Government Updates

 

1) Face coverings mandatory in shops and supermarkets in England 

The government has announced that face coverings will be mandatory in shops and supermarkets from 24 July 2020.

Under the new rules, people who do not wear a face covering will face a fine of up to £100, in line with the sanction on public transport and just as with public transport, children under 11 and those with certain disabilities will be exempt.

The liability for wearing a face covering lies with the individual.

Should an individual without an exemption refuse to wear a face covering, a shop can refuse them entry and can call the police. The police have formal enforcement powers and can issue a fine. This is in line with how shops would normally manage their customers and enforcement is of course a last resort.

You can read the Health Secretary’s full statement here – https://bit.ly/FaceCoveringsUpdate – and details for how to make a face covering can be found here – https://bit.ly/FaceCoveringCV19.

To help amplify this message to customers and employees, please do share our tweet: Face coverings tweet

2) Disposing of business waste (including PPE and face coverings)

New guidance on how to dispose of your personal or business waste, including face coverings and personal protective equipment (PPE), during the coronavirus pandemic has been published here: https://bit.ly/CV19Waste.

Key details include:

  • Provide extra bins for your staff and customers to throw away their waste face coverings and PPE used for social distancing, and any other additional waste, such as takeaway packaging and disposable tableware;
  • Make sure that staff and customers do not put face coverings and PPE in a recycling bin as they cannot be recycled through conventional recycling facilities;
  • Make sure bins are emptied often so they do not overflow and create litter;
  • You can put used disposable face coverings and PPE in an ‘offensive waste’ collection (yellow bags with a black stripe), if you have one; and
  • Ask your waste contractor if there is anything else you need to do.

3) Eat Out to Help Out registration

Restaurants and other establishments serving food for on-premises consumption can now register for the Eat Out to Help Out scheme.

You can register if your establishment:

  • Sells food for immediate consumption on the premises;
  • Provides its own dining area or shares a dining area with another establishment for eat-in meals; and
  • Was registered as a food business with the relevant local authority on or before 7 July.

For further details and to register your business please visit: https://bit.ly/EOHORegistration. Registration will close on 31 August.

4) DfE Virtual Jobs Fair

The Department for Education is holding another Virtual Jobs Fair next week and would really appreciate your support to promote job, apprenticeship and volunteering opportunities in London and the South East across social media. I have attached a toolkit and assets that will provide you with details about how it works, and how to get involved.

/by
,

Inspiring Futures Programme

BBC Children in Need and Youth Futures Foundation have partnered to deliver Inspiring Futures, a £6 million programme to fund activities which support children and young people to achieve their potential on their journey towards employment. Not-for profit organisations in the UK will be able to apply for between £10,000 and £80,000 for work commencing in October 2020. Funding will be for project and organizational costs and will support between 12 and 18 months of delivery. In England projects can work with children and young people aged 10 to 24 and in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland aged 10 to 18. Applications opened on Friday and close at 11.30am on Friday 31 July. Find out more here.

/by
,

The National Lottery Community Fund

At the start of this week, The National Lottery Community Fund announced it is working alongside five expert partnerships to ensure almost £45 million of National Lottery funding reaches communities most vulnerable to the impact of COVID–19. The five funds are:

· COVID -19 Social Enterprise Support Fund Partnership – £19.7 million of funding to provide grants to social enterprise organisations that are best place to support local, vulnerable communities in response to the Covid–19 crisis. Find out more here.

· COVID–19 Community-Led Organisations Recovery Scheme – £10 million of funding to support community led organisations in England. Particularly interested in funding BAME-led or BAME-supporting organisations. Find out more here.

· Barrow Cadbury Trust COVID–19 Support Fund – £5.15 million of funding specifically targeting small and medium sized voluntary sector groups supporting migrants and refugees. Find out more here.

· Community Justice Fund – £5 million of funding to support specialist social welfare advice organisations who provide advice and support to people who are pushed into crisis. Find out more here.

· COVID–19 Homelessness Response Fund – £5 million of funding to provide funding for small and medium sized homelessness charities to adapt their service delivery to respond to the crisis. Find out more here.

/by

Charity Commission Issues Guidance on Phone & Digital Meetings

The Charity Commission has issued guidance permitting charities to hold governance meetings on the phone or digitally and enabling voting to be postal or electronic when it would normally need to be done in person. Find out more.

/by
,

New Furlough Rules: Claim Free Government Bonuses

New furlough rules give you the chance to claim free government bonuses…

The Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced plans to give employers £1,000 for every furloughed employee that they bring back to work and keep until January 2021.

To be eligible, you must:

  • Bring back previously furloughed employees from October and keep them on for three months.
  • Pay employees at least £520 on average per month from November to January.

For further information, click here.

