Dear Member
Hello again! We hope you’re all keeping well. It’s a slightly shorter one tonight but hopefully useful nonetheless. We hope you’re still finding these updates of use and there will, of course, be another tomorrow.
Today, in Parliament Boris Johnson announced that he was “very proud” of the governments record on coronavirus. You will forgive us of being somewhat sceptical of this claim given the problems there have been around care homes, PPE, testing, and not to mention the highest death toll in the world (per head of population). Notwithstanding that, he has reminded us today that we should not forget the basics, which includes “always observe social distancing, keeping two meters apart from anyone outside your household”. This comment will be particularly relevant to many of our members who work in schools. We have serious concerns that the social distancing rules that Boris describes as a basic rule, cannot and will not be maintained especially in primary schools. We are in the process of examining risk assessments for individual schools to see if this can indeed be achieved.
We now turn to the categories that we expect specific consideration to be given to in respect of wider re-opening of schools:
Schools:
Employees living with / caring for the vulnerable or extremely vulnerable
The DFE guidance states that employees who live with extremely clinically vulnerable people should only attend work “if stringent social distancing can be adhered to” but should otherwise be “supported to work at home”. The DfE guidance acknowledges that young children are not capable of applying social distancing, so it would certainly not be appropriate for staff whose role is to work with young children to attend the workplace if they live with someone extremely clinically vulnerable.
However the DFE guidance for employees who live with clinically vulnerable people (i.e. not extremely clinically vulnerable) is that they can attend work.
UNISON’s position is that anyone living with or caring for someone in a clinically vulnerable or extremely clinically vulnerable category should not be expected to attend work but allowed to work from home. You should inform your employer if you are in this category. You should say that you have a household member who is clinically vulnerable or extremely clinically vulnerable, you don’t want to put them at increased risk, and would like to discuss working from home.
If your role can’t be carried out from home, you should have a discussion with your school about redeployment. Ultimately, this may not be possible and we would expect that your employer accepts that some employees may need to stay at home on full pay. This provision has been agreed under NJC Green Book terms, which cover the vast majority of local authority and academy schools, and other employers should do likewise in line with government guidance.
If a staff member who lives with someone clinically vulnerable chooses to return to the work place, they should only be asked to work in roles where strict social distancing can be applied.
Black employees (referred to by government as BAME)
Evidence from the Office for National Statistics shows a greater impact of Covid-19 on Black communities with a disproportionate number of deaths being recorded. The DfE recognise this in their recently published overview of scientific advice. It states that the exact reasons for the increased risk associated with coronavirus (COVID-19) in BAME populations are not known, and there are a number of factors that could underlie this.
The DfE scientific overview states that “schools should be especially sensitive to the needs and worries of BAME members of staff, BAME parents and BAME pupils.”
UNISON’s advice is that a risk assessment should be carried out for black staff, and staff who live with a black person, based on ethnicity, and taking into account other factors such as age, other medical conditions and the sort of work carried out. You should discuss your personal concerns with your employer.
Older employees (over 60)
The DfE has not issued specific advice to schools about employees who are aged over 60. However, scientific evidence suggests that those over 60 are at higher risk. The World Health Organisation says the highest risk is in over-60s. UNISON’s advice is that a risk assessment should be carried out for staff over 60 based on age, and taking into account other factors such as ethnicity, other medical conditions and the sort of work carried out. You should discuss your personal concerns with your employer.
Care workers
The government announced recently a further £600 million funding to go to care homes, of this Wirral’s allocation is £4,743,521. The primary purpose (75%) of this funding is to support care homes, including those with whom the Local Authority does not have a contract. This is to reduce the rate of covid-19 transmission and support wider workforce resilience. These funds must be spent as follows:
• Ensuring that staff who are isolating in line with government guidance receive their normal wages while doing so.
• Ensuring, so far as possible, that members of staff work in only one care home.
• Limiting or cohorting staff to individual groups of residents or floors/wings, including segregation of COVID-19 positive residents;
• To support active recruitment of additional staff if they are needed to enable staff to work in only one care home or to work only with an assigned group of residents or only in specified areas of a care home, including by using and paying for staff who have chosen to temporarily return to practice, including those returning through the NHS returners programme.
• Steps to limit the use of public transport by members of staff. Where they do not have their own private vehicles this could include encouraging walking and cycling to and from work and supporting this with the provision of changing facilities and rooms and secure bike storage or use of local taxi firms .
• Providing accommodation for staff who proactively choose to stay separately from their families in order to limit social interaction outside work. This may be provision on site or in partnership with local hotels.
We are continuing to press the Council and care providers to ensure that pay and conditions are improved and that this additional funding benefits Care Workers across Wirral.
Wirral Council - Transaction Centre
Today we held an online meeting for our members in the transaction centre. This was a successful meeting that enabled us to discuss issues around current working arrangements including working from home and what the “return to the workplace” will look like, including issues such as hot desking and social distancing. The ‘return to the workplace’, is not an imminent question that is posed but is one that we want to be prepared for and we will continue to liaise with members. If any other section of members would like us to hold an online meeting for their area please get in touch and we will arrange this.
That’s all for today everyone! We will be back in touch tomorrow, please pass our updates on to colleagues and urge them to join Unison if they haven’t done already. Here’s the link to join up! JOIN UNISON
Take care of yourselves and each other.
In solidarity!
Lois and Dave
Dave: davidnjones@wirral.gov.uk 07880199539
Lois: loisfounds1@wirral.gov.uk 07384512521
Published on: June 4, 2020