Living With COVID | The Implications for Staff, Safety and the Workplace

The Prime Minister has now set out the government’s plans to live with and manage the virus in England.

The big news is that, from 24 February, there will no longer be a legal requirement to self-isolate following a positive test. Instead, people are advised to stay at home and avoid contact with others for five days, after which they can ‘safely return to their normal routine’ if they produce two negative tests results on two consecutive days.

Certain support/services, including the COVID-19 provisions within the Statutory Sick Pay Regulations, will also be removed.

So, after two years of employers doing everything possible to maintain safe workspaces with the help of various government schemes which made this possible, what headaches does the government’s ‘living with COVID’ plan create for businesses and how can you uphold your duty of care?

04 March at 14:00 (SPACES AVAILABLE)

The Prime Minister has confirmed domestic legal restrictions will end on 24 February in England (other devolved nations have varying guidance), as we begin to treat COVID as other infectious diseases such as flu.

This means:

The end to legally-mandated self-isolation and support payments.
The end to routine contact tracing, including venue check-ins on the NHS COVID-19 app.
Fully-vaccinated adults and those aged under 18 who are close contacts will no longer be advised to test daily for seven days.
Those who are not fully vaccinated will no longer be legally required to self-isolate following close contact with a COVID case.

Additionally, certain support/services will be withdrawn.

From 24 March, the COVID-19 provisions within the Statutory Sick Pay and Employment and Support Allowance regulations will be removed.

From 1 April, the government will no longer provide free universal symptomatic and asymptomatic testing for the general public in England.

It will also consolidate guidance to the public and businesses in line with public health advice, and, perhaps most alarmingly for employers and their staff, remove the health and safety requirement for every employer to explicitly consider COVID-19 in their risk assessments.

With the raft of advice and guidance created and adhered to for two years now being torn up almost overnight, there is confusion and panic among employers and employees about what happens next.

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As part of our continued commitment to helping organisations understand and adapt to COVID-related changes at every stage of the pandemic, WorkNest’s Director of Legal Services, James Tamm, and Director of Health & Safety, Nick Wilson, are hosting a free webinar to offer clarity, guidance and peace of mind.

During this informative 45-minute session, our experts will unpick the government’s living with COVID plan in layman’s terms, offer advice on the challenges this might create for employers, and answer some of the pertinent questions you may have now:

What are the best-practice infection prevention measures for the workplace now?
What should employers do around testing in the workplace?
What if there’s another variant?
What is employers’ duty of care to their employees now that restrictions have ended?
What’s the position regarding statutory sick pay for COVID-positive employees?
Can I still expect employees to self-isolate now that it’s no longer a legal requirement?
Do my employees still need to socially distance in the workplace?
How do I ease staff’s concerns and manage hesitancy around the return to work?

Given the mass concern shared by many businesses and their employees, this session aims to help you digest the latest developments, uphold your duty of care, and ensure your employees and your business is protected in the post-pandemic working landscape in England.

At the end of the session, our expert hosts will be taking your questions on the topics discussed. In recognition of the limited time we have available, we recommend submitting your specific queries in advance via the registration form.

All questions submitted before or during the webinar will be answered in a helpful FAQ which we will share with all registrants after the session.

Register below

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Throughout the pandemic, our Employment Law and Health & Safety specialists have continued to produce free, practical guidance and templates for employers.

To access all these resources, plus be notified when new resources are added in relation to COVID-19, register for free now.

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