Dear Member
Hello again, happy Thursday and happy bank holiday weekend! We hope you enjoy yourselves as much as you are safely able to and have a well-deserved rest over the coming days.
We wanted to start with a general point to acknowledge that Boris Johnson plans to make an announcement on the status of the lockdown this weekend. It has already been leaked that he intends to announce a lifting of the lockdown to some degree at least. This may cause some degree of relief, anxiety or concern and maybe a mixture of all three amongst our members. We will be analysing any proposals in detail and commenting further on them on Monday.
Wirral Unison stance on schools
As the partial return of schools is one of the things that is already being discussed and it is thought may form part of Boris Johnsons’ plans, we thought it would be worth reiterating Wirral Unison’s stance on the matter. We hope our position makes it clear that we consider the health and safety of staff and pupils of the upmost priority and any decision relating to how schools are reopened should be in consultation with the unions.
Schools should only return to a wider opening once robust safety measures are in place including:
• Plans for regular testing of children and staff, including testing prior to a school opening.
• Plans to ensure appropriate levels of PPE are available to staff and children where necessary.
• Clear guidance and protocols where close contact with children is inevitable, including the administration of medicine and restraints.
• Ensure cleaning supplies are adequate and there is availability of outside agencies to conduct professional ‘deep cleans’ where cases of Covid-19 are identified.
• Considerations being given to the protection of children and staff who are in vulnerable health categories, or living with those who are.
• Considerations being given to the impact on public transport demand, and how risks will be minimised for drop-off/collection of children at school, walking buses, multiple families walking their children to school and congregating in school grounds.
Care Workers sick pay
As we have said over the last couple of days, there has been progress on the issue of care workers receiving full sick pay. The council have confirmed that there is now “an expectation that care workers who are off as a result of coronavirus reasons receive full sick pay.” So if you are a care worker in Wirral and you are sick, symptomatic, vulnerable, very vulnerable or living with someone who is and you are not receiving full sick pay, please get in touch. Details as ever at the bottom of the email.
Care Workers App
The Government have launched an app to support adult social care workers, it can be downloaded on apple or android supported phones. We have not had the opportunity to consider in any detail the effectiveness of this app as yet but we share below the link to the government website which gives further details on the app itself and how to download it.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dedicated-app-for-social-care-workers-launched
Pension credit information
We share this for our retired members who may be interested in the information. Pensioners are now able to apply for pension credit online, a change that has been implemented to assist those who are self-isolating or shieling due to the current pandemic. For more information, please see the link below.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pension-credit-claimants-now-able-to-apply-online
That’s all for today, we hope you continue to find our updates of interest. We are going to have some time off tomorrow and at the weekend, but will be checking emails intermittently and will respond to any queries as soon as we are able.
If you are reading this because it has been shared with you and you’re not a member, here’s the link to join up! Click here
Take care of yourselves and each other and we will be back with another update for you all in the coming days.
In solidarity!
Lois and Dave
Dave: davidnjones@wirral.gov.uk 07880199539
Lois: loisfounds1@wirral.gov.uk 07384512521
Published on: May 8, 2020