitchen walls from spills, stains or marks
• installation of (non-slip) vinyl flooring
• electrical rewiring, and repositioning of sockets if necessary.

This means there may be some changes to the layout of your kitchen.

If your kitchen is being replaced, the kitchen supplier will also visit your home   to discuss the plan with you.

You’ll get a choice of two different colour schemes for kitchen drawer fronts, doors, worktops, and flooring. The splashback will match your worktop. 

Depending on the layout of your new kitchen, we may need to reposition radiators and switch off your central heating during this time.

Bathroom replacements

Bathroom replacements will include:

• a new bath or shower with waterproof wall panels
• a new electrical shower unit
• a new handwash basin and associated pedestal
• a new toilet and attached cistern
• installation of non-slip vinyl flooring.

Where a specific need is identified, or where the size of the bathroom does not allow for a full-size bath, we may need to install a shower cubicle instead. 

Electrical rewiring

The rewiring of your home will include:

• all new switches, sockets, light fittings, and back boxes (containers behind switches and sockets that hold wires)
• running new electrical cables throughout your home
• replacement of the fuse box (the box that controls electricity in your home), also called a consumer unit.

We’ll need access to all the rooms in your home, including under the floorboards. We recommend you’re not at home during the day while this work is being done.

If you have your own light fixtures and fittings   installed on the walls or ceilings, we’ll need to remove these and replace them with standard light fittings. We cannot put them back. 

If you want to keep your own your existing light fittings or fixtures, let the contractor know in advance and they will leave them aside for you. Otherwise, they will dispose of them. 

Full central heating and boiler replacements

A full central heating system replacement will include:

• installation of a new energy-efficient combination boiler
• all new radiators and pipework
• a new thermostat.

We’ll need access to all the rooms in your home, including under the floorboards. We recommend you’re not at home during the day while the work is being done.

It may also be necessary to change the locations of your radiators to maximise efficiency of the system and reduce your running costs. We’ll let you know if this needs to be done when we survey your home. 

If you’re only getting a new boiler, this should be a straightforward process with minimal disruption. However, we’ll deal with any issues if they occur when the new boiler is being installed. 

Costs

There are no costs for council tenants to have kitchen, bathroom, wiring, heating, or boiler replacements. If your decoration, such as painting or wallpaper, is damaged during the work we’ll make a payment to help with redecorating costs.

Before the works begin

You must allow the contractors access to your property to carry out the works. Tell us about any times or reasons we cannot access your home, such as holidays or hospital appointments. 

Make sure everyone in your home, including any visitors, knows the works are going on, and advise them to be careful.

Let us know when we survey your home if there are any elderly, infirm, or disabled persons who need special assistance or care elsewhere while the work is being done.

Before the contractor arrives, you must:

• remove all bathroom accessories such as mirrors, pictures, toilet roll holders, soap  dispensers, soap dishes, or toothbrush holders
• move any small, portable kitchen appliances such as your kettle, toaster, microwave, bread bin, food storage containers, utensil holders or other items
• empty out any storage or furniture, like cupboards or cabinets, which we’ll need to move or get access to, and move small items and ornaments to a safe location.

Contact your liaison officer if you need help moving items or packing. Do not lift or move anything that would cause you an injury.

Contents insurance

The contractor carries all required insurance. However, we recommend you have your own contents insurance to represent you in any claim or dispute. We advise you to take all reasonable measures to protect your belongings from accidental damage.

If you’re a council tenant, you can join the AVIVA contents insurance scheme or make your own arrangements for home contents insurance.

What happens during the works

Access to your home

The contractor will arrive each day between 8am and 9am so all places we need access to must be clear. 

You must allow the contractors access to your property to carry out the installations. If they cannot access your property at the agreed time, or there is no one at home, we’ll have to reschedule the works in your home. You may have to wait until we finish works in other homes before we can do yours.  

All contractors and council employees carry identification (ID), and they must show this to you before they enter your home.  

They can only work in your home between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Friday, unless they have permission from you and the council to work outside of these hours.

During the work

The contractors will work through the day, and there may be times when you will not have access to cooking, heating, water, or toilet facilities. 

They may need to lift floor coverings and remove and replace heavy furniture to allow the works to be carried out.