/by

Chancellor’s Update

Key points to note:

  • Job Retention Bonus:To help firms keep on furloughed workers, UK Employers will receive a one-off bonus of £1,000 for each furloughed employee who is still employed as of 31 January 2021.
  • Kickstart Scheme: A new £2 billion scheme will also be launched to create hundreds of thousands of new, fully subsidised jobs for young people across the country. Those aged 16-24, claiming Universal Credit and at risk of long-term unemployment, will be eligible. Funding available for each six-month job placement will cover 100% of the National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week – and employers will be able to top this wage up.
  • Employment and support schemes:A total of £1.6 billion will be invested in scaling up employment support schemes, training and apprenticeships to help people looking for a job.
  • Creating jobs: The plan will also create tens of thousands of jobs through bringing forward work on £8.8 billion of new infrastructure, decarbonisation and maintenance projects. In addition, £5.8 billion will be spent on shovel-ready construction projects to get Britain building.
  • Eat Out to Help Out:To encourage people to safely return to eating out at restaurants the Government’s new discount scheme will provide a 50% reduction for sit-down meals in cafes, restaurants and pubs across the UK from Monday to Wednesday every week throughout August 2020.
  • VAT: The rate of VAT applied on most tourism and hospitality-related activities will be cut from 20% to 5%.
  • Stamp Duty: A temporary increase to the Nil Rate Band of Residential SDLT (Stamp Duty) from £125,000 to £500,000 has been introduced until 31 March 2021.

 

Full details of the announcement can be found here: https://bit.ly/CXPlanForJobs.

/by
,

The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has reopened its Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation: Covid-19 Emergency Support Fund. Bids are open until 20 July. Find out more.

 

 

/by
,

Culture Sector Gets £1.5bn Rescue Package

Britain’s arts, culture, and heritage sectors will receive a £1.57bn rescue package to help weather the impact of coronavirus, the government has announced. Find out more.

/by

Key Government Updates

1) Travel exemptions

On Saturday 4th July the government’s travel advice changed, with exemptions for travelling to certain countries and territories that no longer pose a high risk for British travellers.

The government continues to advise against non-essential international travel, except to countries and territories listed.

You can view the full list of exempted travellers here – https://bit.ly/HOExemptions – and exempted destinations here – https://bit.ly/ExemptedDestinations.

Full guidance for British people travelling overseas during the coronavirus pandemic can be found here: https://bit.ly/CV19TravelGuidance.

2) Hairdressers reopening 

Also from Saturday 4th July, Britain’s hairdressers and barber shops were back open for business. The Cabinet Office has shared the following tweet, which explains how hairdressers will keep customers and staff safe. We would appreciate you retweeting on your own channels where possible: https://bit.ly/SalonsTweet.

Guidance for people who provide close contact services (e.g. hairdressers and barbers) can be found here: https://bit.ly/CV19CloseContactGuidance.

3) £1.57 billion support package for cultural and heritage organisations

Britain’s globally renowned arts, culture and heritage industries will receive a world-leading £1.57 billion rescue package to help weather the impact of coronavirus, the government announced today.

The money, which represents the biggest ever one-off investment in UK culture, will provide a lifeline to vital cultural and heritage organisations across the country hit hard by the pandemic. It will help them stay afloat while their doors are closed. Funding to restart paused projects will also help support employment, including freelancers working in these sectors.

Further details of the announcement can be found here: https://bit.ly/CultureSupportPackage.

/by

Please Find Today’s Key Government Updates Below.

1) Test & Trace guidance: Maintaining records of staff, customers & visitors

The easing of social and economic lockdown measures following the COVID-19 outbreak is being supported by NHS Test and Trace. Organisations in certain sectors should assist this service by keeping a temporary record of customers and visitors for 21 days, in a way that is manageable for your organisation, and assists NHS Test and Trace with requests for that data if needed. This could help contain clusters or outbreaks.

 

Sectors that this guidance applies to:

  • Hospitality, including pubs, bars, restaurants and cafés;
  • Tourism and leisure, including hotels, museums, cinemas, zoos and theme parks;
  • Close contact services, including hairdressers, barbershops and tailors;
  • Facilities provided by local authorities, including town halls and civic centres for events, community centres, libraries and children’s centres; and
  • Places of worship, including use for events and other community activities.

 

Full guidance can be found here: https://bit.ly/CV19BusinessTT.

 

2) Restaurants, pubs, bars and takeaway services reopening safely

From Saturday 4th July, most of the pubs and restaurants we love will be reopening. We have shared the following tweet, which explains how pubs and restaurants will keep customers and staff safe. We would appreciate you retweeting on your own channels where possible: https://twitter.com/HMGLondonSE/status/1278999977637879809

 

Hospitality safer working guidance can be found here: https://bit.ly/HospitalityGuidance.

 

3) Self-isolation lifted for lower risk countries

Passengers returning or visiting from certain destinations, which pose a reduced risk to the public health of UK citizens, including Spain and Italy, will no longer need to self-isolate when arriving in England, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps will set out today (3 July 2020).

 

Passengers returning to or visiting England from certain destinations including Germany, France, Spain and Italy, will no longer need to self-isolate on arrival from 10 July 2020. The FCO will set out exemptions for a number of destinations from its global advisory against ‘all but essential’ international travel, with changes coming into effect on 4 July 2020. In addition, all passengers, except those on a small list of exemptions, will still be required to provide contact information on arrival in the UK.

 

The full news story can be found here – https://bit.ly/SelfIsolationChanges – and further guidance will follow.

 

4) Employee return-to-work tool

The government has developed a tool to help employees in England easily assess if they can return to work. The tool guides employees through questions that may influence their ability to go back to work safely. Employers can share this tool with employees to aid discussion on how employees can return to work safely.

 

Please find out more here: https://bit.ly/EmployeeTool.

 

As ever, please do share these trackable links through your network and if you have any questions, please email our dedicated business enquiries mailbox (covid19-partnerships@cabinetoffice.gov.uk).

/by