Don't miss out this Thursday 26th November, we have Dr Justin Varney Birmingham’s Director of Public Health as our guest speaker. Discussing the current Covid situation and vaccine trials. This zoom meeting will be in English/Cantonese. Call us on 0121 685 8510 to book a place, we provide zoom link through email.
This week’s Covid Community Champions Briefing focused on education settings, especially schools. Key messages and reminders: Many of the cases found in schools are due to household mixing outside of school hours especially birthday parties and playdates Schools are open because they are Covid-secure; most private homes do not have the same rigorous processes for removing or reducing risk of transmission, therefore the ban on households socially mixing indoors is in force. Birmingham Public Health team recommend the Germdefence tool, developed by universities to help reduce viral infections https://www.germdefence.org/ If a parent tests positive, all other household members must self-isolate for 14 days. The 14 day period starts from the day you experience your first symptoms OR the day you take a test if you are asymptomatic. Children must…
This week we focus on the main schemes available to help employees, workers, the self-employed and small businesses through the pandemic. Help for workers & employees Extended Job Retention Scheme (‘furlough’) – for workers unable to work due to partial or full closure of their workplace The Government will cover 80% of wages for hours not worked, up to £2,500 per month. Employers must pay National Insurance and pension contributions. Employees can work part-time - employers must pay normal pay for all hours worked. The employee must have been on the payroll before 30.10.2020. The Job Retention Scheme will last until 31.3.2021. Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) – for employees unable to work due to sickness, self-isolation or shielding SSP is payable if you are an employee with average earnings…
The 3 Tier Alert system has been suspended and replaced with a set of national restrictions lasting 5.11.2020 - 2.12.2020. The key points are: 1) You must stay at home except for Work – if you cannot work from home Education and childcare Shopping for essentials Exercise Medical appointments 2) Indoors including private gardens, outbuildings eg sheds You must not mix with people who are not part of your household or support bubble Exceptions You may go into someone else’s residence To carry out emergency work (eg electricians, plumbers) For childcare For provision of care to a vulnerable person To visit as a volunteer To assist someone to escape injury or harm 3) Outdoors You may go out for daily exercise or to visit public places (for example parks, canals)…
On Saturday night, the Prime Minister announced a national ‘lockdown’, starting Thursday 5th November, ending Wednesday 2nd December. The 3 Tier Alert system has been temporarily suspended. Parliament still has to approve the new restrictions but here are the key headlines: 1) You must stay at home except for Work – if you cannot work from home Education and childcare Shopping for essentials Exercise Medical appointments 2) Indoors including private gardens You must not mix with people outside your household or support bubble Exceptions You may go into someone else’s residence To carry out emergency work (eg electricians, plumbers) For childcare For provision of care to a vulnerable person To visit as a volunteer To assist someone to escape injury or harm 3) Outdoors Your household may go out for…
How does the new Alert System work? An area is put into Tier 2 High Alert when ‘case rates’ go above 100. If Tier 2 measures fail to bring case rates below 100, the area is put up to Tier 3 Very High Alert level. It is important to be aware that case rates are not the same as the actual rates. The actual rates are the number of positive tests; case rates are scaled up to show the estimated figure per 100,000 population. The graph below shows what this looks like in Sandwell 18th -24th October - we have used this as we don’t have information in this format for Birmingham. The graph is published by Sandwell Director of Public Health. While actual cases are not as alarming…
Informative flu jab video in Cantonese and Mandarin. On why we should take the flu jab and who is entitled to a free flu jab. https://youtu.be/IB4UDJi1B8o https://youtu.be/Vf--9G7VPGI
Jobs & Business Support I: Job Support Scheme The new Job Support Scheme which replaces the Furlough Scheme on 1.11.2020 has been adjusted to give more help to businesses that employ staff. IA: Job Support Scheme Open - for businesses operating at reduced capacity IB: Job Support Scheme Closed - for businesses required to close IC: Job Retention Bonus continues One-off bonus £1k for each employee retained under the Job Support Scheme. II: Self-employed grants 2 x taxable grants based on 40% profits capped at £3,750 - covering start of November- end of January, and February-end of April. III: Business grants Targeting hospitality, hotels/BBs and leisure industries. Grants between £934-£2,100 based on rateable value for each month in Tier 2. These grants can be backdated to August. Tier 2 -…
New Alert System On Wednesday 14th October the Government introduced a new 3-tier alert system based on the number of cases in each area. Birmingham, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton are all in Tier 2 - High Level. The poster below sets out what you can and can’t do, but the two key changes are Households must not mix in any indoor settings anywhere. Households that have formed support bubbles may still mix indoors. Households may meet in private gardens but a maximum of 6 people including children and people in support bubbles. Test & Trace Support Payment goes live The online claim form for the Test & Trace lump sum payment is now on the Council website click here School exams School exams will be held in 2021 but…
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