They will 

• make sure any lifted floorboards are not left up overnight
• display all required warning signs
• screw down all lifted floorboards on completion of the works.

However, you take responsibility for carpets, laminated flooring or vinyl that is glued or nailed down and cannot be lifted by the contractor without damaging it. If you ask the contractor to lift it, the Council does not take responsibility for any damage caused to it.

They will protect your home as much as possible during the work with clean dust sheets and will clean up at the end of each working day. 

You’ll have a contact person throughout the works who you can phone, and an out-of-hours emergency contact number if needed.

Always supervise children and pets while the work is in progress.

How long it’ll take

These are the timescales for how long each installation will take:

• 7 working days for full kitchen, bathroom, and rewiring
• 5 working days for kitchen and rewiring
• 5 working days for bathroom and rewiring
• 2 working days for a new full heating system
• 1 working day for a boiler-only replacement.

A working day is Monday to Friday and does not include public holidays.

These timescales are for guidance only and while we aim to finish within the planned timescales, it may take longer if we identify unforeseen works. 

The contractor will make sure you are kept up to date on this at the end of each working day.

After the work is done

When the work has been finished, we’ll will inspect it to make sure they are completed to our satisfaction. 

We’ll also complete a customer satisfaction survey with you. You can provide us with feedback on your experience of the process and the quality of the completed work.

Once we’re satisfied the works are complete and all snagging (renovations with small faults or unfinished jobs, like chipped paint) has  been addressed, a Liaison Officer will visit to see if there’s been any damage caused to the décor of your home.

If there is, they’ll advise how much you will receive towards redecorating costs   and will pay it directly into your back account. This can take between 5 and 10 working days from when they process it.

We’re replacing kitchens, bathrooms, boilers, central heating systems, and electrical wiring in council homes where the current facilities are reaching the end of their life span.

We’re upgrading council homes to meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS), which ensures homes are energy efficient, safe, and in good condition.

We know that making these improvements to your home will be disruptive, but we’ll make sure support is available where it’s needed during the works.

How free early learning and childcare hours work

All children entitled to free early learning or childcare places can get up to 1140 hours of nursery or childcare.  

It is based on the school year, which starts in August.  

This is:  

• around 30 hours per week if you use it during school term time, or
• fewer hours spread across more weeks of the year.

When your child starts nursery depends on when their 3rd birthday is during the year.  

You should check with your preferred nursery or childminder if they can accommodate the hours, days, or arrangements that suit you.

Find out who can get free nursery places or childcare and when they can start it.  

Apply for a free nursery or childcare place.

How you can use your free nursery and childcare hours

You have different options for how you can use your 1140 hours of free nursery or childcare, depending on what is available locally.

You may choose to arrange your child's nursery or childcare for school term time only or use the hours across the whole year.

You may also be able to access shorter or longer sessions and create a pattern that fits around work or family life.

For example, you could have:

• 6 hours from Monday to Friday during school term time (38 weeks)
• a morning or afternoon only session across the whole year (48 weeks)
• 2.5 days a week over the whole year (48 weeks)
• up to 10 hours extended day care for just some of the year.

You could also combine your nursery and childcare arrangements, where your child goes to a nursery for part of the week and a childminder for the rest of the week.  

The maximum number of free nursery or childcare hours that a child is entitled to per week is 30 hours.

You can apply to use your 1140 hours of free early learning and childcare a year at council-run or council-approved nurseries or childminders.

Find out more about:

• Renfrewshire Council nurseries
• council-approved private and voluntary nurseries and childminders.

If you want to send your child to a private nursery or childminder that's not run or approved by us, you will not be able to use your free hours of nursery or childcare and you will have to pay for the cost.

Apply for a free nursery or childcare place.

Additional (wraparound) childcare

You may be able to buy additional childcare hours (known as wrapround care) at your child's nursery or childminder.

You may be able to do this if:

• you would like more nursery or childcare hours outside of the free 1140 hours your child gets
• your nursery or childminder can accommodate the additional hours.

Find out more on how to pay for additional hours of nursery or childcare (wraparound care).

Find out how you can use your free hours of nursery or childcare during school term time, or across the whole year.